This residence at 9 Hill Drive in Glendale, though a St. Louis County Historic Landmark, is not protected from potential demolition. The 214-year-old home is one of the oldest homes in St. Louis County. | photo by Square One Media Productions
One of St. Louis County’s oldest standing residences is on the market in Glendale. Its sellers yearn for history enthusiasts to buy and preserve it.
The 214-year-old, 1.5-story rustic farmhouse with Victorian Gothic touches is located on 0.45 acres at 9 Hill Drive. The owners are Merrick Mohler and his late wife, Martha Mohler. Their sons, David and John Mohler, are working with Sally Harris, a Kirkwood resident and Berkshire Hathaway Select Properties Realtor, to sell the property.
Comprised, in part, of two log cabins joined by a dogtrot, the first two-story log cabin was built in 1808; the second cabin was built in 1820. This farm family residence was originally the A.W. Schisler home, with the land eventually developed for growing flowers for the local region. The structure was remodeled for the first time in 1836, Harris shared, when an addition was made to its original two rooms.
“In this section, the log walls are still exposed and from the dining room of the home, which has grown around it,” she said. “There are three huge, beautiful fireplaces, and lead glass windows. In the basement, you can see the stone and exposed logs with the original bark on the ceiling.”
The 2,386-square-foot, two-bedroom home was listed for $600,000 at press time. A few new homes in the same neighborhood recently were listed for more than $1 million. Harris said some of the updates to 9 Hill Drive include new roofs and granite counters in the kitchen.
The farm house was remodeled in 1836, when an addition was made to its original two rooms. In this section, the log walls are still exposed and form the dining room of the home which has grown around it.| photo by Square One Media Productions
“Part of the property’s charm is that the house sits tucked way back on the lot, with a small koi pond, like you’re in the country with privacy,” she said.
Chock-full Of History
The home was named a historic landmark by the St. Louis County Historic Buildings Commission, but that designation doesn’t protect it from demolition — a fate homeowner Merrick Mohler would abhor, no doubt, as he was a longtime president of the Glendale Historical Society from 2000 to 2016.
In 2012, during preparations for Glendale’s centennial observation, Merrick Mohler said he had many memories growing up in Glendale. Born in 1940, he recalled his days at North Glendale Elementary School, but little did he know that when he rode his bike past the mysterious house at 9 Hill Drive with its overgrown lawn and tombstones in the front yard that he would one day be its proud owner.
The three gravestones Merrick Mohler saw as a child remain in the front yard shaded by a catalpa tree that he estimated to be about 200 years old. They mark the graves of members of the Thomas Yeats family, which bought the home in 1831. The markers are for that of daughter-in-law Malinda who died in 1832, and Yeats’ wife and daughter who died in 1834 and 1836 of cholera.
Although the three tombstones have remained on the property, the bodies were exhumed during the 1960s and moved to a St. Louis cemetery. Harris said the descendants of those represented on the tombstones live in California, and would like to retrieve the tombstones if the new owner does not want them.
The home’s reportedly longest residents, the Armstrong family, lived on the property for nearly 100 years, from about 1845 through 1939. According to obituaries, early pioneer Clinton Armstrong traveled with his
family from Tennessee in a wagon train to settle the local area. His son, Luther Armstrong, was considered the oldest man in what was then Kirkwood after he died at the age of 88 in 1926.
The gravestones of Jane, Amanda and Malinda Yeats remain on the property. All three died during a cholera epidemic between 1832 and 1836. | photo by Square One Media Productions
Stories passed on from prior generations state that America’s 18th President Ulysses S. Grant even visited this house, often to get water from the property’s cisterns. He purportedly knew Armstrong and resided within an easy horseback ride during the six years he lived in Missouri, from 1854 through 1860.
The Mohler Family Moves In
In 2002, Merrick and Martha bought the house and moved in. In 2004, the Mohlers removed plaster from entryway walls (previously the dogtrot), revealing the original exterior log walls of both cabins, and their love of the house was further cemented. He also found the use of newspaper dated from 1895 as a foundational layer of the plaster.
“It’s actually a small, big house. A really cool property. Yes, we’re looking for a new owner for my parents’ house, but hoping for someone who feels more like a custodian of it,” said David Mohler, a Rock Hill resident representing his younger brothers John, Jason and Robert Mohler.
He remembers his father telling him not to touch the bark on the white oak logs or the chinking in the house, for fear it would somehow affect them.
“I always liked that the family room was created from reconditioned barn wood,” he added.
David Mohler said his father knew the two previous owners of the residence.
“My parents had always admired the history of the place. When it became available for sale, they were living in a big house off Camellia. Dad had always liked history and mom loved antiquing and those type of furnishings. I think they may have bought the property for $400,000 at that time.”
One of three, large fireplaces in the 2,386-square-foot, two-bedroom home. | photo by Square One Media Productions
David Mohler said he and his father had participated in historical re-enactments and Boy Scouts, and that his father was an artist who also dabbled in the garden — so the property fit nicely into their family’s lifestyle.
He said the property became a wonderful place for family gatherings and for entertaining.
“Dad used to dress up for Halloween to have fun, and with the tombstones in the front yard, he had to take the candy out to some of the kids rather than the other way around with the kids coming into the yard,” recalled David Mohler, who said his father has been in Alzheimer’s care for the past year.
His mother, Martha, a gourmet cook, actor and elementary school teacher, died in July 2021.
“It’s truly hard having an estate sale, and disassembling other’s lives like this,” he confided.
Real estate agent Harris said everyone she’s shown the house to loves the history of it.
“There have been some offers that included keeping the log cabin portions and building in front of the house, and I know a lot of people have called city hall asking to not allow the house to be torn down,” she said.
