Celebrating National Historic Districts & Places That Matter

William Henry Picher House

421 South Sergeant Avenue
Colonial Revival, circa 1899
Features: Porte Cochère and Stained Glass Transom

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.”

Vintage photo

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.

Woman’s History Month…Two Untold Stories

Dora Annabelle Jesse Kneeland…The woman behind a famous seasoning

Dora was born in Diamond, Missouri in 1879 and moved to Joplin in 1895.  Her husband, Guy Kneeland was an engineer for a zinc mine and passed away in 1923.   Dora eventually came to live at 101 North Sergeant Avenue with a daughter, son-in-law, and grandson until her death on July 29, 1945.   Dora was a member of the Zinc Rebekah Lodge and First Baptist Church.

Why is Dora’s story special and carries on to present day?  The answer begins with Dora’s son-in-law, Cecil LeRoy “Roy” Williams, who was the founder of the C. L. Williams Chili Seasoning Company, now known as Williams Foods, Inc.

According to the Williams Foods website, a 1998 article in the Biz Journal (Kansas City), and a 2008 article in Ingram’s magazine, Mr. Williams started the Williams Chili Seasoning company in Webb City in 1937 and began by “…selling his mother’s chili seasonings…” in small brown paper bags and selling them out of his home.  However, there are two wrinkles to this account.  According to Dr. Benjamin Rosenberg, it wasn’t Roy’s mother’s recipe—it was Dora’s, his mother-in-law’s recipe.  The other wrinkle is the location and date.  According to a 1972 Joplin Globe article, “Many years ago, in a small garage in Joplin, (at Roy’s home) using a blender just about the size of today’s coffee blender, the original formulation of pure spices and seasonings were combined by C. L. Williams, the beginning of Williams’s Foods, Inc.”

The 1939 Joplin City Directory shows the Williams family living in Joplin at 101 North Sergeant Avenue.  The Rosenberg family lived across the street at 101 South Sergeant.  

Dr. Benjamin Rosenberg is a long-time Joplin resident, former City Councilman, and local dentist.  Dr. Rosenberg says the seasoning was made in the (extant) detached garage behind the William’s house on Sergeant Avenue.  While attending Columbia Elementary School (five blocks north at E Street and Sergeant Avenue) “Benji” would often ride his bicycle home for lunch.  At that time, Columbia did not serve lunch.  On some days Benji would eat chili for lunch served by the Williams family.  During the cooking, Dr. Rosenberg said, “You could smell chili all over the neighborhood.”

It appeared that no one else was selling packaged seasoning mixes for home use.  Later Mr. Williams was the first seasonings maker to put the product in aluminum pouches.  Once established, Mr. Williams approached the City of Joplin for a special use permit so that he could legally continue the process in his garage.  According to Dr. Rosenberg, City officials denied the request.  Mr. Williams moved his operation from the “small garage” to Webb City around 1942, although some reports site 1945.  However, the family continued to cook chili and the aroma filled the air.     
Interestingly, Roy continued his “real job” as the purchasing agent for Myers Motor Supply Company at 5th Street and Wall Avenue between 1925 and 1952.  Roy died in 1975 and his wife Ida in 1988.

The seasoning’s popularity grew and was distributed throughout the Midwest.  Mr. Williams sold the firm to Conrad Hock, Jr. in 1963 (although some reports site 1961) who continued operating under the Williams brand at the 1502 South Madison plant in Webb City.  By 1972, the seasoning was sold in some 30 states, many countries, and military commissaries.  In 1984, Hock moved the company to Lenexa, Kansas, which was not well received by Webb City residents and is still lamented today!  The company was sold again in March 2008 to C. H. Guenther & Son, LLC.  The manufacturing plant is still in Lenexa with the Guenther corporate office in San Antonio, Texas.

Thank you, Dora Kneeland, for creating a chili seasoning mix that started in a humble Joplin garage and continues to help people get dinner on the table some 86 years later.

The Fred & Red’s chili (spaghetti red) recipe is closely guarded, but many cooks believe the secret ingredient is Williams Chili Seasoning.  Fred & Red’s restaurant is located at 1719 South Main Street, Joplin.

Williams Chili Seasoning packets can be purchased at G & W Cash Saver Grocery Store at 811 West 7th Street, Joplin and across America.  Visit https://williamsfoods.com for the product locator then type in a zip code.

The Arthur Waite House

Waite arrived in Joplin in 1880 at the age of 27. He grew up splitting rails in Nebraska and at the age of 21, applied and received a job at the country bank in Brownville, Nebraska. Thus began a lifetime career in the banking industry. Eventually he rode a “hog train” to St. Joseph, Missouri, and worked as a book keeper at the Merchant State Bank for Thomas Tootle. Tootle, meanwhile, was a partner of Joplin founding father, Patrick Murphy, in the ownership of the Miner’s Bank. It was a job at Miner’s Bank, located in the same building as the old Joplin Hotel, that brought Waite to Joplin.

Later on, Waite took a job as cashier at the Joplin National Bank, which for a time was located in the Keystone Hotel building. Eventually, Waite rose to the position of president of the bank. Established as a major figure in the Joplin banking community, he was the president of the Joplin National Bank and Trust Company, the Missouri Bankers Association, Jasper County Bankers’ Association and was a member of the Elks Lodge in Joplin.

Waite remained involved in banking and in the house that Garstang & Rea designed until his death in April, 1934.

Susie Chase Leonard Waite worked on the Y.W.C.A. board for many years, was a member of the Woman’s Club, Ridpath Club, Curtis Club, and Buddy Club.  At the time of her death in 1956, she was a member of the Health and Welfare board, on which she had served since its establishment in the early 1900s.  After Mr. Waite’s death in 1934, Mrs. Waite moved to the Olivia Apartments where she lived until the time of her death.

Credits to Historicjoplin.com

The Joseph E. Garm House

Joseph Edward Garm, vice-president of Joplin National Bank, was a well-known banker and financier. 

He was a member of the Joplin Rotary, president of the Joplin Parks Board, manager of Joplin Clearing House Association, president of the Missouri Bankers’ Association, and a member of the Home Building & Loan Association.

In 1946, Mr. Garm was the campaign treasurer for the proposed Tri-State World War II memorial museum in Schifferdecker Park.  The purpose was to give dignified tribute to the veterans and miners who gave their lives, and adequately display mineral specimens as well as war relics.  The prize collection of zinc-lead minerals was valued at more than a million dollars in 1946. 

The Dr. Albert Newton Winchester House

Dr. Albert Newton Winchester, M.D. cared for the aches and ailments of three generations of many Joplin families who came under his attention. Coming to Joplin in 1897, six years after his graduation from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. He twice was a post-graduate of the New York PolyClinic Institute having held diplomas for operative surgery and for operative gynecology. Dr. Winchester was admitted as a member of the American Medical Association in 1904.

He was the first occupant of what was known as the Spring Building located at 620 ½ South Main, at what was then the extreme south end of Main Street. During the mining boom days, he was forced to maintain five horses to keep his surrey going on his numerous and rugged calls. He related that he drove one time while three other horses were kept as spare to be hitched to the surrey when those he had been driving became exhausted. It was his claim that he kept two horses in harness day and night for about 10 years.

Mrs. Hinda Etheridge Winchester graduated from Lebanon College for Young Ladies located in Lebanon, Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  She became known as an authority on parliamentary law after serving as parliamentarian for the Seventh District Federated women’s clubs; national director of parliamentary law of the Theta Sigma Phi sorority, state and national parliamentarian for the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and county and state parliamentarian for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.  She wrote the book, “Practical Parliamentary Points” and later authored a game of cards called, “What Do You Know of Parliamentary Law?”

ARCHITECTURE:  Gabled wings with pent roofs and imbrication project from the east and south elevations.  A hipped wing projects from the rear (west) elevation.  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.