Portrait of Laura Musser, 1907
Tris Meran, France
LAURA MUSSER (1877-1964)
Laura Musser was born November
23, 1877 in Muscatine to Peter C. and Tamson R. Musser. In 1903 she married
Edwin L. McColm, president and owner of McColm and Company, Muscatine’s
leading dry goods store. In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. McColm and her father moved into
the mansion at 1314 Mulberry Avenue. Laura always retained ownership of the
residence; however in 1937, three years after Edwin McColm’s death, she
married William T. Atkins of Kansas City, Missouri. Except for frequent trips
back to Muscatine she resided in Kansas City until her death in 1964 at the age
of 87.
The death of Laura Musser began
the chain of events that provided Muscatine with an art gallery and museum. Her
heirs, Mary Catherine McWhirter, a step-daughter, and Mary Musser Gilmore, a
niece, donated the home and grounds to the city in her memory. A $100,000.00
endowment fund was also given by them to assist in the mansion’s maintenance.
LAURA MUSSER MUSEUM
The gift of the Musser Mansion in
1965 by the heirs of Laura Musser, to be used as a memorial art gallery and
museum was the beginning of an art museum facility in Muscatine.
The Musser Mansion was designed
by Muscatine architect Henry W. Zeidler and completed by Peter Musser in 1908
for his daughter Laura and her husband Edwin L. McColm. Built in the Edwardian
style, the mansion contains twelve rooms flanking a generous central hall on the
first and second floors. Architectural details including mantelpieces, stained
glass windows, woodwork, light fixtures and hardware are distinctive examples of
the period. An elevator provides access to all levels.
As you enter the mansion you will
see a portrait of Laura Musser (oil on canvas) painted c.1907 by Tris Meran, a
French artist, after a photograph taken of her at age 29 (1906).
DINING ROOM
As was common in other
interiors of the early 20th century, the Musser dining room expresses a
horizontal emphasis through the use of a lower ceiling and wide flat woodwork.
The box-beamed ceiling, now returned to its original varnished oak surface, is
also reflective of the Craftsman-style. The high wooden wainscots are another
characteristic feature of dining rooms of this period. The wallpaper chosen,
called "thistle" replicates a design by British theorist and designer
William Morris. Visitors will note that the overall effect is much darker, this
is because of the once widely held belief that dark interiors in dining rooms
aided in digestion.
LIBRARY
The library's focal point is the
leaded glass bookcases, which are original to the mansion. Many of the books are
rare first editions, some signed by the author and given to Laura Musser as
gifts.
MUSIC ROOM
Laura Musser was an accomplished
musician. In 1921 she purchased the Estey Player Pipe Organ (built in 1919) for
$10,500 and added the Music Room to accommodate it. A fifteen square foot room
screened by a wooden grill behind the organ, houses the 731 pipes, 11 manual
ranks, 2 pedal ranks, plus chimes and an unusual glass harp. The organ can be
played both manually and automatically. About 200 player rolls in the collection
include classics and popular tunes of the 1920s and 30s. The player mechanism is
essentially a computer and runs on air pressure (from a bellows) generated in a
blower and generator structure, about 5 feet by 8 feet in dimension, which is
housed in the basement beneath the organ.
RECEPTION ROOM
The reception room was
traditionally the room of the home to which visitors were first escorted by a
maid or butler. Here they would wait to be formally "received" by the
lady or the gentleman of the house.
SECOND FLOOR GALLERIES
The second floor of the Musser
Mansion originally accommodated a master bedroom suite including a wardrobe
room, two guest bedrooms, three servants rooms, a sleeping porch in back, and a
sun porch over the porte-cochere, plus bathrooms. Some structural changes have
been made to facilitate gallery space for museum collections and changing
exhibitions, a reference library and conference room.
SARAH EAKER HUGHES MEMORIAL
BEDROOM
The furnishings in the Sarah
Eaker Hughes Memorial Bedroom (formerly the master bedroom) were given and
perpetuated by an endowment bequest from the late Alice Dodge Schaeffer of
Davenport. Mrs. Hughes, her aunt, lived at 715 West Third Street in Muscatine.
The home had been built in 1852 and torn down in 1937 when the Robert Jackson
family built a new house on the location.
The furnishings are of the Empire
Period and include a bed, dresser, sofa and drop leaf table of mahogany. Mrs.
Schaeffer’s bequest and endowment made possible certain remodeling to suggest
a Victorian ambiance of c.1850-60.
