207 E. Champ Clark Drive
Bowling Green, Missouri
573-324-5224
Honey Shuck is the lovely old restored two-story front-gable-and-wing frame home of James Beauchamp “Champ” Clark. The home displays furnishings and memorabilia and is called “Honey Shuck” for the yard’s honey locusts, whose shucks fall to the ground. The home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and is the site of Bowling Green's annual Champ Clark Heritage Festival.
James Beauchamp Clark best known as Champ Clark (March 7, 1850 – March 2, 1921) was a prominent American politician in the Democratic Party from the 1890s until his death. Clark (painting left by Boris B. Gordon) was born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky to John Hampton Clark and Aletha Beauchamp. He graduated from Bethany College, West Virginia and Cincinnati Law School and moved to Missouri in 1875, opening a law practice the following year. Clark eventually settled in Bowling Green from where he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1892. After a surprise loss in 1894 to William M. Treloar, he regained the seat in 1896, becoming the Minority Leader in 1909, and the Speaker of the House in 1911.
In 1912, Clark was the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for President, coming into the convention with a majority of delegates pledged to him. But he failed to receive the necessary two-thirds of the vote on the first several ballots. Clark eventually lost the nomination to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson on the 46th ballot.
Clark was noted for maintaining party unity during William Taft's administration, splitting the Democratic Party in 1917 and 1918 when he opposed Wilson's decision to bring the United States into World War I. opposition to the Federal Reserve Act is said to be the reason why Missouri is the home of two Federal Reserve Banks. Clark was defeated in the Republican landslide of 1920, and died shortly thereafter in Washington, DC. Clark's son Joel Bennett Clark served as a United States Senator from Missouri from 1932 to 1945.
Visiting Honey Shuck
Visiting Hours
Open: June 1 through Labor Day
Tuesday - Sunday: 1:30 pm - 4 pm (Closed Monday)
There is no charge to visit Honey Shuck.
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