COOLBROOK (1910-1960)

"Coolbrook" was the family's country summer retreat conceived early in the twentieth century, built by Kate and Sam

Kate Knight (1876ENG-1928MO)

ca 1898

Samuel Cleveland Boggess (1874WV-1946MN)

ca 1897

THE MAIN HOUSE

This was the main house at the entrance located on the gravel county road.

A SUMMER GATHERING

ca 1920s Group gathering in the yard of the main house.

A WINTER VIEW

Dam at left-center.

for their family's enjoyment, located some eight miles east from Carthage in Jasper county, Missouri snuggled in abutting hills of Spring river's left bank at first sub-valley beyond second old Missouri Pacific railroad crossing.

JASPER COUNTY MISSOURI(ah)

For some reason dad & mom most always drove out Chestnut street to "Coolbrook", I guess so we all could enjoy the beautifully colored landscape with its spring wild flowers blooming in the fields, such as Indian Paint Brushes, and flowering Dogwood and Redbud trees in bloom along the dusty gravel county road. During bird migration season, thousands of geese and ducks would be grounded with iced wings on the farm fields of Spring river's flood plain near "Coolbrook" so would feed and rest.

Cool fresh water flowed from a spring in a cave whose exposed overburden rock ledges broke off and blocked its entrance. When cleared and entrance gained, some skulls were found, thought to be Osage Indian. This was also home for bats, snakes, spiders and other mother-nature's critters. The cave's spring kept Lake Coolbrook filled, then flowed over the cool house dam, under county road, across Mr Roper's farm land, under the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks into Spring river.

CAVE'S ENTRANCE

Marlin Perkins and later Jim Wilson enjoyed capturing snakes from around the cave.

A tall dam was built across the steep valley forming a small swimming and boating lake, named Lake Coolbrook, with a room downside of dam as support, cooled by cave waters flowing over and through it, keeping the inside temperature suitable for food storage.

DAM AND COOL ROOM

COOLBROOK's name was first uttered by Kate as she lounged on a cot in the babbling rocky brook waters, shaded by huge Oak trees with Dogwood, Redbud and other dainty flowering trees scattered about the hillsides, with cool water originating from a cave not far up the hill, ~ ~ this, her favorite spot to relax on a hot summer afternoon, uttering ~ ~ what a nice 'cool brook'.

BABBLING ROCKY BROOK BELOW THE DAM

With walk to dam & its cool room with flowering vines on a rock wall along brook's left bank.

A foot bridge was built over the brook some distance below the dam, near rear of the main farm house's lot, across to a small screened cottage along side of the brook and Knightwood, a large two story house on the right bank hillside with its huge fireplace and solid lead manttel, plus, a nice screened porch overlooking the valley, lake and brook below. Even had a separate playhouse for Edith's younger days.

SMALL CABIN NEAR BROOK

Used by grandmother Kate for resting when not on cot in the brook and for guests.

KNIGHTWOOD

See other side with chimney, below.

KNIGHTWOOD'S FIREPLACE

With its solid lead manttel.

Later two, two bedroom log cottages were erected using stilts on left hillside, with large screened porches where we slept on hot summer nights, overlooking the lake and its white sandy beach, for sons Luke (1899MO-1974MO) and S C Jr (1911MO-1994FL). A gravelled drive was built up to the lake and two cottages from the county's road.

ONE OF TWO CABINS

These on left hillside overlooking Lake Coolbrook.

Its doubtful grandfather built the large farm home on the county gravel road at entrance, where as I recall, was later occupied by a Carthage merchant, Mr Rinehart if my memory serves me right, or maybe Harrington, with two older children.

THE MAIN FARM HOUSE

This at entrance, on county road across from the farmland, earlier years had a fence around it.

Mr Roper lived in his farm house on right bank of brook at entrance, backed up against a hill. Across the gravel county road was the barn where his large black snakes kept rats at bay (he would tell us to NOT kill his snakes), it on the river's flood plain which he farmed. He allowed Hobos to sleep in his barn, provided they didn't bother his snakes.

MR ROPER'S HOME

Later bought by Arthur Boots for his father.

OTHER RESIDENTS OF COOLBROOK

REMAINS OF MR. ROPER'S BARN

Across county road from COOLBROOK's entrance

My mother and father enjoyed their honeymoon at COOLBROOK,

Frances Elizabeth Flora (1898MO-1928MO)

Colorado Springs, Colorado, 28 Aug 1921

from left: Sam, Kate, Luke, Frances, her family, Wm, Maude, Harriette, Guy, in front S C, Jr & Edith Boggess

following their 28 August 1921 Colorado Springs wedding http://files.usgwarchives.org/mo/jasper/vitals/marriages/flora2mr.txt ~ ~ before going to their first home in Kansas City. Following mother's 2 April 1928 morning death from meningitis-streptococis, with grandmother Kate having died fourteen hours earlier during evening of 1 April, http://files.usgwarchives.org/mo/jasper/obits/b/boggess5ob.txt , ~ ~ dad, Luke, moved back to Carthage, remarried in 1932. We spent a summer month or so at his cottage, where I reluctantly (later glad) was forced to learn to swim in the lake when he came home in the late afternoon from work. We kids hunted "crawdads" (crayfish) from under rocks in the rocky brook bed, explored the cave and hillsides, swam in the cool lake water sometimes wondered across Mr Roper's farm field, across the railroad tracks to Spring River, converting its steep banks into a mud slide, swimming in the refreshingly warmer waters of its pools, rarely fishing its waters but hunting bull frogs from time to time.

"Coolbrook" was enjoyed by others, a young Richard Marlin Perkins (1905MO-1986MO) www.stlzoo.org/home/history/marlinperkins.htm , with his statue in Carthage's shady Central Park, once the City Cemetery until 1869, then a park where as small children we used the wadding pool later converted to a large fish pond with fountain www.powersmuseum.com/exhibits/pastexhibits/perkins_week.html ~ ~ for his hobby of snake hunting, later attending Wentworth Military Academy with his snakes in his room, on to University of Missouri then later became the renowned director of St Louis, Buffalo, and Chicago zoos and of long running television shows Zoo Parade then Wild Kingdom (1963-1971), for Mutual of Omaha. Later, Jimmy Wilson, friend of brother Jack (1924NE-2001OR) also sought snakes for his collection and found arrow heads on the grounds, no doubt Osage Indian's, whose men were six to seven foot tall, moved west before settlement was allowed in area

CAMP COOLBROOK NOTICE

Used as a boys camp several years in mid 1920s including motor coach trips to areas near Branson, Neosho and Noel, before Hollister camp was purchased.

Grandfather, being heavily involved with the Young Men Christian Association, allowed summer camp to be held at "Camp Coolbrook" until he and others arranged for the purchase of state camp grounds at Hollister, Taney county, Missouri, on Lake Taneycomo (White river) www.bransonmo.com/BransonMoLakeTaneyGS.htm

Y. M. C. A. CAMP ~ HOLLISTER, MISSOURI

Shown is bridge over Lake Taneycomo, created 1913 by daming the White river. I attended camp here in the 1930s as a Cub Scout.

KATE BOGGESS

Aunt Edith brought her Girl Scout Troop out for camping in the wild country hillside and to canoe and swim in Lake Coolbrook.

LAKE COOLBROOK

Girl Scouts enjoying its white sandy beach for swimming and canoeing.

Following WW II, in the late 1940s and during the 1950's my step sister, Margaret Busboom (1924NE-1992MO) with husband Joe Miller, renovated the large two story house, known as Knightwood, then owned by Aunt Edith (Boggess) Hough (1906MO-1996MD), building a driveway up to it,

KNIGHTWOOD

enjoying it while battling flying squirrels and swimming in the cool spring waters of Lake Coolbrook,

Margaret (Busboom) Miller with Bob Crusa

with friends during our long hot Carthage summers. Later yet, Arthur Boots, 1939 builder of the famous Boots Motel on 'ole Route 66 www.theroadwanderer.net/66Missouri/carthage.htm in Carthage, Missouri where Clark Cable once stayed, and Boots Drive-Inn which his son, my friend, Bob (now in Tulsa, Oklahoma) ran for years after WW II, ~ ~ purchased Mr Roper's home for his parent's retirement home. Jane Hough visited Coolbrook May 1996 as later did Carole Mobley and her father (who, as a child lived north of old Lakeside Park where her grandfather had the Bar-B-Que stand and other grandparents had the Orchard on Old Route 66 east of Carthage, at Plew) in 2007 and its my understanding all that remains are memories for those few of us who knew "Coolbrook" in its glory days, with so much enjoyment during early to mid twentieth century. Most improvements have now vanished with time and neglect back to mother nature, with modern day retreats replacing this simpler way of summer life, same with "Lakeside Park", where I recall the bath houses and swimming when a youth, west side of Carthage, near old Route 66, (as is Route 66, how well I remember "Cobra Lane" near Rolla, Missouri) with its four foot high dam across Center Creek, enjoyed by thousands from the region, operating 1896 to 1935. also the Sagemont Inn, south of Joplin with its artesian well fead three large swimming pools of different water tempatures, picnic grounds and other nice facilities, ~ ~ each now gone and all but forgotten.

Earlier Days

Visiting at the fireplace in the main farm home.

COOLBROOK'S REMAINS

Farm house chimney and thats about all, folks!

Good memories remain of "Coolbrook" for we who were able to have enjoyed our Boggess grandparents efforts to please their family and others.

COOLBROOK, 1915

For over fifty years, enjoyed by many.

Granddaddy served Carthage as mayor during the 1918 nationwide flue epidemic, also year his mother, Sarah Elizabeth (Wood) Boggess (1835VA-1918MO) died.

WIDOW SARAH AND SONS

ca 1898, from left, Thomas Howard, Hale Matthew, & Samuel Cleveland

Grandchildren of Sam's, Bill Boggess & Jane Hough

Cousin Jane, from Nevada, visited me November 2008 at my Florida retirement home, Shell Point and had dinner at our Crystal Room on the island where picture was taken. She brought with her pictures her mother, aunt Edith, saved and shared them with me thus some are found in this website along with shared memories. We, two of five surviving from six grandchildren of Kate Knight & Sam Boggess. http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=califia1&id=I2020 Compiled by William (Bill) Samuel Boggess, 15 January 2009. Last revised; 06/29/09. http://community.webtv.net/billboggess/MYBOGGESSFAMILY

POST-SCRIPTs: Bob Boots, now of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on February 25, 2009, emailed me the following comment regarding his recollection of Coolbrook when living in Carthage, running Boots Drive-In: "Cool Brook----Granddad, Oscar Boots and Maude lived there in the 1950s. I'm not real sure that where he lived would be called Cool Brook or not, however the stream from the large spring ran between the road and the house. You had to walk on a concrete bridge over the stream to get to the house which was backed up almost against a hill side. Grandpa laid a pipe from the spring to the house so grandma would have running water. there was forty acres there that was across the road and ran down to the railroad track [Missouri Pacific] as I recall. "Jude Arney, my pardner, and I got the brilliant idea to start a cattle ranch there so we bought 4 cows and a registered bull. We built a fence around it and a cattle shed on it.It was less than a year until we realized that it was not such a great idea after all so we slughtered them and ground them up and sold some very expensive hamburger at the drive-in. "Our bookeeper called it assinating our assets. "I recall going up to the dam only once and seeing that it had crack open and there was no longer a pond [Lake Coolbrook] there. I remember it as being a happy place. they were well satisfied to live there. After grandma died, grandpa lived on there for quite a while alone. Then finally Grace had to bring him down here to Tulsa where he lived for a year in a nursing home. "I hope this bit of info helps you." *********************************************** 6 May 2009 Hi Bill, WOW!!! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful family history and picture website with me. What a "Missouri Treasure", for you be raised with roots, with such a wonderful background, in Jasper County. I knew it had to be "SOMETHING" with great history, when we first drove by the beautiful old chimney..& could see the remains of the dam. I had no idea it was there, until we first rode our Harley D. down that old gravel road, late summer of 2007. Shortly before my father's death. When I asked him about it & the chimney and the dam, He laughed & said. "Oh, that was a wonderful place that was, when I was a kid." But at near 87 years old, he could not remember all the details, only that he got the name half right.......Bless his heart. I was raised at Lakeside and my late father, Otis J. Brunner (1921-2007) A Carthaginian, was raised just northeast of your CB, at Plew, Missouri, with a Bower's Mill address. My grandparents were" John & Ethel Brunner with the fruit orchard, on Old Highway Route 66 @ Plew. "Brunner's Orchard Dale Farm," 1917-1963 Thanks again for replying and sending such a wonderful tribute to your family's "Cool Brook." And all the other websites....too. Sincerely, Carole "Brunner" Mobley (Marshfield, Missouri)