Students lodge in history
Shannon Walter
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: TruLife
Amid academic buildings, residence halls and administrative buildings, there is one house on campus that is home to eight students, with the luxury of proximity to campus and a lot of space.
The building is known as the International House and is located at 111 E. Patterson St., between Magruder Hall and its adjacent parking lot.
E. Sandborn Smith, partner of Ezra and Edward Grim, built the house in 1924, according to the 1987 Historic Inventory. He was born in Salina, Kan., but relocated to Macon, Mo., in 1883 so he could attend St. James Academy. He went to University of Maryland Medical School to complete his degree, but immediately returned to Macon. He left again to serve as a field doctor in World War I but returned home at the end of the war.
In 1924, he built the Tudor Revival style house with his wife, Emily Frey Smith. In 1946, the home was left to their only daughter, Emily Montague Frey Smith King, and her husband, Boyd King.
When the Kings passed away, the house was left to their surviving family members, said House Coordinator Josh Huber, a resident of the house.
Several members of the board for the house decided to use it as an international house for Campus Christian Fellowship, a group that reaches out to the campus and community to spread the word of God.
"Keevin McGlumphrey, who is the international minister for CCF, had been praying for an international house which can be used to reach out to international students as a place for them to live and do other activities in, and that was also in line with what [the board] wanted, so it just worked out in an awesome way," Huber said.
The house currently is home to seven international students - four from Nepal, and one each from Japan, Indonesia and Nigeria. Huber, from Nebraska, is the only American who lives there, and serves as a house adviser.
"The upstairs is defined as living area but the downstairs is pretty much [for anyone]," Huber said. "It's weird when people knock. Everyone just walks in."
The building is known as the International House and is located at 111 E. Patterson St., between Magruder Hall and its adjacent parking lot.
E. Sandborn Smith, partner of Ezra and Edward Grim, built the house in 1924, according to the 1987 Historic Inventory. He was born in Salina, Kan., but relocated to Macon, Mo., in 1883 so he could attend St. James Academy. He went to University of Maryland Medical School to complete his degree, but immediately returned to Macon. He left again to serve as a field doctor in World War I but returned home at the end of the war.
In 1924, he built the Tudor Revival style house with his wife, Emily Frey Smith. In 1946, the home was left to their only daughter, Emily Montague Frey Smith King, and her husband, Boyd King.
When the Kings passed away, the house was left to their surviving family members, said House Coordinator Josh Huber, a resident of the house.
Several members of the board for the house decided to use it as an international house for Campus Christian Fellowship, a group that reaches out to the campus and community to spread the word of God.
"Keevin McGlumphrey, who is the international minister for CCF, had been praying for an international house which can be used to reach out to international students as a place for them to live and do other activities in, and that was also in line with what [the board] wanted, so it just worked out in an awesome way," Huber said.
The house currently is home to seven international students - four from Nepal, and one each from Japan, Indonesia and Nigeria. Huber, from Nebraska, is the only American who lives there, and serves as a house adviser.
"The upstairs is defined as living area but the downstairs is pretty much [for anyone]," Huber said. "It's weird when people knock. Everyone just walks in."
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