Celebrating National Historic Districts & Places That Matter

The Gustave A. Kleinkauf House

This house is named for Gustave Adam “Gus” Kleinkauf (1871-1959) and his wife Alice May Collier Kleinkauf (1871-1948). Gus was born in Pennsylvania to German parents. Gus was a druggist
and worked for the American Pharmaceutical Co. in Joplin. He was one of eight children and his mother was adamant that they receive an education. Two of Gus’s brothers also became pharmacists.
After living in Texas, by 1921 the family had moved to California where he owned and operated the Crescent Drug Co. The couple died in Long Beach, California.


Architecture
Shed wings project from the north and south elevations. A full-width
hip roof porch spans the primary elevation. It has brick piers with square
wood columns and a staggered brick kneewall. A single, historic fixed
wood window flanks each side of the entrance. Three

In 2012, a fire destroyed The William and Nelle Riseling House located between 523 and 507 S. Sergeant. On his way to work, a neighbor saw the smoke coming from the house and banged on the front door, alerting the two residents and helping them get out.  No one was injured.  The vacant lot was then purchased by the adjoining property owners.  Mr. Riseling was a zinc mine superintendent. 

The Adam Scott House

Adam S. Scott (1851-1937) married Dora A. Hoop Scott (1859-1940) in Ohio before
coming to Joplin in 1896 or 1898. The couple had five children. Adam was active in
politics, was the mayor of Wellston, Ohio, and a personal friend and supporter of President
William McKinley. He was also one of the founders of the Chillicothe, Hamilton, Dayton
Railroad in Ohio. Once in Joplin, Adam was extensively engaged in mining lead and zinc
and at one point was the Superintendent of the Tennessee Mining Company.

Dora was a schoolteacher before her marriage. She was a member of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, National Congress of
Mothers which later became the National Congress of Parents and Teachers (now the
National PTA), the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (a liquor prohibition
organization) and many more religious and social organizations.

ARCHITECTURE – According to folklore, this house was designed by Austin Allen. The house is an example of the Free Classic subtype of the Queen Anne
style. The house has bay windows, hipped dormers, and two brick chimneys that rise from
the roof ridge. Fluted pilasters articulate each corner of the house. Scrolled brackets and
dentil molding ornament the roofline.
A sleeping porch, with the same fluted pilasters, dentil molding and brackets, projects from
the second story. On the second story, bay 2 has a historic stained-glass window.
On the first story, bay 1 has a historic tripartite wood window with leaded glass in the
upper sash, flanked by narrow one-over-one double-hung wood windows. Bay 2 has a
historic wood panel door with oval glazing. Bay 3 has a historic eight-over-one single-hung
wood Craftsman window.
The side-wrap porch and sleeping porch are historic alterations but do not compromise the
integrity of the house.
710 W. 2 nd Street – The brick building behind the Queen Anne house served as a doctor’s
office and women’s clinic—referred to as soiled doves in that era.

The Fletcher Snapp House

Fletcher Taylor Snapp was a member of Joplin High School’s first graduating class of 1887, the first president of the Joplin Automobile Club, Joplin’s mayor from 1922-1926, one of the founders of the Citizens State Bank, a cashier of Cunningham Bank and building chairman during the long process of constructing the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 505 S. Byers Avenue.This house has suffered several devastating fires. The first of which claimed Mr. Snapp’s life when he was 79 years old and that of a handyman. The tragedy occurred when the oil furnace exploded while being repaired. His wife Elizabeth Belle (Betty) Mayes Snapp survived. This brown brick clad house has a porte cochére that provides covered access for visitors arriving by motorized transport—or back in the day for the horse and carriage. The portico, consisting of Ionic columns and a triangular pediment, beckons visitors to enter this stately home. The wrap-around covered porch with its turned balustrades serves as the venue for outdoor gatherings. The main entry door has cut glass sidelights with transoms. Furthermore, the beautiful historic wooden door is enhanced with a decorative oval arched transom. Each story has a curved bay window and all windows have limestone lintels.

The William Houk House

William Houk  1853 ~ 1911

A graduate of the Cincinnati Law School, he wed Edna Catherine Jackson in 1891. Mr. Houk consolidated several mining operations into the Conqueror Zinc Co. serving as its president with his wife as vice president. In 1905 he co-founded the Conqueror Trust Company, and was elected president. Mrs. Houk, was an early feminist, a prohibition activist, poet and writer of short stories. She published a book in 1893 called “Women Wealth Winners: How Women Can Earn Money.” Printed reproductions of her book are available through Amazon.  Edna lists several jobs that a woman could take on before the turn of the century.

NOTE:  Mr. Houk subsequently married Frances R. Hengelsberg, of St. Louis after Edna’s death.  To this union two daughters were born, with the youngest child given the name of Edna!  Boy you don’t see that very often!?

Edna Catherine Jackson | Mrs. William Houk, Married: William in 1891

Born: August 15, 1852 in Eckford, Calhoun County, Michigan

Died: June 1, 1911 in Joplin of Cancer of the Uterus

Interred: Mount Hope Cemetery, Webb City, Missouri

Children: Helen Adelaide Houk born September 17, 1895 in Cincinnati Ohio; Died August 25, 1912 in Joplin of Typhoid Fever

The Thomas Lennan House

Thomas Frank “Tommy” Lennan (1877-1946) was born and raised in Massachusetts and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899. Instead of following the course set by his family to go to sea, he immediately headed for the mining fields of the Midwest. He worked with mines in the Joplin area and Hattenville (later Commerce) Oklahoma. The Joplin Globe reported that “few of the veteran operators in the Tri-State field has as wide and as extensive a mining career as did Mr. Lennan.”

In 1906, he married Charlotte Gregg Lennan (1874-1967), a member of a Joplin pioneer family. When he was not at work, Mr. Lennan was most likely on the golf course at Oak Hill Country Club.

In 1893, Judge Oliver Hazard Picher owned the entire block (Moffet and Sergeant) and landscaped it as a private park surrounded by a stone wall which still stands today! His mansion was located at 204 S. Moffet. Eventually, the block was broken up into five properties with Mr. Lennan building a small cottage at 201 S. Sergeant to live in while his more stately house was being constructed at 219 S. Sergeant. During the Great Depression (1929 to mid-1930s) the owner of the Picher house lost all his money and the bank foreclosed on the property. Rather than find a new owner, the bank demolished the venerable old house.