Celebrating National Historic Districts & Places That Matter

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.