4/6/98
By: Bev Darr
Courier-Post Staff Writer

When this summer's tourists begin arriving in Hannibal, a large percentage of them will not only be visiting Mark Twain's Boyhood Home and Museum, they also will be traveling a few blocks to the west for a look at Molly Brown's birthplace.

The small frame house is located on Denkler's Alley, less than a block south of U.S. 36. It is being restored by local lawyers Terrell and Vicki Dempsey, and it will soon resemble its appearance during the years it was occupied by the family of the young Molly Brown (Maggie Tobin).

This year is an opportune time for reopening the Molly Brown Home, because interest in Brown, heroine of the historic sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, has been revived by the popularity of the movie "Titanic," which was recently voted best motion picture of 1997.

The Dempseys have been informed that attendance at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver has increased dramatically since the Titanic movie was released.

They hope to have the Hannibal home open to the public as a museum by June 1, with the restoration process progressing faster than they had planned. Their original target date was Brown's birthday, July 18. The rapid pace of the restoration has resulted from all the volunteer help they are receiving, Vicki said. "We are really pleased with how many people have helped and volunteered their time." Hannibal Mayor Robert Maloney is among those lending their carpenter skills for the project.

Most of the volunteer work is being done weekends, and anyone who would like to join the group is invited to call the Dempseys. "We have not run out of things to do," Vicki said. Next they will be painting the exterior and doing yard work.

Earlier this year the Dempseys bought the property from the Marion County Historical Society for $3,500 and announced plans for its restoration.

After an Associated Press story publicized their plans, the Dempseys were contacted by several descendants of Molly Brown. "It has generated some interest, and hopefully it will continue," Vicki said, explaining they are restoring the home at their expense because they believe it is "an important piece of Hannibal history that needed to be reopened for the public, and to carry on what the Marion County Historical Society started in the '60s. The historical society saved it in the '60s, and it wouldn't be here if they hadn't taken care of it then."

The house was saved from demolition when the historical society bought it in 1965. It was renovated and opened as the Molly Brown Home in 1970.

Within a few years the society was not able to keep it open and the house had been closed for many years until being purchased by the Dempseys.

Although a small admission fee will be charged at the newly-restored home, the Dempseys plan to donate any profits, possibly to the Friends of Historic Hannibal organization.

The museum's floor plan was prepared by David Denman, an architectural historian, and Denise Dobbins, an architect, both of St. Joseph.

Although most of the interior will be modern, there will be a four-foot space in the corner of a room where the original boards will be exposed, to offer a look at the original house.

One room will have storyboards, featuring Molly Brown and also her role in the Titanic disaster.

Molly Brown showed ambition from childhood.

Molly Brown was born Margaret (Maggie) Tobin in 1867. She was the fourth of six children in the John and Johanna Tobin family. She began working at 13 at the Garth Tobacco Factory on Palmyra Road, which was near her home. Later she worked as a waitress at the Park Hotel.

But Maggie Tobin wanted more than an Irish laborer's family could offer, and at age 17 she took her first train ride, following her brother Daniel and brother-in-law John Laundrigan to Leadville, Colo.

It was in Leadville that Maggie Tobin met and married J.J. Brown in 1886. He later became wealthy when gold was discovered in a mine where he was a superintendent.

Daniel Tobin returned to Hannibal to marry Mary Brophy Grace, whom he took back to Colorado. After Mary's death, Maggie Brown raised the Tobins' three children.

One of Brown's half-sisters, Katie, remained in Hannibal and married John Becker. Brown often visited the Beckers' home at 322 North St.

Although Maggie and J.J. Brown lived in a Denver mansion and she was active in charity work, she was not accepted by Denver society until after the Titanic disaster gave her the recognition she had craved.

She was honored for helping the people in her lifeboat remain calm before being rescued and for later working with the injured people on the rescue ship, the Carpathia. She had discovered many immigrant women and children who had lost their men in the Titanic were penniless, and she raised nearly $7,000 for them. Brown continued to help them, being bilingual, and saw that they were taken to the people in New York who could help them.

In 1930 Brown received the Legion of Honor in France for her heroism in the Titanic disaster.

Her charity work included saving Eugene Field's home in Denver from destruction. She bought it in 1930 and gave it to Denver for a library and literary shrine.

J.J. Brown, from whom Molly had been separated for several years, died in 1922.

Maggie Brown died in Oct. 28, 1932, at age 65.

Her son, Lawrence, died in 1949, and her daughter, Helen Benziger, died in 1969.

When the musical "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" debuted in New York City in the 1960s, Maggie's name was changed to Molly.

Editor's note: Some information for this article was supplied by Hurley and Roberta Hagood, Hannibal historians and authors of numerous historical books.