This photograph shows the beautiful Louis Wilson Reps residence, located at 1300 E. Walnut. The original address was 1010 E Walnut. It should not be confused with the William Reps house which stood at 935 East Walnut until it was razed, with much public outcry, in 1985. William Reps, the father of Louis Reps, built the east Walnut house for his family a few years after they moved to Springfield in 1899. William Reps owned the department store on the Public Square in downtown Springfield called "Reps Dry Goods."

Louis Reps, the owner of the house in the postcard, was born in St. Louis in 1890. After moving to Springfield at the age of nine, he attended Central High, Drury College, and the University of Notre Dame. In 1911 he joined his father's business. After a 1939 fire, Louis Reps closed the store and became executive director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, a post which he held until 1956. Reps played an important part in bringing the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners to Springfield when 40 other cities were vying for it. Other important businesses and institutions he helped bring to Springfield were the O'Reilly General Army Hospital, St. John's Hospital, the Ozark Empire Fair, Kraft Foods, Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation, Royal McBee, and Zenith Corporation.

Louis Reps sold the house in 1946. The Herbert Masters family owned the house from 1947 to 1958. From 1959 until 1971, Jack Hume owned it. From 1972 to 1987, J. Edward Frost owned it. It has been owned by Kent O. Hyde since 1989.