Missouri Hall 1888 - 1940


Dr. C.A. Rockwood moved to Nevada Missouri in 1870, where he was assistant surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railway. He was one of the first residents of the town, and built Nevada's first modern hotel on the northeast corner of the square in 1879. The "Hotel Rockwood" hosted many social events in the late 1800s, and is the oldest building on the square today.

Dr. Rockwood built his home, which would later become Missouri Hall, around 1888. Later, he served as a representative of Nevada's city council and was frequently asked to be mayor. (He always declined.)

Rockwood died suddenly from a brain aneurysm in 1896 and is buried in Deepwood Cemetery in southern Nevada Missouri.




In 1896 Belle Rockwood sold their house to A.B. Cockerill the following year.




A.B. Cockerill & family, c. 1910. Back: Missouri "Zoula" McIlhany Cockerill, A.B. Cockerill. Front: Henry Clay Cockerill, Missouri Robinson.

Almond Boswell Cocker-ill

A.B. Cockerill came to Nevada to head the local lead-zinc smelter operation in 1888. By 1896, he owned his own business, the Cockerill Zinc Company.





Residence of A. B. Cockerill, owner of Cockerill Smelters, was located on the corner of Austin and College.
Damon Waring has a great series of web pages that give much more information about his ancestor, A. B. (Almond Boswell) Cockerill plus a lot of other great Nevada information. Be sure to take a look.

Brianne Hoppe writes that the A.B. Cockerill mansion is the same building as the Vernon Sanitarium.

Here is a view of the Vernon Sanitarium. It was originally the home/mansion of A. B. Cockerill. Exactly when it was built is not known but the following announcement for the opening of the Vernon Sanitarium confirms when it opened as a sanitarium.:

"The Vernon Sanitarium, located at Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri, for the treatment of selected cases of Nervous and Mental Diseases under the management of Doctors V. O. Williams, and J. M. Yater, will be open for the reception of patients, August 1, 1912."
Post card from the Lyndon Irwin collection.

That same building was later sold to the P.E.O. Sisterhood and became a Cottey residence hall, until it burned down ca.1940.

Missouri Hall was one of Cottey's first dormitories, sitting across the street from Main Hall. The mansion housed some of Nevada's most notable citizens before being purchased by the P.E.O. Sisterhood in 1928. It served as a sanitarium, a home, and a boarding house before it burned down in 1940.


In 1900, Cockerill was forced to close the Nevada zinc smelter due to rising coal prices.


This did not stop him from donating the clock for the new Vernon County courthouse in 1908, though.




The arrival of natural gas to Nevada in 1911 was the final straw for coal burning smelters like Cockerill's. Unfortunately, A.B. Cockerill's success did not last. By 1910 his company was bankrupt, due to rising ore prices and tariffs. Cockerill moved to Bridgeport, Alabama to manage a cement plant, and died less than a year later.

The former Cockerill mansion was turned over to the Kansas City Life Insurance Company.


He died a poor man and is buried in Deepwood Cemetery.



The Cockerill mansion, c. 1910.6  (Courtesy Damon Waring)

After Cockerill's remodeling,


c. 1910.7 Note the dog on the sidewalk. (Courtesy Damon Waring.)


Inside the Cockerill house (likely the drawing room), c. 1900. (Courtesy Damon Waring.)
The Cockerill children, c. 1906. (Lalla, Florence, Maggie, Nellie, Zoula, Harry. Courtesy Damon Waring.)

Zoula's Wedding


The Cockerills celebrated three weddings in their home, including that of oldest daughter Zoula to James Benjamin Robinson on October 18th, 1899. An article in the Nevada Daily Mail declared it the most beautiful wedding the town had ever seen. Innumerable roses filled the house and perfumed the air, and "myriads of lights shone softly through tinted shades." Before the ceremony, V.A.C. Stockard's stepdaughter, Kate Stockard, sang "Thine" with Mary Birdseye providing the violin accompaniment. The couple's vows were read in front of the bay window of the drawing room, followed by a reception in the dining hall.


A couple pages from Zoula Cockerill and J. Ben Robinson's wedding book, 1899. Kate Stockard signed it as part of the bridal party.


The Bryan Banquet


Famed politician and orator William Jennings Bryan stayed at the Cockerill house several times, including the time he spoke at Lake Park Springs (Radio Springs Park) in 1901. Bryan traveled to Nevada in May of that year to take part in the town's Chautauqua series. Upon finishing his address in the park's airy auditorium that day, he was escorted to the Cockerill residence for an elegant banquet. The guest list included some of the town's most respected citizens, including Harry C. Moore, Professor Weltmer of the Weltmer Institute, and Mayor S.A. Wight. Before beginning dinner, the Cockerills, Bryan, and most of the other guests posed for a photo in front of the house (see below).



The building was decorated especially for Mr. Bryan's visit. The front pillars were draped in streamers of red, white, and blue. Roses filled the entrance hall with vibrant color and fragrance, and a picture of Bryan hung above the fireplace. In the dining room, white ribbon garlands and vases of white carnations adorned the table, with candles set on each corner. Underneath was a tablecloth of "Mexican drawn work" over white silk. A circle of smilax was suspended from the chandelier.



The guest of honor sat to the right of A.B. Cockerill for the sumptuous spread. Cockerill spared no expense for the banquet, which included mangoes, frog saddles with tartar sauce, and ox tongue.  Cockerill's oldest daughters Zoula and Nelle aided in the serving.


 
The Cockerill Smelters, c. 1910.

 
 
 


 
William Jennings Bryan poses with the Cockerills and friends in front of the house on May 15, 1901.



By 1912 the house was sold to Dr. J.M. Yater and Dr. V.O. Williams, who transformed it into a hospital, as the following announcement states:


The Vernon Sanitarium, located at Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri, for the treatment of selected cases of Nervous and Mental Diseases under the management of Doctors V. O. Williams, and J. M. Yater, will be open for the reception of patients, August 1, 1912.

Much of the building was remodeled to suit the needs of the sanitarium. The large rooms of the two upper floors were partitioned into smaller ones, and an elevator was installed. The first floor was left undisturbed, save a small fire that ruined the rose silk panels in the drawing room.

The hospital passed through many hands over the years. After Dr. Williams died in 1916, his spouse, Ann Harding Williams, sold her half interest to Dr. W.R. Summer.1 Dr. Summer in turn sold his share to Dr. N.I. Stebbins in 1918, and Dr. Yater did the same in 1919. Dr. E.R. King bought the hospital from Dr. Stebbins in 1923 only to sell it back to him two years later.



In 1927, Dr. Stebbins redecorated and refurnished the sanitarium, adding new medical equipment. He invited Nevada physicians and their wives to a reception in the building, which included entertainment provided by the Cottey College glee club. Despite these improvements, Vernon Sanitarium was shut down for good in 1929.



Dr. Joseph Mason Yater
Dr. J.M. Yater cofounded Vernon Sanitarium in 1912 with Dr. V.O. Williams.

In the early twentieth century, Dr. Yater was a director of Thornton National Bank. In 1919-1920, he served on the Board of Managers and the Honorary Medical Advisory Board of State Hospital (the insane asylum) in Nevada. He was also a general practitioner in Nevada, holding office in the Yater building on the square.
He married Edna Smith Yater and they lived at 612 West Cherry Street. They had twin girls in 1918, Marye Adams and Jane Hays.Both girls attended Cottey College, and Marye later worked at Cottey for 28 years in food service. (Marye passed away recently, in October of 2008.)

Dr. Yater died on February 6, 1947, just days past his 80th birthday, and is buried in Deepwood Cemetery.13











The Thornton National Bank building stands on the southwest corner of the square. The original Thornton Bank was erected in 1869. This building was demolished in 1928 and replaced with the present structure. Thornton Bank lasted over 100 years, but now the structure is home to the Fox Playhouse theater.




Yater Building 1965
                                                           Yater Building Today

On the west side of the square stands the Yater building, named after Dr. J.M. Yater, who likely held office there in the 1920s through 1940s.1 On its first floor, the building housed many shoe stores in the early 1900s, including King's, Hamilton, and Middelkamp's. In 1928, a Piggly Wiggly moved in. In later years it housed the Renwick Insurance Agency, and is now home of the Allstate office.




                                           The original building housed King's Shoe Store, c. 1910



                                         South side of King's Shoe Store, c. 1910

                                               "Yater" engraving on top of building, 2005.


Dr. Vincil Orsino Williams


Dr. V.O. Williams cofounded Vernon Sanitarium with Dr. Yater in 1912, but died a mere four years later. His death remains a bit of a mystery, as no conclusive cause is given on his death certificate. He was apparently found dead in his "motor car" on June 24th, 1916 at the age of 36. (It seems that no doctor examined him before he was interred — only the coroner, M.E. Ferry.)

In a strange coincidence, six months before his death, Dr. Williams examined the body of Mary Innis after she committed suicide at Radio Springs Park. (Mary was a student at Cottey College at the time.)

Miss Grace Takes Own Life
In the fall of 1915, Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard was asked to admit an atypical student. Myrtle Grace Innis (called "Grace Innis" in the Daily Mail) had been ill for eight years when she applied to Cottey. She lived at 717 East Ashland Street in Nevada, but asked to board at Cottey because she could not walk that far. Although Grace was considered a great responsibility, Alice admitted her. She seemed to be doing well and in good spirits, at least until December.

Grace was home for the holidays on December 20th. Her mother went Christmas shopping in town that afternoon, leaving Grace at home. Around 4:00 p.m., Grace phoned Howard & Cress Garage for a car to take her to the square. She was driven to Miller & Hopkins Drug Store, where she bought bottles of carbolic acid, ether, and milk of magnesia. Miss Grace then directed the driver to drop her off a Cottey, where she began to walk the eight blocks to Radio Springs Park.

Miss Uhler, a young lady on her way home from school, spotted Grace going down the East Hill (present-day BIL Hill) toward the lake. Some minutes later, Miss Uhler and her mother heard screams coming from the park. They ran out of their home by the lake to find Grace wringing her hands and crying that she had taken carbolic acid. It was speculated that Grace drank the acid and then waded into the lake, where the cold water shocked her back to her senses. The two Uhler ladies helped Grace to their cottage and called for a doctor at the Vernon Sanitarium. When Drs. Yater and Williams arrived, they quickly realized that little could be done for the girl. Although "Everything was done not only to save her life but to relieve her sufferings which were terrible," Grace Innis passed away in the cottage at 7:30 p.m.




Grace's hat and muff were later found on the ground by the springboard.3 While it is not known why she took her life, the stress of her long illness likely played a part.








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