The Hanleys gave a 4-acre strip of land to help build the village of Clayton which was founded in 1878. The Hanley House is really amazing having survived for well over a century. On May 27, 1971, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
When the house was nominated for the National Register, the owner was the City of Clayton.
Drawing 5 of 12 from Survey HABS MO-1193.Photo byHistoric American Buildings Survey, Creator. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
The Martin Franklin Hanley House is rectangular and built with a central hall plan. It’s two-and-one-half stories tall and has a basement. This house has a pedimented two-story portico in front. Also included with the house, but not attached, is a summer kitchen, a privy, a well, and forge and barn foundations. The property is well-kept and has a white picket fence.
The house was restored. Other than being the oldest building in Clayton, at the time the house was nominated for the National Register, it’s said the property also has the oldest and largest black oak tree in the state.
Photo byFacebook/Historic Hanley House.
Martin Franklin Hanley was the original builder and owner of his house. He was born in 1814 in West Virginia. In 1837, Martin arrived in St. Louis County. He was a farmer and blacksmith. He acquired the 112 acres of farmland in 1846. The property is just eight miles from the St. Louis Riverfront. The construction of his home began right before spring in 1855.
Inside the home
The first and second floors are similar in that they have a central hall with two 14-feet square rooms on either side. The halls are seven feet wide and reach to the other side of the home.
The flooring is made of pine planks and the ceilings were plastered. The walls are also plaster and covered with paper. The stairway leading to the second floor is wood.
The only major plumbing addition was a bathroom which was later removed. An air conditioner and furnace were installed in the cellar.
Outside the home
An original outbuilding that was on the property was a two-room kitchen. That building was on a limestone foundation. In the center is a large fireplace which essentially divides the space into two rooms. On the west side was a brick floor which was the area used for cooking.
On the opposite side was a wood floor where interestingly, archaeological excavations took place in 1969. It was led by Robert T. Bray. He was the director of the University of Missouri’s Lyman Archaeological Research Center in Miami, Missouri.
The excavations uncovered the precise locations of a well, a privy, and the full extent of a picket fence. Based on old photographs of the property, those structures were going to be reconstructed. Also discovered were the foundations of a barn and forge which have been covered over.
The Hanley family
Martin Hanley and his wife, Cyrene, had 11 children. They were slaveholders and devoted Southern sympathizers during the Civil War. The Hanleys even hid Confederate soldiers on their property.
When Martin died in 1879, he was 65. He left the house to his wife, which was inherited by his unmarried daughter, Nancy until she died in 1938 at the age of 97. From that point until 1968, Nancy’s niece, Barbara Yore, lived in the house. She sold the house and what was left of the property to the City of Clayton.
When the house was nominated for the National Register, the city began restoring the house and property into a historic house museum. According to the city’s website, the house is closed until further notice.
