grandparents’ families landed in Tulsa, OK. After the voyage south, his grandfather’s parents both died of tuberculosis. This caused his grand- father and two great-uncles, who were all still children at the time, to be sold as slaves to the highest bidder. Ben said he has tin photographs of his grandfather and great uncles tied up during the auctions. Sadly, the brothers never saw each other again. Homer, Ben’s grandfather, had luck on his side that day and was sold to a family in Clinton, MO. The family adopted him as their son and he worked alongside their three other kids. Down the road from his grandfather was another Potawatomi girl Edith, and her sister Pearl. As they grew, Homer and Edith grew fancy of one another, and well, the rest is history. Ben is now the last living relative and inherited all of his family’s American Indian heirlooms that are scattered throughout the house. Moving into the dining room, an almost life-sized wooden horse that Ben bought from two men out of the back of their pickup truck in KC takes up a good portion of the room. A few guitars lie on the floor. Ben said he owns 117 guitars and thousands of music records and albums. The kitchen remains as simple as it would have been when the house was built. On the ceiling dangles the original light fixtures from the old Russell Stover’s factory that he bought in an auction for only $8 apiece. Upstairs to the second floor, to the left is a large sewing room for his wife, Deborah, with beautiful beaded garments. And down the hall, Ben made two bathrooms—one “man-cave” bathroom for himself, along with a more feminine, elegant bathroom for his wife. In the master bedroom, above the bed hangs a signed Thomas Hart Benton piece. The spacious entryway in Ben’s house makes a statement with Native American artifacts, painted banister, cowboy hats, a salvaged door and William Morris wallpaper.
Ben said Benton stayed in the house years ago for seven months while he was living in Kansas City after his own house had some fire damage. Connected to the master room is a bedroom-sized study and dressing room. It also houses more than 88 pairs of cowboys boots that Ben has collected second-hand. Staying true to his unique taste in flooring, the stairs going up to the third floor are a shiny, bright teal. The entire top level has a completely different sense of style compared to the rest of the house. Ben’s grand- daughters’ room is bright and airy—just perfect for a little girl. In an- other room is a big screen television with two scooped chairs that Ben found in a dumpster and had revitalized next to vintage movie posters. There’s a desk made out of an old Eighties exercise bike with the wheel and all. Ben said he still trying to figure out the space, but it’s a work in progress. Overall, Ben said he’s content with the outcome of the house. The house allowed him to have a space for his collections. He said he would not have been able to do it without the designers of American Hatfield and a host of craftsmen and local artists who helped him in the comple- tion of the house. “I either needed to change the house, or change myself,” he said. “I decided to change the house and I had a lot of help along the way.”
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Samantha Collins is a freelance writer and editor in Kansas City. She’s a recent University of Kansas journalism graduate (go Jayhawks!) who can be found buried in a good book, traveling the country, and even world, or wandering around Kansas City.
20 vintagekc summer 2016
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