This handsome residence at 55th and State Line, almost obscured by trees and plantings, was the home of C.C. Peters, who was secretary of Emery- Bird-Thayer's.Peters went into the Emery-Bird organization in 1884 when the store was on Main and Delaware, south of 7th. The company then was known as the Bullene, Moore & Emery Company. His first job was a floor walker and assistant to the superintendent. When he was 22 years old he was made general superintendent of the store. In the first years of his half-century of service, he worked as many as 18 hours a day, opening and closing the store himself and sometimes making his bed on a counter. In later years he rose to the position of secretary. An early acquaintance described him as a man of imagination and energy. He also accepted civic responsibilities. He was active in the old Commercial Club, Merchants Association, twice was director of the Chamber of Commerce, was an early backer of the Ten-Year Plan, Safety Council and was always ready to promote the commercial development of the city, especially in building construction in the Downtown District. When the New Deal created the NRA, Peters was appointed by President Roosevelt to serve without compensation in the task of organizing business in the recovery campaign of 1933. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Peters lived at 36th and Wyandotte. (The street was a dirt road bordered by a board sidewalk.) In 1915 they moved to the outskirts of the city and purchased four acres of ground in a pasture at 55th and State Line. On that tract they built one of the finest homes in the Country Club District, calling it Westvue. The residence of the Georgian period was the architectural design of Henry F. Hoit. The grounds were landscaped by Hare & Hare. The home and landscaping occupied much of Mrs. Peter's attention. The Peter's residence contained 19 rooms, exclusive of two sleeping porches, five bathrooms, dressing rooms, pantries, numerous closets and halls. A card room 17 by 18 feet and a billiard room 19 by 23 were in a basement, besides heating and laundry plants and fruit closets. The walls of the card and billiard rooms were of rustic stone trimmed in oak.The main rooms of the house were finished in white with woodwork of quarter sawed oak and black American walnut. The living room was 19 by 24. Handsome Oriental rugs covered the hardwood floors.The three-story home had servants' quarters on the third floor which contained five rooms, a sleeping porch, two baths and closets. Kansas City Times, March 14, 1980.
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