JOPLIN HIGH SCHOOL
During the fall of 1915 Joplin voters passed a $350,000 bond issue to purchase property, as well
as construct and furnish a new high school. In 1916 the Kansas City architectural firm of Smith,
Rea, and Lovett, along with Austin Allen, were selected to design the high school. At the time
Mr. Allen had offices in Joplin and Kansas City. Less than a year later, school officials were
saddened by the news concerning the death of Austin Allen.Ten out of twenty school district buildings were damaged or destroyed by the 2011 Joplin
Tornado, but this historic building was spared. Today it houses Administration, the Gifted
Center, Franklin Technology Center-Adult Education, and Memorial Education Center. The
building will continue to serve Joplin into the next 100 years.Unfortunately, Mr. Allen never saw
the completion of this three-story red brick structure. Classes began at Joplin Hight School on
January 21, 1918, with 31 teachers consisting of 22 female instructors. Their maximum salary
was $80 a month. The august structure has been the most versatile building in the Joplin School
District. Students, representing ages from preschool to high school, passed through the storied
walls. For a decade the building was the home of Joplin Junior College. (1958-1967) – Excerpt
from the Joplin History & Mineral Museum 2021 calendar.
Austin Allen, The Architect… Remembered
Sunday – December 3, 2023
Joplin | Webb City | Oronogo
1:00 to 6:00 PM
The lecture starts at 1:00 pm. Tour sites open at 1:30 and run until 6:00 pm. Guests can pick up their tickets at headquarters before or after the lecture and then start their self-guided tour of the sites. Guests can visit the sites in any order.
Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Inc. will host a lecture and tour on Sunday, December 3rd from 1:00 to 6:00 pm featuring eighteen historic structures built between 1890 and 1917 designed or associated with the distinguished local architect, Mr. Austin Allen. Tour sites include Joplin City Hall, which was originally built as the Newman Building, St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, the United Hebrew Congregation Temple, Old Elk’s Club, and many more historic buildings in use today or under renovation. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to tour the ongoing restoration of the Olivia Apartments or stand inside Austin Allen’s mausoleum—his final resting place at Mount Hope Cemetery.
1:00 PM – Lecture by Brad Belk on the life and work of Austin Allen, Joplin’s premier architect between 1903 and 1917
Doors open at 12:15.
Brad Belk, Principal Historian & House Site Director for Joplin Historical Neighborhoods, Inc. and Community Historian for Missouri Southern State University will deliver a lecture on the life and work of Mr. Allen at tour headquarters, the Joplin Schools Administrative Building, 310 West Eighth Street, Joplin. The administrative building, originally Joplin High School, was designed in 1916 by Mr. Allen.
A commemorative booklet (which is also the ticket and map) will describe each tour site and its history. The tour includes fifteen sites in Joplin, two in Webb City, and one in Oronogo. The tour will have approximately ten sites where the interior and exterior will be open to guests. The remaining eight sites will only be visible from the outside or street view.
Purchase tickets in advance at www.murphysburg.org for $25 per person til December 2. Tickets can also be purchased on December 3rd at tour headquarters for $30 per person. Children ages 12 years and under are admitted for free with an adult.
Due to the design of these historic properties, handicap accessibility is limited. There are two handicap entrances on the west side of the Joplin Schools Administrative Building at 825 South Pearl Avenue.
$30 Day of Tour at tour headquarters, Joplin Schools Administrative Building, 310 W. Eighth Street, Joplin (doors open at 12:15 PM)
Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Inc. is a non-profit organization that implements
charitable and educational activities, which promotes and stimulates historic awareness
throughout the Joplin area. The Historic Murphysburg District is generally on Sergeant,
Moffet, and Byers Avenues between First to Seventh Streets near downtown Joplin.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Paula Callihan, Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Inc.; 417-208-9376;
[email protected]; www.Murphysburg.org.
The Joseph S. Walker House
Joseph Scott Walker, Sr., along with his wife Mary Ellen, were original owners of this house. They moved out in 1903. Joseph was considered a “capitalist” and an ore buyer for the Edgar Zinc Company of St. Louis. He was superintendent of the Sunday school at the First Methodist Church of Joplin and for six years was president of the Jasper County Sunday School Association.
Next came Charles W. McAbee, and wife Louella. He was vice-president of Independent Powder Co. of Missouri and later president of Independent Candy & Manufacturing Co. at 4th and Missouri Avenue.
George Washington Moore resided at the house from 1931 to 1937. However, in 1938, he and wife Ida moved across the street to the “old Schifferdecker home” at 422 S. Sergeant. It is noteworthy because he “swapped houses” with the Hurwitz-Luecke Family that had lived at the mansion since 1920. According to the Webb City Sentinel, George was elected the mayor of Webb City in 1904 and was credited with lifting Webb City out of the mud and otherwise modernizing what was then a rough mining community. George was also an ore buyer and associated with numerous mining and smelting industries. The Moores lived at the Schifferdecker house until 1947 when it was sold to the Hurlburt-Glover Mortuary—a saga onto itself—eventually settled by the Missouri Supreme Court!
Postscript: George’s “palatial home” at 903 S. Madison Avenue in Webb City, built in 1908, is slated to be demolished in the summer of 2023 to make way for new commercial development. Thankfully, the two historic houses in Joplin that are associated with George and Ida listed above have been preserved. After extensive renovations to the Schifferdecker Mansion by Joplin Historic Neighborhoods, George W. Moore remains engraved on the front step.
Bertha Hurwitz Luecke moved into the house in 1938 and remained until her death in 1952. Bertha’s husband, Julius died in 1933; he was a jeweler. Her brother, Dr. Leon Hurwitz also lived at the Schifferdecker House with the Luecke Family. Dr. Hurwitz died in 1936, ten years after being convicted of selling morphine illegally, serving three years in Leavenworth prison, and understandably losing his medical license! At one point, he was also appointed as the City Physician. All of this could explain why Bertha was ready to “downsize” by moving to 411 S. Sergeant.
Bertha’s son, Carl Luecke continued living here until his death in 1969. He was an engineer for the Empire District Electric Company for 41 years. Carl’s wife, Ruth Fleischaker Luecke held a master’s degree in special education and was the first teacher of the sight-saving classes in the Joplin school system. Carl and Ruth continued living here until their deaths in 1969 and 1973 respectively.
In the spirit of keeping the house in the family, Ruth’s nephew, William “Bill” Fleischaker moved into the house in 1975. The extended Fleischaker Family factors prominently in Joplin’s early history and that of the United Hebrew Congregation of Joplin. Several family members continue to serve the community today.
ARCHITECTURE
The two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne house has a limestone foundation, a hip roof with lower cross-gables and a side-wrap porch with a gabled pediment. It has brick piers, round wood columns and dentil molding. A transom can be seen over the front door.
Julius Miller House
Julius Miller House
Circa 1895 ~ Queen Anne
Oculus window
Julius C. Miller (1859-1923) & Ida Jane Miller Miller(1864-1950)
Mr. Miller was born in Hartford Connecticut April 6, 1858 of German parentage. He moved with his parents to Missouri in 1860 living the St. Louis, Versailles, Greenfield and Lamar.
In 1873 he worked at the Barton County Democrat newspaper in Lamar and the Vernon County Democrat newspaper in Nevada as an apprentice.
September 2, 1876 Mr. Miller came to Joplin, where he worked in various capacities at the Joplin Daily News until 1883 at which time he was appointed deputy sheriff of Jasper County, Missouri serving in that capacity for five years.
Oculus window
In 1885 he married Ida J. Miller, daughter of Matthew Miller, one of Joplin’s oldest and most respected citizens. At the printing of this city directory, he was residing with his father-in-law and other family members at 637 Sergeant.
In 1888, Mr. Miller was elected Sheriff of Jasper County on the Republican ticket. While serving as sheriff, he resided in Carthage but upon expiration of his term he returns to Joplin to a house at 528 Sergeant where he resided with his wife, Ida.
Upon his return to Joplin he engaged in the wholesale flour and feed business under the firm name of Miller Flour & Feed located at 801 Main Street.
William Henry Picher House
William Henry Picher (1851-1924) was married to Susan Brummel Jones Picher (1851-1904).
The Picher name has long been associated with Joplin’s lead and zinc mining history. In 1875,
William and his brother, Judge Oliver Hazard Picher organized the Picher Lead and Zinc Co. and later they merged with Eagle Paint Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio to become the Eagle-Picher Lead Co., one of the largest lead smelting concerns in the world. The City of Picher, Oklahoma was named after the Picher family.
By 1920, Mr. Picher was living at the Olivia Apartments. He bequeathed $500 per year for 20 years to the City of Joplin. The $10,000 ($176,000 in 2023 dollars) was to be “used for caring
for the poor of the city.”
ARCHITECTURE
The two-and-one-half-story Colonial Revival house has a limestone foundation and hip roof. An enclosed shed roof porch projects from the east elevation. Three gabled dormers rise from the west slope of the roof. The center dormer is larger with a scrolled parapet. A single gabled dormer rises from the north and south slopes of the roof. Two brick chimneys rise from the roof. A wide wood cornice with modillions ornaments the roofline.
Paneled wood columns articulate the corners. A full-width flat roof porch spans the primary (west) elevation and continues north as a porte cochère. It has wood Doric columns and a turned wood balustrade. This elevation has three symmetrical bays. Bay 2 has a wood door with multi-light beveled glazing and a stained glass transom on the first story. A band of two single windows, separated by a medallion pierces the second story.
