View source for Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

{{Short description|National Historic Site of the United States in Missouri}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name             = Harry S Truman National Historic Site
| nrhp_type        = NHS
| image            = Trumanhist.JPG
| caption          = 
| location         = 219 N. Delaware St., [[Independence, Missouri]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|39|05|36|N|94|25|23|W|region:US_type:landmark|name=Harry S Truman National Historic Site|display=inline,title}}
| mapframe         = yes
| mapframe-marker  = building
| mapframe-zoom    = 12
| mapframe-caption = Interactive map showing the location of Harry S. Truman National Historic Site
| architect        = James W. Adams (1885 modification)
| builder          = George Porterfield Gates (1867 house)<br />James W. Adams (1885 modification)<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=85001248}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Harry S Truman National Historic Site |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|author= |date= |access-date=January 10, 2022}} With {{NRHP url|id=85001248|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref>
| architecture     = Gothic, Ecletic Victorian
| added            = May 31, 1985
| area             = {{convert|0.8|acre}}
| refnum           = 85001248<ref name="nris">{{NRISref |refnum=85001248|version=2013a}}</ref>
| visitation_num   = 31,316
| visitation_year  = 2012
| website          = {{url|www.nps.gov/hstr}}
}}
The '''Harry S. Truman National Historic Site''' (officially styled without the period after the '''S'''<ref name="PL98-32">[http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-97/pdf/STATUTE-97-Pg193.pdf An Act To establish the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in the State of Missouri, and for other purposes], Public Law 98-32, [[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]].</ref><ref name="NPS">[http://www.nps.gov/hstr Harry S Truman National Historic Site]</ref>) preserves the longtime home of [[Harry S. Truman]], the 33rd [[president of the United States]], as well as other properties associated with him in the  [[Kansas City, Missouri]] metropolitan area. The site is operated by the [[National Park Service]], with its centerpieces being the '''Truman Home''' in [[Independence, Missouri|Independence]] and the '''Truman Farm Home''' in [[Grandview, Missouri|Grandview]]. It also includes the Noland home of Truman's cousins, and the George and Frank Wallace homes of [[Bess Truman]]'s brothers. The site was designated a [[National Historic Sites (United States)|National Historic Site]] on May 23, 1983.<ref name="NPSmgmt">[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parkmgmt/index.htm Park Management] – National Park Service</ref>

{{Harry S. Truman series}}

==Truman Home in Independence==
The '''Truman Home''' (earlier known as the Gates–Wallace home), 219 North Delaware Street, [[Independence, Missouri]], was the home of [[Harry S. Truman]] from the time of his marriage to [[Bess Truman|Bess Wallace]] on June 28, 1919, until his death on December 26, 1972. Bess Truman's maternal grandfather, George Porterfield Gates, built the house between the years 1867 and 1885.

After Bess's father, David Willock Wallace, committed suicide in 1903, she and her mother and brothers moved into the house with Bess's grandparents, George and Elizabeth Gates. At the time Harry and Bess married in 1919, Harry was putting all of his money into his business partnership, a men's clothing store called Truman & Jacobson at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City, so living at the Wallace home made good financial sense.

After Truman's [[haberdashery]] failed in 1922, he and his wife continued to live in the house to save money while he paid his debts. After being elected to the [[Senate of the United States|Senate]] in 1935, he moved to Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.  Whenever they came back to [[Missouri]], the house at 219 N. Delaware was their home.

After he retired in 1953, until the [[Truman Library]] was opened on July 6, 1957, the Truman Home served as Truman's personal office. Bess lived in the home until her death in 1982, and she [[bequeathed]] the property to the National Park Service.<ref name="NPSSecondFloor"/> The home was closed for 8 months in 2009-10 for a $1.1 million renovation that improved fire safety, visitor comfort and structural stability.<ref name="Examiner">[http://www.examiner.net/news/x1621118755/Truman-home-open-again-for-tours Truman home open again for tours] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531203659/http://www.examiner.net/news/x1621118755/Truman-home-open-again-for-tours |date=May 31, 2010 }}, The (Independence, Mo.) Examiner, May 31, 2010</ref>

The Truman Home offers a glimpse at the personal life of the 33rd President of the United States, particularly the simple life the family enjoyed in Independence before and after Harry's eight years as president. The Trumans' only child, [[Margaret Truman|Mary Margaret]], was born in the home on February 17, 1924. The site also includes the two adjacent homes of Mrs. Truman's brothers, and, across Delaware Street, the Noland Home, where the President's favorite aunt and cousins lived. The site operates a visitor center, located inside an historic firehouse, in downtown Independence. NPS [[park ranger]]-[[Heritage interpretation|interpreters]] lead guided tours of the home on a regular basis, providing a look at the home much as the Truman family left it.<ref name="NPSThings2Do">[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/planyourvisit/things2do.htm HSTNHS Things To Do] – National Park Service</ref>

[[File:HABS-TrumanBedroom.jpg|thumb|The second-floor bedroom of Harry and Bess Truman, in their home in Independence, Missouri.]]

The second floor of the home has never been open to the public – Bess wrote into her will that to protect her family's privacy, the second floor was to remain closed until the death of her daughter, Margaret. Though Margaret died in 2008, the NPS has maintained the closure in order to best preserve the home.<ref name="NPSSecondFloor">[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/photosmultimedia/truman-home-second-floor-photo-tour.htm Truman Home Second Floor Photo Tour], National Park Service</ref> A photo tour of the closed rooms, including Harry and Bess's bedroom, is available.

On display in the ground floor of the home is the [[Steinway & Sons|Steinway]] piano Truman originally purchased as a Christmas present for Margaret, and which was played by Truman in the [[White House]]; a portion of the Trumans' extensive personal library (including the mysteries preferred by Bess); the family [[Gramaphone record|record]] collection; the official White House portrait of the First Lady (the one in Washington D.C., is a copy): and paintings including a panorama of [[Athens, Greece]], a "primitive" of Key West featuring palm trees and a backward-looking donkey, and a canvas entitled "Swan River." The fireplace is framed with tiles depicting a fanciful Middle Eastern desert landscape with tents and minarets, likely inspired by ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''.

Truman is one of the few Presidents who never owned his own home prior to his time in office. He lived with his parents until he married, then in the Wallace House, in rented apartments and houses in Washington (including 4701 Connecticut Avenue), in [[Blair House]] (the official state visitors residence), and in the [[White House]], but it was not until July 1953, following his term of office and the December 1952 death of Madge Gates Wallace, that Harry and Bess Truman purchased the home at 219 North Delaware Street.

The house is now located in the [[Harry S. Truman Historic District]], a [[National Historic Landmark District]].

==Truman Farm Home in Grandview==
[[File:Trumanfarm.JPG|thumb|right|Truman's farm home in Grandview, Missouri]]
The [[Harry S. Truman Farm Home]] is located 15 miles (24&nbsp;km) away from Independence in [[Grandview, Missouri]]. A [[National Historic Landmark]], the farmhouse at 12301 Blue Ridge Blvd. was built in 1894 by Harry Truman's maternal grandmother, and is the centerpiece of a {{convert|5.25|acre}} remnant of the family's former {{convert|600|acre|adj=on}} farm. Truman worked the farm as a young man, from 1906 to 1917. It was here, said his mother, that Harry got his "common sense." There is no visitor center on the site, but the grounds are open year-round for self-guided tours, and an audio tour is available.<ref name="NPSThings2Do"/> Guided tours were formerly conducted during the summer, but were cancelled in 2013 due to [[sequester (2013)|sequestration]]-related budget cuts.<ref name="NPSSequester">[http://www.nps.gov/hstr/parknews/sequestration-cuts-at-park.htm Sequestration Cuts at Park], National Park Service</ref>

The site consists of a two-story farm house; a reconstructed smokehouse; the Grandview post office-turned-garage (Truman moved it to the farm to store his 1911 Stafford automobile); a restored box wagon once used on the farm; and several stone fence posts marking the original boundaries of the farm, plus other original and reconstructed buildings.

After Truman returned to private life he sold portions of the farm for the Truman Corners Shopping Center as well as other Kansas City suburban development.

==See also==
* [[List of residences of presidents of the United States]]
* [[Presidential memorials in the United States]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat-inline}}
* [http://www.nps.gov/hstr/ Official Park Service site]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/103truman/103truman.htm ''Harry Truman and Independence, Missouri: "This is Where I Belong",'' a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]

{{Harry S. Truman}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}
{{Protected areas of Missouri}}
{{Independence, Missouri}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Truman, Harry S. National Historic Site}}
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Harry S. Truman]]
[[Category:Kansas City metropolitan area]]
[[Category:Parks in the Kansas City metropolitan area]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Missouri]]
[[Category:Presidential homes in the United States]]
[[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Independence, Missouri]]
[[Category:Presidential museums in Missouri]]
[[Category:Museums in Jackson County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1895]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Jackson County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Houses in Jackson County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1885]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1983]]
[[Category:1983 establishments in Missouri]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Missouri]]
[[Category:Truman family residences]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Missouri]]