• Harry S Truman National Historic Site

    Harry S Truman

    National Historic Site Missouri

Historic Structures Report

Historic Structures Report cover

Historic Structures Report
This report covers the structural history of the Truman Home in Independence, MO. Included is an analysis of the structure including additions made, utilities added, and interior finish changes. This is the guiding document for any work completed on the Truman Home today. All floor plans have been removed for security reasons.

Part I: Building Chronology (HS01) (1.21 MB)
Part II: Existing Conditions (HS01) (2.88 MB)
Part III: Exisiting Conditions (HS02) (892 KB)
Part IV: Design Development and Recommendations (562 KB)
Appendix/Bibiliography (805 KB)

 
History and Significance cover

Historic Structures Report:
History and Significance
This report represents the first in-depth historical analysis of the home of Harry S and Bess Wallace Truman. All floor plans have been removed for security reasons.



Introduction (364 KB)
Chapter 1: Early History of Independence (140 KB)
Chapter 2: History of Lots 2&3 of James F. Moore's Addition (327 KB)
Chapter 3: The Gates Family Moves to Independence (501 KB)
Chapter 4: From Childhood to Adulthood (583 KB)
Chapter 5: George Porterfield Gates Dies, 1918 (152 KB)
Chapter 6: The Newlyweds Live at the Gates House (143 KB)
Chapter 7: From the Gates House to Madge Wallace's House (464 KB)
Chapter 8: A Tale of Two Homes: Independence & Washington D. C. (287 KB)
Chapter 9: The White House Years, 1945-1953 (1.48 MB)
Chapter 10: Transition From Washington (255 KB)
Chapter 11: "Modernization": Madge Wallace's Home Becomes the Trumans' Home (589 KB)
Chapter 12: An Active Retirement at the Truman Home (1.54 MB)
Chapter 13: The Twilight Years (717 KB)
Chapter 14: Special Topics (1.32 MB)
Bibliography (220 KB)
Appendix (2.42 MB)
Index (141 KB)

Did You Know?

Unidentified Truman relatives with horses at the family farm in Grandview, Missouri. Credit: Truman Library

Farming is hard work and requires physical strength. Harry Truman wrote to Bess in 1912, “A two-hundred-pound hog can almost jerk the ribs loose from your backbone when you get him by the hind leg.”