The Josiah B. and Sara Moore House is a house in
Villisca, Iowa
Villisca is a city in Montgomery County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,132 at the time of the 2020 census. It is most notable for the unsolved axe mass murder that took place in the town during the summer of 1912.
Geography
Villis ...
, United States. The house was the site of the 1912
brutal murder of eight people, including six children. A documentary has been made about the murder, which remains unsolved. The house was renovated in the 1990s and serves as the Villisca Axe Murder House.
History
Josiah Moore and his family bought the house in 1903 and lived there until 1912. On the night of June 9, 1912, the six members of the Moore family and two house guests were bludgeoned to death in the residence. All eight victims, including six children, had severe head wounds inflicted with an axe.
House
Renovation
The house was built in 1868, on lot 310. After the murders, the house went through the possession of eight people, the most recent acquisition occurring in 1994 by Darwin Linn. He and his wife successfully restored the house to its original condition at the time of the murders. In 1997, the house was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. The
Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance
Preservation Iowa, formerly called the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance (IHPA), was founded in 1989 by members of the public concerned about the destruction of significant historic sites and buildings in the state of Iowa.
Preservation Iowa sp ...
recognized the site with the ''Preservation at its Best'' award in 1997.
See also
*
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Iowa
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
References
External links
Villisca Axe Murder House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Josiah B. and Sara, House
Houses completed in 1868
Houses in Montgomery County, Iowa
National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Iowa
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa
Queen Anne architecture in Iowa
Museums in Montgomery County, Iowa
1868 establishments in Iowa