Marys Home is located in Miller County, Missouri. It's an unincorporated community on Missouri Route H. It's about five miles southeast of Eugene, Missouri. Early German immigrants settled in this area.
Marys Home began to develop around St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in the 1880s. It was named after Virgin Marry. There was a post office established in 1884 and operated until 1918.
P.A. Sanning Store
On June 16, 2005, the P.A. Sanning Store located at 256 Highway H in Mary's Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The architect and builder was Henry J. Sanning.
The store has also been known as E.M. Schell & Company and is currently known as The Corner Market. This historic general store was built in 1906. It's a rectangular building consisting of one story. It was a good example of a constructed ornamental tin front with tall storefront windows.
German immigrants started moving into eastern Miller County around 1870. They founded Mary's Home in 1883. Where a previous general store had burned, the P.A. Sanning Store was built on the same site by Henry Sanning. His brother, Pete, along with Pete's wife, Annie, ran the store until 1933 when Annie died.
From 1906 to 1913, there was a post office in the store when Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft were Presidents. It closed during World War I and Mary's Home became part of the Eugene, Missouri postal route.
100 years ago yellow pine forests were native to Mary's Home. Because the wood was so popular for building, the yellow pine tree has almost entirely disappeared from the forests around Mary's Home. (Source.)
This general store building, like others in different small towns, always has a role in how the local community develops. From 1906 until 1955 the store was a commercial center in Mary's Home, and it still supports the community's needs. The building has been preserved well and is the only surviving store in its area.
Henry J. Sanning
In 1893, Henry Sanning married Mary Tellman. They lived in Eugene and had a large house with a garage. Henry was known as a builder. He built the Schell Trading Company store in Eugene and three other stores in the towns of St. Elizabeth, St. Thomas, and Mary's Home. Out of the stores he built, what was previously known as the P.A. Sanning Store is the only one that still operates.
There is a 1903 photograph of Peter and Anna taken on the day of their wedding in the Mary's Home Parish Centennial Book. (Source.)
Because the general store was in a somewhat isolated community, it was a social center for the town's people. It was a place like other general stores of its era, where you could barter your goods in exchange for something you might need.
When Annie died, no one was able to run the store. Henry requested Emil and Tillie Schell of the Schell Trading Company to take it over. They managed his other stores. Henry and Emil had a close relationship. The Schells signed a 15-year note to pay for the property and took possession on April 21, 1933. In 1948, the deed of ownership was transferred to the Schells by Henry. Tillie ran the P. A. Sanning Store and the name was changed to the E. M. Schell & Company.
The store changed hands since 1951 several times. When it was sold in 1983, the new owners changed the name to The Corner Market. Until that time, the store was identified by the owner's name. The Corner Market was sold in July 1995. Again, it was sold in 1997 and 1998.
On November 18, 1998, the current owners even restored the P. A. Sanning name on the front facade of the building.
A community bulletin board hangs on the wall as a reminder the store is not only the retail commercial center, it is also a Mary's Home community center. (Source.)
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