It’s quite a house, with three stories and a basement. It cost almost $75,000 to build. In the first one hundred years after it was occupied it cost more than ten times that amount to operate it, repair it, and renovate it. Great people and scoundrels alike have lived in it, been entertained in it, or just visited it. It has been the scene of grand celebrations and great tragedy. Lodgings for Missouri’s Governors in the first half century of statehood had not been universally popular among the chief executives and their families. Several Governors had complained that their quarters weren’t adequate. Two rooms in the first Capitol in Jefferson City were set aside for Governor’s quarters. That was fine for John Miller, a bachelor and the first to live there. But when Daniel Dunklin took over, he needed room for his family and a mansion was started.
