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 B. McAntire House
William McAntire (1848-1911) was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He came to Joplin in
May 1873 and was considered an early pioneer of Joplin. He was also a pioneer member of the Commercial Club of Joplin, which would many years later become the Chamber of Commerce. William married Charlotte “Lottie” Martin on February 14, 1876. She was born in June 1853 and lived until July 1909. William was an attorney and on several
occasions was elected police judge of the city.
He was in practice by himself and part of the time in partnership with his first cousin, J. W. McAntire. In the early 1890s he gave up active practice of law and entered the real estate business.
In Judge McAntire’s obituary he was described as a “…pioneer of Joplin and no man in the city’s history ever bore a better reputation. He forgot selfish ends where a question of integrity or honesty was concerned.” He also fostered many city improvements. One of Judge McAntire’s honorary pallbearers was Charles Schifferdecker.
His parents W.S. and Elizabeth E (VanMeter) McAntire were natives of Virginia. In 1849 William’s parents went west to Missouri locating at Memphis Scotland County where they engaged in agricultural pursuits for eight years. W. B. attended the schools while there acquiring a liberal education.
Mrs. McIntire was born in Scotland. From the marriage there were two children William Edwin born June 26, 1877 and Arthur Benford born October 1880. Mr. And Mrs. McAntire resided in their beautiful home on the corner of Fifth and Moffet.
ARCHITECTURE – The two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne house has a hip roof with lower cross-gables. Gabled wings project from the north, east and south elevations. A side-wrap hip-roof porch projects from the primary (north) and east elevations. It has limestone piers with round wood columns and a lattice railing. A pediment defines the entrance. A stylized Palladian window fills the peak of the gable above the cornice.
The John Johnson House aka Schifferdecker Gardner’s House
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.
The George Lavery House
608 S. Sergeant Avenue | circa 1899 | Queen Anne | Feature: Hitching Post
George R. Lavery (Born 1856 ~ Died 1928)
Theresa Sorg Lavery (Born 1866 ~ Died 1959)
George Lavery served as the Deputy County Assessor, Deputy Sheriff, and on the Joplin City
Council in the late 1890s. Early on he was associated with the smelting industry. Later he
was with Cofer and Lavery, purveyors of groceries and dry goods. Both George and
Theresa (George’s third wife) were active in Democratic politics.
Theresa established and operated the Sorg Millinery Shop for 17 years and was a charter
member of the Joplin Woman’s Club. Theresa was very active in social and civic clubs in
Joplin and in 1926 was appointed as one of three democratic election judges.
ARCHITECTURE – This two-and-one-half-story house has a limestone foundation. The
house is an example of the Free Classic subtype of the Queen Anne style. Gabled wings with
pent roofs and imbrication project from the east and south elevations. A hipped wing
projects from the rear (west) elevation. A brick chimney rises from the east slope of the
roof. Dentil molding ornaments the roofline; simple pilasters articulated the corners. A hip
porch spans the primary (east) elevation. It has brick columns on each end and a brick pier
with a turned wood post in the center, and a wood picket railing.
Mr. Charles Schifferdecker
Born August 28, 1851 | Died October 30, 1915
Businessman | Philanthropist | Capitalist
A lot can be said about Mr. Schifferdecker, one of Joplin’s most prominent citizens of his time. Originally from Baden, Germany, Mr. Schifferdecker worked with Mr. Edward Zelleken at Zelleken’s brewery and later the two opened a bottling business, then established a wholesale beer and ice business in Joplin. Mr. Schifferdecker quickly moved on to the more lucrative banking and mining ventures.
Mr. Schifferdecker was not technically a “veteran,” but he enabled Joplin men to serve our country during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He died during the middle of World War I.
But first a little background and facts about this brief war between the United States and Spain.
- The United States involvement lasted only four months
- One of the many reasons for the war was the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba on February 15, 1898
- The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898
- The Spanish government gave Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the U.S. and U.S. gave Spain $20 million dollars.
- Theodore Roosevelt fought in the war before he was President
- William McKinley was President
According to Joel Livingston’s account of Mr. Schifferdecker:
His liberal was cheerfully extended to the Joplin Rifles, the first military company organized in Joplin, in 1881, and its ample equipment was largely due to him.
He was equally helpful in affording influence and means toward the organization of Company G, of the Second Regiment, National Guard of Missouri, for service in the Spanish American War, and his patriotic enthusiasm moved him to many acts of liberality while that command was in the field.
In the Joplin Keepsake Album, the authors chronicled the following about Company G:
Joplin men entered the war as “volunteers” because state guards could not serve as general defense. However, the men of Company G were disappointed when they were never sent to the war zone. Instead they were moved from camp to camp in the United States.
…however, the boys of Company G fared well, distinguishing themselves as the regiment’s color guard and by their skill in the dress parade, which caused other regiments to break ranks and look on.
While Mr. Schifferdecker was no doubt admired for his generosity during the Spanish-American War, the German community in Joplin were not admired during World War I. As explained in Joel Livingston’s account in the history of Jasper County, Missouri:
- In 1876, when the Germania Social and Literary Society of Joplin formed, it had over fifty charter members. Thus, it was a small, but established German community.
- At the height of World War I, there came a hysteria to the Joplin community [and the country] about people of German origin, and the town felt threatened by the
- German community though unfounded fear. One man, Gustav A. Brautigam that owned a local delicatessen literally had to leave town for fear of his life.
The following significant houses were built in the Murphysburg Historic District in 1898 and 1899 – boom due to sale of war supplies:
- William H. Miller House | 111 South Sergeant
- Adam Scott House | 202 South Sergeant
- William Picher House | 421 South Sergeant
- George Lavery House | 608 South Sergeant
- A. B. McConnell/Sol Newman House | 115 S. Moffet
- John Wise House | 504 S. Byers
- Alfred H. Rogers House | 623 West Fourth
- A. L. James House | 619 West Second
Sources:
- Wikipedia
- Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, MCMLXXXVI
- Joel T. Livingston. History of Jasper County, Missouri and Its People, Volumes 1 & 2. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company, 1912.
- Brad Belk, Andy Ostmeyer, Katy Schrader, and Leslie Simpson. Joplin Keepsake Album. St. Louis, Missouri: G. Bradley Publishing, Inc., 2000. Pages 32-33.
- Joel T. Livingston. History of Jasper County, Missouri
- Historic Joplin