Celebrating National Historic Districts & Places That Matter

JOHN W. & ELIZA ALLEN HOUSE

Austin Allen’s Boyhood Home ~ Murphysburg Historic District

This house was not designed by Austin Allen, but it is where he grew up and where his funeral was conducted.  Austin lived here with his father, mother, and three sisters.  

Austin graduated from Joplin High School and then Pennsylvania University.  He was a member of the American Olympic athletic team which entered a track meet in Europe.  Following the meet Austin toured part of Europe and spent some time in the study of architecture in Paris.  Upon his return to America, he became associated with a leading architect in New York.  In 1905 he returned to Joplin and opened an office, then in 1914 opened another office in Kansas City.

Austin’s father, John Whitby Allen (1856-1930) was the superintendent of Marion Mining Co. and had extensive real estate holdings.  Eventually John and Lida moved to the Olivia Apartments, which was common for Joplin’s early, wealthy entrepreneurs.

Eliza Beall “Lida” McCown Allen (1861-1926) was born in Virginia and died of acute tonsilitis while she and John were in residence at the Olivia.  We can only assume that it gave the proud parents “bragging rights” to be living in a beautiful landmark designed by their son.     


OCCUPATION: Superintendent of Marion Mining Co.
MARRIED TO: Eliza Beall “Lida” McCown
BIRTH: 3 (or 22) January 1861 in Fairview, Marion County, West Virginia, USA
DEATH: 6 June 1926 (aged 65) in Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri, USA
BURIAL: Mount Hope Cemetery, Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri, USA   in the Austin Allen Mausoleum SW Corner of Cemetery.
PARENTS OF:
(Samuel) Austin Allen – he never used his first name of Samuel Anna McCown Allen Longacre
Marion Allen Butler Agnes Allen EstesJ. W. Allen, BIRTH: 22 January 1856 in New Jersey, USA
DEATH: 20 May 1930 (aged 74) in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, USA at the home of his
daughter, Agnes
BURIAL: Mount Hope Cemetery, Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri, USA  
in the Austin Allen Mausoleum SW Corner of Cemetery

ARCHITECTURE – The two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne house has a limestone
foundation and gable-on-hip roof with lower cross-gables. Gabled wings project from the
west and south elevations. Wood shingles clad the gable ends; decorative bargeboards
ornament some peaks. A gabled dormer rises from the east slope of the roof. A large flat-
roof concrete block addition projects from the east elevation. A porte cochère with
decorative brackets and turned columns projects from the north elevation. A side-wrap
porch spans the primary (west) and south elevations. It has square wood posts, a wood
picket rail, and spindlework. An inset balcony, enclosed with historic wood siding and
glazing, fills the northwest corner of the second floor. It has turned wood columns and a
decorative gabled pediment. This primary elevation has two bays. Bay 1 has paired
historic wood panel doors with glazing on the first story and the balcony on the second
story. Bay 2 has a single window on each floor. Small paired wood windows pierce the
gable in this bay. A single small wood window pierces the gable at the ridge.

 SOUTHWEST MISSOURI RAILROAD CLUBHOUSE 

In 1889, Alfred Harrison “A.H.” Rogers (1858-1920) started a railway system between Webb City and Carterville pulled by mules.  After 1893, the system was electrified.  It continued until late summer of 1935 for Carthage, and 1940 for other communities.  The clubhouse was constructed for officials and employees. 

The A.H. Rogers House is in the Murphysburg Historic District at 623 W. Fourth Street and is currently being restored by Joplin Historical Neighborhoods, Inc.

Charlie22 Outdoor’s mission is to provide outdoor activities to the nation’s veterans and their families.  For more information, contact Scotty Rae Hettinger at (417) 437-7247 or charlie22outdoors.com.

Following are excerpts from the Joplin History & Mineral Museum calendar published in 2021:  Originally, the first floor was divided into a pool room, a gymnasium that was also used for large social groups, a locker room, a dressing room, toilets, and shower baths.  The second floor housed the clubrooms, complete with a kitchen and dining area.  The clubrooms were used for reading, writing, card playing, social entertainments, banquets, and to conduct business meetings.  The third floor consisted of two dormitories, where a bed could be rented by the day or week.  The facility was possibly best remembered for the elaborate employee banquets. 

AUSTIN ALLEN MAUSOLEUM

 Interned Austin S. Allen -3-3-1917, Walter Scott Estes -2-12-1926. Linda McOwen Allen -6-6-1926, Whitby J. Allen -5-22-1930 and Austin Allen Jr. – 12-2-1940

The mausoleum architecture features solar disks between the pair of falcon wings at the very top. It represents the sun god, Re and rebirth.

Austin’s wife, Belle Taylor Allen (1887-1921) died several years after Austin’s untimely death.  She and her young children were residing in Los Angeles, California with her aunt and uncle at the time of her death.  It is believed that she died from heart disease.  After being cremated in California, her brother Wilkins Taylor picked the ashes up in a container.  From that point, the whereabouts of her ashes is unknown.  According to Mount Hope Cemetery officials, Mrs. Allen’s ashes are not in the mausoleum.  However, other family members are interred in the mausoleum.

Inside Austin Allen’s mausoleum, a rich blend of Egyptian Revival details, is a resolution from the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  Above his name is an array of Egyptian elements constituting a pair of vulture wings, symbolizing protection and maternal care, and a circular relief, representing the sun.  The solar disc is flanked by twin cobras symbolizing death.  Mr. Allen also incorporated two solid bronze entrance doors and located on the back wall a colorful Egyptian art glass window.  – Excerpts from the Joplin History & Mineral Museum calendar published in 2021. 

 The Allen Mausoleum is located at Mount Hope Cemetery.  Inside Allen’s mausoleum is a resolution from the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Several family members interned in the mausoleum.

Mr. Allen married Belle Taylor and had three children. He died at the early age of thirty-six from typhoid fever.

CLEVELAND APARTMENTS

The Cleveland Apartments were built by William Phelps Cleveland (1870-1936) who was in
the mining business and the inventor of a magnetic separator. He was married to Annabelle
Bartlett Cleveland (1866-1919).
 
Stones and other materials that were salvaged from the deconstruction of Patrick Murphy’s
mansion (built in 1898 at 4 th & Wall) were used to construct these luxury apartments.

Each of the six prestigious residences were “modern and up-to-date” with seven rooms, a large sleeping
porch, pantry, closets, large attic, basement, two fireplaces with mantels, and a private garage. In
spite of a major fire in May 2022, restoration continues by owners (and brothers) Shawn and
Stephen Grindle and Neal Group Construction & Restoration.

The Cleveland was a prestigious place to live, similar to the Olivia Apartments, especially for
wealthy widows. Common for the language of the time in 1916, a help wanted advertisement in
the Joplin Globe read as follows: WANTED-Colored or white girl; must be experienced; easy
work; small family; permanent place. No. 3 Cleveland apartments; apply personally.
 
Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland lived here, but eventually moved to 108 N. Jackson Avenue, the duplex
directly to the north. That structure is also part of the restoration project. At this time, it is
unknown if Austin Allen designed that structure.

COSGROVE BUILDING

Built by Henrietta Jackson Cosgrove (1849-1927) who was a mine operator, writer, civic
leader, suffragist, philanthropist and involved in real estate. One of her greatest
accomplishments was securing pensions for miners’ widows by proposing that states adopt
widow’s pensions rather than vagrancy laws, thus saving the states’ money. By the 1920s, all
but four states adopted widows’ pension laws. She was married to Aruna P. Cosgrove (1842-
1901) and they had one daughter.
 
In May 2014, Mr. Allen was forced to sue Mrs. Cosgrove for the balance due on his commission
for the building. In December 2014 the case was dismissed when she finally paid him the
$460.32.

Businesses were located on the bottom floor and offices and living quarters on the top floor. In
December 1915 while Mrs. Cosgrove slept upstairs, robbers entered the Graham Brothers’
Grocery Store downstairs and stole chewing gum, cigars, chewing tobacco, ate lunch, and kept
warm around an oil lamp!
 
Through the years many different companies have officed here including the City of Joplin
Commissioners and Atlas Powder Company in 1914 and the Joplin Convention & Visitors
Bureau in the 1990s and early 2000s.
 
To learn more about the future of this building, contact Heather Lesmeister, Executive Director,
Spiva Center for the Arts at 417-623-0183.