The Elms Addition Subdivision Real Estate And Homes For Sale In Excelsior Springs, MO

In 1997, The Elms was just coming out of bankruptcy and had new ownership. The Elms had purchased several properties on Elms Blvd and Kansas City Avenue that they intend to turn into craft shops. These homes had set vacant for several years. I was approached by the city to help sell these properties. The "deal" was that the buyer had to rehab them within six months and must owner occupy them.

Remember that the photo of Harry Truman holding up the newspaper that read "Dewey Defeats Truman"? It was taken at The Elms. So with Harry Truman's personal motto of "The Buck stops Here", I started. These properties were all in poor condition and included several single family homes, along with a several story apartment building, a church, the old rectory, a 4plex, an abandoned insurance office (now The Boulevard Florist), and the McCleary Clinic (now a law office). The McCleary Clinic had been vacant for years and had a huge hole in the roof. Along comes local attorney Tim Tipton. His grandmother had worked there and Tim hated to see the buiding sit empty. We still laugh about how much your emotions can cost.

The Elms purchased the old apartment building and the city tore it down and made a parking lot for the area residents in exchange for no on-street parking. The city then landscaped the median area of the boulevard. There is an amazing thing that happened. The existing homeowners started doing work on their homes and the area flourished.

So today take a casual stroll down Elms Boulevard and see what a little bit of "Give `em hell Harry" attitude can do.