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The Historic Thomas Moore House
Built in 1896 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri
About Thomas Hugh Moore
Thomas Moore acquired the lot for the house on March 29, 1895, and his house was constructed the following year. Moore, a successful businessman in the late 1800s, served as mayor for one term in 1887. In 1896, this general mercantile store operator was appointed Butler County collector by Governor William Stone.
Moore owned and operated a mercantile store called T.H. Moore Company that was in downtown Poplar Bluff. The Queen Anne style was commonly used for other homes from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Moore and his wife, Jennie, moved into the home with their two sons and two daughters. Moore’s wife was originally from New York.
In 1899, after Moore died at age 52, the property went to his wife. It is curiously interesting that none of their four children married and they lived with their mother in the house until she died.
When Jennie died in May 1933 at the age of 81, the home and furnishings were bequeathed to her daughters, Mattie and Almarene. Out of all the children, Almarene was supposedly the outgoing one. She had a job at the Bank of Poplar Bluff and she was a Sunday School teacher. She was also the last sibling to live in the house. She died in December 1974.
