Collectible ‘Eubank dolls’ made by hand in Hannibal
The Tulsa World newspaper carried this advertisement for Eubank Dolls in its Dec. 10, 1942 edition. Mark Twain, in his classic white suit, is pictured second from left. The dolls were hand made in Hannibal. newspapers.com
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Eubank dolls, hand made in Hannibal beginning in the late 1930s, remain globally popular with collectors, garnering much more than their original price tag in today’s online auction sales.
Their creator, Wilma Eubank Sanderson Pulliam, grew up on Sierra Street, Hannibal’s South Side, the daughter of a fireman/engineer for the Burlington Railroad, John Earl Sanderson, and his wife, Addie.
During the 1930s, Americans took to the roadways in earnest, criss-crossing the country on a new system of paved highways, including Route 66, which offered a paved route from Chicago to Los Angeles. This highway, and connecting routes, in addition to the newly completed Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, brought travelers right to Hannibal’s front door.
In 1935, the Mark Twain Museum opened in temporary quarters, inside the Hannibal Trust Company building, on the northeast corner of Third and Broadway. This sent out the message to travelers that Hannibal was open for business.
Fueled by this growing interest by the traveling public to witness - first hand - where Sam Clemens grew up, Mrs. Pulliam saw an opportunity. She designed a series of dolls based on Twain’s fictional characters. She named this collection Eubank dolls, and watched as demand grew for the dolls, which were adopted by children and adults alike, from all reaches of the country.
The dolls included Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly, Huck Finn, and of course, Mark Twain himself, standing 11 1/2 inches tall. Each doll had a head, arms and legs made of composition and hand painted. The bodies were cotton over wire construction, allowing the dolls to sit or stand or assume life-like poses.
In addition to her Twain-themed dolls, Mrs. Pulliam also produced and sold storybook characters and historical figures.
Eubank
The name Mrs. Pulliam chose for her company was her middle name, but it was also a family name of long standing. Ancestry records trace her family lineage to Mary Polly Eubank, (1765-1829) Wilma Eubank Sanderson Pulliam’s great-great-great-great grandmother.
Wilma's grandfather was John Eubank Sanderson (1847-1913), one of the pioneers of Pike County, Mo., who raised his large family at Eolia.
Wilma’s personal story represents the era in which she was born and raised.
War sacrifices
At the end of May 1918, as Allies were pushing back the German forces near the Marne River in France, 53 graduates of Hannibal High School, then located at 1020 Broadway, stepped forward to accept their diplomas.
As a member of the graduating class, Wilma Sanderson listened intently as the keynote speaker, the Rev. Dr. Edgar DeWitt Jones of Bloomington, Ill., encouraged the young people to “keep the home fires burning.”
The message he presented was directly reflective of the times.
“In the first year of our participation in the war,” Rev. DeWitt said, “50 percent of the best men teachers were in some kind of war service and 10 percent of the best women teachers were serving the government.”
By emphasizing the critical teacher shortage facing the district, he implored: “I am hoping that out of this fine class there may go out many teachers with the highest ideals of noble calling.”
Available teachers with college diplomas were assigned to fill high school vacancies. Qualified high school graduates were tapped to teach at the elementary level.
Answering the call to fill the grade school corps for the fall of 1918 was Wilma Sanderson. Other classmates included: Ada Seibel, Lorene Garland, Clara Marshall, Frances Wilcox, Dorothy Martin and Vivian Lake.
Meanwhile, during the summer of 1918, a fellow South Sider, Albert Pulliam, who had been attending the Missouri University at Columbia for two years, enlisted, and was assigned to the 336th field artillery, 87th division, United States Army. Pulliam arrived in France by mid September 1918.
Six months later, following the war’s end and his subsequent discharge, Pulliam returned to Hannibal and went to work as a chemist for the Atlas Portland Cement Company.
Wilma Sanderson taught a second year for the Hannibal school district, at South School.
Then, in October 1920, after each contributed to the war cause, Pulliam and Sanderson were married.
By this time, Pulliam had already lost both of his parents. His father, Benjamin M. Pulliam, died in 1898. His mother, the former Mary Rebecca Ritter, was re-married to A.W. Hunstock in 1902. She died in 1913, when Albert was about 17.
He thus lived with his step-father in a small house at 527 Riverside Street. After his marriage, Albert and Wilma settled into a little house nearby, at 521 Riverside.
Circa 1929, they purchased a cottage at 3231 St. Mary’s Avenue, and by 1937, they had moved to 3214 Pleasant Street.
Albert F. and Wilma Pulliam, the Courier-Post reported, made structural changes to the Pleasant Street house.
The Old English style residence at 3214 Pleasant was a five-room house. They converted the house into a two-apartment house, one apartment with five rooms, and the other four rooms. Each had a front door facing Pleasant Street.
In 1940, they were living at 3214 A. Pleasant with their son, 12-year-old James. Their boarder was Alta M. Gilliand, 44, a teacher at Hannibal High School.
Off to Branson
The Pullmans pulled up their Hannibal stakes in 1950, moving to Branson. They first purchased the New Haven Tourist Court, north on Highway 65. Two years later they sold it and purchased a big two-story white building in which they set up the business known as “Eubank Doll House.” It was located on highway 65 near the Lake Taneycomo bridge on the southern edge of Branson’s business district. They ultimately painted the building pink.
In 1956, the Pulliams opened a second gift shop in Branson, “Country Cousins.” It was next door to the Owen’s Theater, built in 1936 and still in operation today.
Albert F. Pulliam died in 1968. Mrs. Pulliam owned the business for a total of 25 years, until selling it in 1977 to Mr. and Mrs. Lane Girot of Springfield, Mo. Mrs. Pulliam died in 1988.
Sisters
Wilma Sanderson was the oldest child born to James E. and Addie Sanderson. Her youngest sister was Margaret Virginia, (1913-1995; Margaret was married to Nicholas Hilt of Ralls County, Mo.) Another daughter, Mary E. Sanderson, born circa 1906, died in August 1909, at the age of 3. At the time of young Mary’s death, the family was living at 1013 Fulton Ave.
State honor
Mrs. Pulliam’s venture into the doll making business brought her state-wide recognition. In 1948, she was one of 22 women of achievement recognized by the Group Action Council of St. Louis. The women were honored for their work in 13 fields, ranging from fine arts to community service. Mrs. Pulliam was recognized for her contributions to the field of fine arts.
A sampling of Mark Twain-related Eubank dolls may be viewed at this site:
Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com
