May 22, 1980
National Register of Historic Places - Bingham-Waggoner House and Estate
Statement of Significant: Three main reasons give this property its historical significance: its connection with Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham, its association with the Santa Fe Trail, and its association with the Waggoner-Gates Milling Company of Independence, Missouri. On August 5, 1864, George Caleb Bingham bought the house and property (approximately five acres) for $4,000. The following year Bingham purchased an additional seventeen- and one-half acres, thus assembling the present-day tract. George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) is a name well known to persons interested in American genre art. Bingham's work "Jolly Flatboat men Number Two" was recently sold by a California auction house to a New York collector for $980,000 - the highest price ever paid for a work by an American artist. The Civil War saw Bingham involved in western Missouri in many varying capacities. He served as a captain in the Union Army under Robert T. Van Horn of Kansas City. During the war he also served as state treasurer under the Union government. Upon his retirement from that post in 1864, he moved to Independence. In 1869 he was appointed to the Independence School Board. It was during his six years residency in Independence that Bingham began and completed his paintings entitled "Martial Law" better known as "Order Number 11." In addition, Bingham painted a number of other works while living in Independence. Bingham and his wife Eliza moved to Kansas City in May of 1870 where he died nine years later. The property's association with the Santa Fe Trail is also of prime importance to the historical significance of the site. Osage Street, which forms the eastern border of the Estate, has not changed appreciably in width since its days as a wagon road. In the plat for the adjoining subdivision and in the legal description of the Waggoner Estate, references are made to survey stakes in the middle of the Santa Fe Road, i.e., present day Osage Street from Pacific Street to Lynn Street. The pavement is laid directly over the old 1846 road alignment in these areas. According to recent research the Santa Fe Road not only abutted the property on the east; it passed directly across the southeast corner of the property travelling in a southwesterly direction."
National Register of Historic Places - Bingham-Waggoner House and Estate
Statement of Significant: Three main reasons give this property its historical significance: its connection with Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham, its association with the Santa Fe Trail, and its association with the Waggoner-Gates Milling Company of Independence, Missouri. On August 5, 1864, George Caleb Bingham bought the house and property (approximately five acres) for $4,000. The following year Bingham purchased an additional seventeen- and one-half acres, thus assembling the present-day tract. George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) is a name well known to persons interested in American genre art. Bingham's work "Jolly Flatboat men Number Two" was recently sold by a California auction house to a New York collector for $980,000 - the highest price ever paid for a work by an American artist. The Civil War saw Bingham involved in western Missouri in many varying capacities. He served as a captain in the Union Army under Robert T. Van Horn of Kansas City. During the war he also served as state treasurer under the Union government. Upon his retirement from that post in 1864, he moved to Independence. In 1869 he was appointed to the Independence School Board. It was during his six years residency in Independence that Bingham began and completed his paintings entitled "Martial Law" better known as "Order Number 11." In addition, Bingham painted a number of other works while living in Independence. Bingham and his wife Eliza moved to Kansas City in May of 1870 where he died nine years later. The property's association with the Santa Fe Trail is also of prime importance to the historical significance of the site. Osage Street, which forms the eastern border of the Estate, has not changed appreciably in width since its days as a wagon road. In the plat for the adjoining subdivision and in the legal description of the Waggoner Estate, references are made to survey stakes in the middle of the Santa Fe Road, i.e., present day Osage Street from Pacific Street to Lynn Street. The pavement is laid directly over the old 1846 road alignment in these areas. According to recent research the Santa Fe Road not only abutted the property on the east; it passed directly across the southeast corner of the property travelling in a southwesterly direction."
May 22, 1980
Posted Date
Aug 16, 2023
Historical Record Date
May 22, 1980
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
