Cypress Street’s demise made way for progress

A story-and-a-half stone house, with basement, is identified as once being situated 327 Cypress Street. It was photographed during 1965-66, prior to the demolition of this and neighboring dwellings in preparation for the construction of Missouri 79. This photo is from Steve Chou’s collection. Beginning as early as 1877, this house is believed to have been  occupied by the John and Margaret Boyle family. In 1957-59, Grace Grandstaff lived at this address.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

A stone-and-brick house, story and a half with a basement, stood on the south side of Sixth Street - South Hannibal - and for decades served as shelter and solace to families during  Hannibal’s developing era.

As early as the mid 1870s, Sixth Street - renamed Cypress in 1912 - was an east-west artery intersecting Union Street. A series of frame houses - as well as an imposing church structure - were ultimately constructed along along Sixth Street. Each house was as unique as the families who occupied them.

This stone house was an anomaly among the neighborhood dwellings. This material used in construction suggests a much earlier presence than the other houses on the street.

Living in this house as early as 1877, and until the early 1920s, was the Boyle family.

John Boyle settled his ever-growing family into this stone house located upon the south side of Sixth (Cypress) Street, near where it intersected with Clay (later renamed Fulton.)

Married since 1863 to Margaret Murphy Boyle, the couple had eight children, born between 1865-1885.

Several of the sons went on to follow their father into the boilermaker trade; while the daughters typically steered toward merchandising.

The family members remaining in Hannibal continued to call this dwelling (address 327 Cypress) their home until circa 1922, after the matriarch’s death. In 1925, renters of the house, which had been converted into a duplex, were Robert E. Lee and George Shrewsbury.

Route to ‘Leap’

The story told by old-timers is that Cypress was once the access road to Hannibal’s celebrated Lover’s Leap, long recognized as an historical landmark.

The demise of this important Hannibal street began in the 1960s, when a large portion of the eastern end of the street was taken in order to provide for construction of Missouri 79. This demolition project included the removal of the aforementioned stone house.

Then, in the early 2000s, another large portion of the street was consumed for construction of the new Stowell elementary school.

Today, only a fragment of the street remains; that portion that lies to the west of Union Street.

Early development

Well before the Civil War, Union Street and its connecting arteries were populated by blue- collar workers and businessmen who fulfilled the neighborhood’s needs.

In the mid 1870s, Union Street was a busy commercial district.

William P. Marseilles, blacksmith and wagon maker, had a shop west of Union, south of Fifth, in South Hannibal. He resided at 224 Union.

Grocery stores on Union Street were operated by Napoleon B. Crigler, 224 Union; Timothy Ryan, 113 Union; and William Yancey, 227 Union.

Meat markets were operated by T.R. Goddard, 208 Union; and George Munckton, west side of Union between Fifth and Sixth.

Boyle family

In 1877, Irish-born James Boyle, 37, was settled into a steady job as a boilermaker with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. He had been married since 1863 to Margaret Murphy Boyle, and between 1865 and 1885, they would have eight children:

James Boyle Jr., born 1865;

Bernard Boyle, born 1867;

Anna J. Boyle, born 1869;

John Boyle, born 1870;

Mary Boyle, born 1876;

Margaret Boyle, born 1879; and

Willie Boyle, born 1885.

The younger Boyle children attended South School, located from 1871-circa 1892, on Birch Street, between Walnut and Union.

At the time of the Boyle family patriarch’s death in 1901, sons Barney and James were working as boilermakers in Texas. (They had previously worked as boilermakers in the Hannibal railroad yards, with their father.) By 1906, they had relocated to Oklahoma City, and their brother, John Boyle, was working as an engineer in the Burlington Railroad yards in St. Louis.

The remainder of the Boyle siblings remained close to home.

Boyle siblings

After moving from the house at 620 Sixth (later renamed and numbered 327 Cypress) - four of the Boyle siblings relocated to 212 S. Eighth, and remained at that location for the remainder of their natural lives. The four siblings, living together in 1950, were: Charles E., who owned the house, John J., Mary E. and Anna J. Boyle. 

* James Boyle Jr., born 1865. He began his railroad career in the Hannibal yards, working, as did his father, as a boilermaker. James moved to Texas (possibly Dennison)  around the turn of the century. He later relocated, as did his brother, Bernard, to Oklahoma City, OK.

* Bernard Boyle, 1867-1943. In 1909, Barney S. Boyle, married to Mary Boyle, lived at 421 W. 10th, Shawnee, Okla. In April 1904, while working as a boilermaker at the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company’s shops in Sapulpa, Okla., an iron splinter reportedly flew into his left eye, causing him to lose sight in that eye. He ultimately lost the eye. He moved to Kansas City, where he died at the Kansas City Convalescent Home for aged in 1943. He was a widower at the time of his death, his wife having died Feb. 7, 1928.

* Anna J. (Janie) Boyle, 1870-1950. In 1903, Janie Boyle hosted the G.G.E.G. Club at the family home on Sixth Street. A newspaper account of the event: “This is a very industrious club and the evening was spent in embroidering and fancy work and notwithstanding the busy fingers a social evening was enjoyed.” Members of the embroidery club: Misses Salica Kelly, Janie and Margaret Boyle, Anna, Fanny and Lizzie Dietrich, Edith Habermeyer, and Freda and Verena Troppmann, of Hope Street.

* John J. Boyle 1870-1950. In 1906, John Boyle was working as an engineer in the Burlington Shops at St. Louis.  Back in Hannibal, in July 1912, while working for the Burlington, his right leg was badly bruised and fractured, when a heavy weight fell on him while he was at work. According to a newspaper report, the accident occurred near the street car barn. He was taken to Levering Hospital for treatment, then returned to his home at 620 Sixth Street, S.H., to recover. In 1914, he was living in Hannibal, and  working at the Cement Plant. In 1918 he was a cook for the Railway Cafe, operated in South Hannibal by Henry C. Love, at 505 S. Main. In 1916, he was in Hannibal, working for the Burlington Railroad. He died Dec. 14, 1950, at the age of 79, and is buried at Holy Family Cemetery, Hannibal.

* Charles Edward Boyle 1872-1862. Mr. Boyle, a red head, according to his military registration records from World War I, was termed “the genial night ticket agent at Union Depot” in the Feb. 22, 1900 edition of the Hannibal Morning Journal. He retired as a clerk for the CB&Q Railroad. Never married, he died April 13, 1962, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. At the time of his death he was living with three siblings at 212 S. Eighth St.

* Mary E. Boyle 1876-1962. In mid September, 1909, Mary Boyle took part in a neighborhood gathering at the home of Mrs. M.J. O’Hern, 615 Sixth St., South Side. (The Boyles lived nearby, at 620 Sixth St.) In attendance were Mrs. M. Johnson, Mrs. Fred Hubbard, Mrs. Gustafson, Mrs. Ridge, Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Gerlemann, Mrs. Watson, Mrs. A.G. Henderson, Mrs. Hirner, Mrs. A. Philips, Mrs. Kate Phillips and Miss Boyle. Mrs. O’Hern was taken completely by surprise, a newspaper notice revealed, but “she quickly rallied and entertained her guests right royally.” 

In 1918-1925, Mary Boyle was a bookkeeper for McNally’s, a Hannibal plumbing business.

* Margaret D. Boyle (Zweifel) 1879-1971. In 1906, Margaret resigned her position as saleslady with John M. Hockett’s store, 222 Broadway, and accepted a similar position in the dry goods store of Miller and Worley, 122 N. Main. In August 1914, still employed as a saleslady for Miller and Worley, she accompanied her sister, Janie Boyle, on a two-week trip to Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia. Margaret was married to Henry Zweifel of Fairbury, Neb., in February 1923. They moved to Nebraska, where Henry died in December 1954. Margaret died in February 1971, at the home of her sole remaining sibling, Mary Boyle in Hannibal. Margaret was buried beside her husband in Fairbury, Neb.

* Willie Boyle. Born 1885. In August 1901, Will Boyle accepted the position of extra caller at the Burlington round house. In early 1902, he relocated to Chicago where he remained for six months, before returning to Hannibal to make his home in August 1902. 

Phillips family

Living directly across the street from the Boyles, at 621 6th, South Hannibalk, in 1903 was Cornelius Phillips, a blacksmith and one of Hannibal’s pioneer railroad men. He long made his home with his family at this address.

Note

Marsha Quinn Walton and her mother, Janet Sue Perkins Quinn, helped with the Cypress Street identification process for this story.

In 1950, Marguerite Perkins, (1893-1988) Janet Sue Perkins Quinn’s grandmother, lived at 330 Cypress, across the street from the stone house at 327 Cypress, (the former Boyle house) which was at that time was occupied by Grace Grandstaff. Mrs. Grandstaff (1890-1966) had a daughter living in Hannibal, Mrs. Mary Esther Barbee of Hannibal.

By 1966, Marguerite’s son, C.E. Perkins, who was living at 327 Cypress, had relocated to 220 N. Hawkins.

Thanks to Ruth Martin Ellison for coordinating this research effort.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal, Mo., Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on amazon.com by this author include: “The Notorious Madam Shaw,” “Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” “St. Mary’s Avenue District,” and “Live, on stage in Hannibal 1879: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore.’” Montgomery can be reached at montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com