The Elim Manor: Hidden Gem in Northeastern Missouri
The small town of Bethel in Shelby County, Missouri was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. At the time, there were 26 buildings from the town listed as historically significant; these constituted the official Bethel Historic District. The Bethel Historic District is at the center of town, bisected by Route 15 which runs in a north-south direction, and is contained by the three east-west streets that cross it.
Sadly, many of the original 26 structures have since been lost to decay, and the historic district has shrunk considerably. However, there is one historic building in Bethel that you will not find in the district, despite it being perhaps the most intriguing of all.
Following a relatively short but winding gravel road, less than two miles east from Bethel’s main street (Route 15), there is a house known as “Elim.” Elim particularly catches the eye due to its out-of-place nature. It is a noticeable structure, sitting atop a steep hill, overlooking the North River, and cut out from amongst the tall walnut trees. Built in the late 1840s, the home was named in reference to the Biblical site of encampment after the Exodus from Egypt. Unlike other Bethel colony homes, which were given a more humble appearance, Elim stands alone in its beauty and magnitude. A potential explanation is that Elim was built specifically to house the Bethel Colony’s founder and leader, Dr. Wilhelm Keil.
Keil was not actually a trained doctor, but rather a Christian religious leader with a penchant for mysticism and healing. Enamored by Keil’s powerful sermons, hundreds of German-Americans devoted themselves to his leadership in the first half of the 19th century. In 1844, they followed Keil to Northeast Missouri and established the Bethel colony. Here, under the direction of Keil, the Bethel colonists engaged in a utopian, communistic lifestyle. The same passion that drove them to do this is likely what also motivated them to build Dr. Keil the most spectacular home in Bethel.
Elim is an imposing structure compared to the surrounding environment. It was built three stories high and featured a central hall with two rooms on either side, and a ballroom on the second floor. On the third, topmost floor of the house was Dr. Keil’s herbarium, where he spent great lengths of time crafting his medical cures. Unfortunately, this floor was damaged by a tornado in 1925 and subsequently removed. Today, the structure still features its original double chimneys, rising from both sides of the steeply pitched roof, and two rows of symmetrical windows. Unlike the original, a front and back porch have been added, and the color has changed twice: first, a bubblegum pink with dark green trim, and now a light blue with white trim.
Though Elim could be considered an important vessel of visual history on its own, an understanding of the house’s importance to the surrounding community establishes it as a cultural artifact. Elim was not only a residence, but also a center for social activities. Community processions routinely began at Elim. From the residence’s sloping lawn, colonists would be led through the woods, along the river, and down the main street of the colony until, at last, they reached the church. Whether it was a jubilant parade or a funeral procession, it started at Elim.
Elim was officially placed on the National Register of Historic Places, separate from the previous Bethel district nomination, in 1971. By then, it had been nearly one hundred years since Wilhelm Keil died (1877), leaving the Bethel Colony to dissolve without him. In the years after the colony’s collapse, the remaining colonists sold Elim. The historic home remains privately owned to this day. Its inaccessibility to the public, as well as the site’s seclusion from the town of Bethel itself, makes Elim feel even more like a hidden gem of Missouri’s German history.
