INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Independence is a town rich with history — and voters are going to be asked to preserve some of it in next week’s municipal election.
Residents will see three bond questions on the ballot April 8 — including Question 3, which would authorize $12 million in bonds for maintenance of historic buildings like Vaile Mansion and upgrades at the city-owned athletic complex.
“We have over $2 million worth of repairs needed on the south side of the mansion,” Pam Fulmer, a member of the Vaile Victorian Society board, said. “There's never been money there.”
The Vaile Victorian Society curates and runs the Vaile Mansion’s museum-like interior, but the city owns and maintains the building and grounds.
Built in 1881 and sitting one mile north of Independence Square, Vaile Mansion is perhaps the greatest example of Second Empire Victorian architecture style in the Kansas City area.
“The art that is put in this house — Mr. Vaile brought in artisans from all over the world to work on this house, and it's a unique structure in the fact that it's one of the top 20 mansions in the United States that should be seen,” Fulmer said.
Elle Decor magazine declared Vaile Mansion one of America’s 20 best historic homes to visit in October 2023 — putting it on the same list as the Biltmore Estate, Hearst Castle, Graceland, the Hemingway House and the Vanderbilt Mansion among other famed estates.
“I don't know that I have a favorite room,” Fulmer said. “It is the feeling that I get when I come in. You begin to accept responsibility; you begin to accept the fact that people love it when they come in. Our Christmas display — we had over 42 trees in here this year — It's just that feeling of, it's my house when I'm in here.”
The Vaile Victorian Society has been awarded some grants and fundraises for some needs, including an ongoing window-restoration project, but it hasn’t been able to keep up with all the work Vaile Mansion requires.
“We're losing the history as our population ages,” John Thornton said. “We need to have those things that we can share with them (the next generation), so that they can appreciate what we've done, what we have built, and what we're trying to save.”
Thornton is the president of Friends of the Chicago-Alton Depot and a member of the Independence Tourism Commission.
“It's personal to me because I became involved after I retired and have spent almost 30 years now working on the different sites around the city and trying to keep them up and keep them improved,” Thornton said.
He doesn’t want Independence’s place in history to be forgotten and neither does City Council Member John Perkins.
“We're getting ready to celebrate 200 years of independence being designated as a city and the Vaile Mansion ... is a part of our fabric and part of our history that we would like to continue for generations,” he said.
That’s why the Independence City Council included historic buildings — most notably, the Vaile Mansion, the Bingham Waggoner Estate and the Truman Memorial Building — on the trio of bond questions it crafted in December.
“Keeping these sites fully functional and having full access so people and the visitors can come and enjoy them is very important,” Perkins said.
Voters will weigh in April 8 at the polls, where they also will decide two other bond questions.
Question 1, which accounts for $130 million of the $197 million overall ask, would create a new Independence Police Department headquarters as part of a justice center near East 23rd Street and Missouri 291. Municipal court and the municipal jail also would move to the proposed site.
The first bond question also provides money to tear down the existing IPD headquarters and purchase the Jackson County Regional Animal Shelter, which the city operates but doesn’t own.
Question 2 would provide $30 million to beef up Independence’s street-resurfacing program, $15 million to repair or replace aging bridges, and $10 million for sidewalks or sidewalks improvements around seven elementary schools in the city.
A 57% yes vote is required for passage.
Any bonds approved by voters would be repaid through a 20-year property-tax increase. If all three pass, it would raise the property tax on a $200,000 home in Independence by $311.60 per year.
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