By Vaughn Prost
info@prostarchive.space
New schools, office buildings, medical buildings, manufacturing facilities, churches, and a variety of other new construction projects have been part of the Prost Builders’ lineup of projects for three-quarters of a century. With a legacy of quality work completed for clients throughout Missouri and beyond, the company carries on the Prost family’s tradition of excellence that began eight generations ago in Europe.
With such a long and thriving history, it’s no wonder the company — now employee-owned — has a lengthy portfolio that is brimming with stunning, historically significant renovation and restoration projects. And the Prost Builders reach has certainly been statewide.
Historical renovation and restoration projects include the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City, and the Gasconade County Courthouse in Hermann. Prost also has its stamp of excellence on historic buildings and facilities on the University of Missouri, Columbia College, and Stephen College campuses, including Jesse Hall and Swallow Hall, Dulany Hall, and Senior Hall.
Some of the most visible work has been done at the Governor’s Mansion and the Missouri State Capitol Building. Other projects include historic renovation and restoration of the Haas building in Neosho – a 30,000 square foot structure built in 1898 — and adaptive reuse and renovation of the historic Spanish revival architecture of the Marquette Hotel, now a Class A office space in downtown Cape Girardeau.
Several churches with long histories and remarkable architecture that have involved Prost Builders’ renovation and restoration expertise include St. Joseph Church in Westphalia, Sacred Heart Church in Columbia, and the Central United Church of Christ in Jefferson City..
But there’s another particular project that captures the essence and experience of living in the Show-Me State. It’s the historic renovation and restoration of the home that Mark Twain — the pen name of author and master storyteller Samuel Clemens — grew up in. The house in Hannibal, Missouri, was built in 1844 by Mark Twain’s father, John Marshall Clemens, in 1844.
You don’t have to be an avid student of history to know that Hannibal and his boyhood home provided the setting for the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn novels, which are considered two of the greatest American novels in history. (Twain also worked as an apprentice with a printer and then as a typesetter, as well as writer for his brother’s newspaper, The Hannibal Journal. His story — and the classic stories he wrote — include becoming a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, where he adopted the “Twain” monicker.)
Prost Builders is proud of its role in restoring and renovating Twain’s boyhood home, which is listed as a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Through the years, the house underwent several additions and changes. The home is now restored to its original size and design when it was occupied by the Clemens family. The house was leaning nearly 10 inches out of plumb, making this project very delicate to restore.
Pressure was applied to the wall timbers, allowing the house to be leaned up to plumb again. The house was moved three-quarters of an inch every other day towards plumb until the leaning was corrected. A restored chimney and addition on the back of the house was built to bring the home into conformance with the design and size of the house that Samuel Clemens remembered as a child.
Whether it’s a new build, like a medical office, school, church, manufacturing plant, or an historic renovation and restoration project, Prost Builders is resolved to bring to the construction client a standard of quality and dependability unparalleled in the construction industry
