• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Joplin, Missouri

Celebrating National Historic Districts & Places That Matter

Header Right

Our Guidestar Rating: Silver Transparency 2022, by Candid
twitter
facebook
(417) 208-9376
  • Our Neighborhood
    • Virtual Tour
    • Walking Tour Options
    • Our Historic Homes
    • Sacred Places
    • Historic Murphysburg Events
    • Visit Joplin
      • Visit Joplin MO
      • Connect 2 Culture
      • Post Art Library
      • Downtown Joplin Alliance
    • Area Accommodations
      • Joplin Hotels
      • Vacation Rentals
    • Murphysburg Homes for Sale
  • Resources
    • Homeowner Resources
    • Historic Markers
    • Places in Peril
    • Architectural Elements
    • Local History
    • Women of Murphysburg
  • Membership
    • Membership Levels
    • Volunteer
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Friends of Murphysburg
  • Contact Us
  • Our Neighborhood
    • Virtual Tour
    • Walking Tour Options
    • Our Historic Homes
    • Sacred Places
    • Historic Murphysburg Events
    • Visit Joplin
      • Visit Joplin MO
      • Connect 2 Culture
      • Post Art Library
      • Downtown Joplin Alliance
    • Area Accommodations
      • Joplin Hotels
      • Vacation Rentals
    • Murphysburg Homes for Sale
  • Resources
    • Homeowner Resources
    • Historic Markers
    • Places in Peril
    • Architectural Elements
    • Local History
    • Women of Murphysburg
  • Membership
    • Membership Levels
    • Volunteer
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Board of Directors
    • Friends of Murphysburg
  • Contact Us
Johnson House

The John Johnson House aka Schifferdecker Gardner’s House

419 South Jackson
Circa 1890
Tudor Revival
Features: carriage step, pilasters, bay windows, parapet

Johnson House
Johnson House

June 13, 2022 //  by admin

The John Johnson House
419 South Jackson Avenue Caretakers House and/or Schifferdecker Gardener Cottage

The house was built by Charles Schifferdecker and is located directly west of the Schifferdecker mansion at 422 South Sergeant Avenue. Research and restoration are. ongoing and it is believed that the structure could have also been an office for the Schifferdecker businesses.

The original residents of this house were John Richard Johnson (1882-1946) and Louisa K. Martens Johnson (1884-1985). Born in Sweden, John came to Girard, Kansas as a young boy and then to Joplin at age 21. He secured a job as a gardener for Charles Schifferdecker and soon oversaw the extensive Schifferdecker property holdings.

He married Mrs. Schifferdecker’s niece in 1903, thus becoming a Schifferdecker heir after Charles and Wilhelmina’s death in 1915. John became a naturalized citizen in 1920.

In John’s obituary, the Joplin Globe newspaper reported that he was orphaned at seven years old when both parents and siblings died. However, the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census shows John’s father, Andres Johnson residing with John and Louisa at 419 South Jackson Avenue!

This mystery is undergoing further research and may be a story for another day. Several years after Charles, Wilhelmina, and Wilhelmina’s mother died, the Johnson Family moved into the Schifferdecker mansion, but it was short lived. According to Johnson descendants, Louise was uncomfortable living at the house because she claimed to hear the rustling of petticoats on the staircase and believed it to be the ghost of her departed aunt!


Another mystery, although much more salacious associated with this house is the 1916 unsolved murder of Samuel C. Davis of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The mystery intertwines with the adultery trial of Mr. Davis and his mistress, Mrs. Daisy Carter. Daisy was living at 419 S. Jackson when Samuel came to visit. Shots rang out and Samuel lay dead inside the house! Mr. Davis was a wealthy, alcoholic half-breed Creek oilman that was also associated with the grand conspiracy to defraud Native American Indians of their oil lands.

Category: HomesTag: 150th anniversary, architecture, entrepreneurs Women, history, Route 66, Schifferdecker, sesquicentennial

Previous Post: «Weymann House The Henry Weymann House
Next Post: The William B. McAntire House McAntire House»

Footer

Contact Us

(417) 208-9376
info@murphysburg.org
Join our mailing list

Our Mission

To promote, educate and preserve the integrity of historic properties throughout the Murphysburg District and Joplin.

Support HMP

Become a member
Donate to our organization

Site Footer

Click below to view our Guidestar rating

Copyright © 2025 · Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Inc. All rights reserved.