A friend of mine, Jeff Schmid, took these pictures of the Houston House burning on December 19, 1975. At the time he was a Frisco engineer, was down in Newburg ready to get out on an eastbound. The going away shot was from the engine as he left town. It's amazing that they salvaged the building as it looks like it was pretty well involved. Edit 1/24/2024: Railroad hotel and eating house or restaurant. The building address is 100 East 1st Street aka Front Street, Newburg, MO 65550. Building is on the northeast corner of East 1st (aka Front) Street and Water Street. Directly behind the Houston House is preserved Frisco caboose SLSF 1111. This is one of the four former Northeastern Oklahoma (NEO) Railroad cabooses. Three of these still exist. The caboose is located at the Newburg Children's Museum of Natural History, 130 Water Street, Newburg, MO 65550. https://www.newburgcm.org/ Sister caboose SLSF 1110 is in Judge Harry W. Fisher Park, 761 Scott Road, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Caboose SLSF 1157 is an office at a scrap yard at 151 Railroad Road, Longview, TX 75602-7607. Added building occupancy, location address, neighboring caboose, museum and sister cabooses information. MKD
Looks like the center of the fire, and the most significant damage, was to the back portions of the building - kitchen I guess. Shame. That may do it for the place. Ken
Arrrgh! I missed the date in Don's post. I have been living in fear since I first went there in 1961 that the Houston House would some day burn down, and I jumped on it. Sorry. But, that really was the beginning of the end of the Houston House as we knew it. Ken
