An old frame building at 1318 Lafayette Street in St. Joseph, Missouri is rapidly falling into ruins, a building that has been one of the most famous landmarks in St. Joseph, one that formerly drew so many eager visitors that caretakers made their living showing visitors though the house at 15 cents each.

Jesse James, notorious bandit died in this building, died with his boots on, although not as gloriously as any old time man would have imagined for Jesse James was shot, not while defending himself or his home, but while he stood on a chair hanging a picture on the wall.

Not so many years ago visitors came in sizable numbers to see the old James home. They were the men and women who, when they visited the place where Jesse James had fallen. Most of them carried away a little souvenir with them.

Caretakers often had preserved a small piece off the round of the chair upon which the famous bandit stood while hanging the picture. Priceless souvenir, that, and it usually was sold to some visitor. If Jesse James could have been standing on a chair that had as many rungs as have been sold under a guarantee!

But there are only a few visitors to the old home now. It hasn’t been painted since the bandit was shot. It is almost bare. Boards in the floor are rotting. The window frames are coming apart and the foundation is crumbling.

The Buchanan County Historical Society refuses to preserve the place, not because of its fading popularity, but because they believe their work to be that of maintaining the historic places in St. Joseph and the county, and says that "no particular benefit to the reputation of the city or the state could come from preservation of the gunman’s old home."

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