Joplin Historical Neighborhoods, Inc.

10/24/2026

𝗝𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻’𝘀 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲
At the close of the century in 1899 both the Schifferdecker and Zelleken families participated in Joplin’s first Elk’s Lodge Street Fair. Earlier that year twenty-five Joplin businessmen formed the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Joplin Elk’s Lodge #501. Charles Schifferdecker was one of the foundering members.

The Elks Fair occurred during five days in October. Booths showcasing various wares and merchandise were erected along Main Street. The fair opened with a grand parade which was witnessed by 15,000 area residents.

On the following day a flower parade was held as forty beautifully decorated carriages were on display. Both the Schifferdecker and Zelleken families entered their carriages. Charles and Wilhelmina Schifferdecker rode in their amber shaded Stanhope. The Schifferdecker’s magnificently decorated vehicle received special recognition.

That fair happened 127 years ago this month. The families who rode in those carriages lived side by side on Sergeant Avenue, and their homes are open for tours. Come stand where they came home to. Tickets linked in our profile.

Photos used courtesy of Joplin Historical Society
Joplin History & Mineral Museum

10/23/2026

𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲
Long before 3D movies, Victorian families passed a handheld viewer around the parlor and watched flat photographs spring into depth.

That viewer was the stereoscope. A stereoview card carries two nearly identical photographs side by side, taken from slightly different angles, about the distance between a person’s eyes. Look through the stereoscope’s lenses and your brain merges them into one scene with startling depth. By the later 1800s, a stereoscope and a stack of cards were common parlor entertainment, offering travel views, current events, and staged stories told scene by scene.

“An Affair of Honor” is one of those stories told in a five-card series. Louise and Fanchon were close friends until they fell for the same fickle man, Raoul. They settle it with swords. Fanchon is the cooler fighter, trained by her father, one of the foremost swordsmen in France. Louise fights mostly on fury. Then, at the worst possible moment, a foot slips on the grass.

Tap through all five photos in order to read the story from “An Affair of Honor” to the final scene.

Visit the Schifferdecker and Zelleken homes in the Murphysburg Historic District to see the kinds of parlors where cards like these were passed around. Open Thursday-Sat 11:30-5:00 and Sunday 12:30-4:00. Link to tickets is in our profile.

10/22/2026

Our least glamorous number: somewhere between 40 and 55.

That is the percent relative humidity these houses are kept at, all year. Below the range, wood shrinks and paint lets go. Above it, you are growing things you do not want in an 1890s house. Stable humidity is what keeps the plaster, the oak, and 130-year-old window sash behaving.

Nobody photographs a humidifier. Membership dollars support it anyway, along with everything else that keeps these homes standing and open.

If the houses matter to you, membership is the most direct way to say so. Join today via the link, then come visit and see exactly what your support maintains. Unlimited visits are just one perk of membership, along with discounts at the gift shop and special events.

https://joplinhistorical.org/membership/

Become a museum member and visit often! Become a member of the Joplin Victorian Society, which assists the development and continuation of the Joplin Historical Neighborhoods Museum and its programs. Corporate sponsorships are also an important source of revenue. Please contact us to discuss how you...

10/17/2026

Carthage is the center of attention this weekend. The Maple Leaf parade steps off this morning, the biggest one in Southwest Missouri.

Here is what Carthage means at our two houses: the ground floor of everything. The Schifferdecker home stands on a six-foot foundation of rough-cut limestone from the Carthage Limestone Quarry, a premium building stone in Victorian-era Joplin. The Zelleken home next door rests on a limestone foundation of its own. And when St. John's Hospital was dedicated in 1900, a project both Charles Schifferdecker and Edward Zelleken helped fund, Joplin architect August Michaelis beautifully designed this Romanesque building, draping it in Carthage limestone as well.

If you are headed to the parade and festival, look around at all the examples of Carthage limestone in town.

When the festival crowd thins, the houses that stone carries are open for tours Thursday-Saturday 11:30-5 and Sunday 12:30-4. We would love to have you. Tickets available in the link in our profile.

10/16/2026

𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁'𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲
At the age of 16, Frieda Marie Pelz and her 14-year-old sister, Elise, left their homeland of Hamburg, Germany, and boarded the steamship SS Cleveland for America. They arrived at Ellis Island on October 9, 1910. Charles Schifferdecker was their sponsor and employer.

Frieda worked in the kitchen preparing meals for the Schifferdeckers. Her sister was a chambermaid. Frieda married James Campbell in 1917. She passed away in 1971. Elise married John Roehling in 1917. She later was employed at the Bakery Shop in Joplin. Elise died in 1966.

Elisabeth Lichtner also worked for Charles and Wilhelmina Schifferdecker. She, too, was a German immigrant brought to America by Mr. Schifferdecker. Lichtner attended the Joplin Lutheran Church. On her church membership record, she listed her home at 422 S. Sergeant. Following the death of Charles Schifferdecker, Elisabeth received a $1,000 gift of Interstate Grocery stock. One year later, in 1916, she married Frederick John Henry Von Horn.

Keeping stories like theirs in the record is the quiet part of this work, and it happens because people choose to support it. Come visit the museum sometime and ask about the household staff. There is more where this came from.

10/10/2026

In 1905, a group of Joplin's leading businessmen decided the city deserved a better cemetery, so they built one.

They purchased 77 acres for $11,550 and hired Sidney Hare, a well-known Midwest landscape architect, to design an elegant park-like cemetery. Charles Schifferdecker was a founding member and major stockholder of Mount Hope Cemetery. Both Schifferdecker and his next-door neighbor Edward Zelleken served on the Mount Hope Cemetery Association Board of Directors.

The Schifferdecker family's resting place there was constructed by Joplin architects Garstang and Rea: a $25,000 mausoleum in the Egyptian Revival style, its entrance guarded by two resting sphinxes, symbols of protective authority. For over a decade Garstang and Rea shaped the region's commercial, educational, and residential architecture, including First United Methodist Church (1905) and St. Phillip's Episcopal Church (1908). The Zelleken family plot is also nearby.

The same era of Joplin ambition built the house at 422 Sergeant Avenue, and that one you can walk through. It is open for tours, and October suits it. Link to tickets can be found in our profile.

10/09/2026

Answer: 8,526 square feet, includes attic and basement spaces.

The Schifferdecker home looks huge and imposing from the street. Charles and his architect Arthur Tappan North made a powerful statement by purposely placing the home on a pedestal poised upward to the sky. Standing on the sidewalk, the house looks enormous because it is raised ten feet above the ground level. To reach the front porch, the guest must take two flights of stairs. Just how large is the home?

Guess the total square footage in the comments. Closest answer gets bragging rights, and we will post the number tomorrow morning. No fair pacing it off through the fence, though honestly we would respect that too.

10/03/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲'𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁.

At some point the doors between the formal parlor and the dining room left the house. Imagine our surprise, and after years of detective work our search ended, when we discovered our pocket doors at the Del Rio restaurant .del.rio, who obtained them at auction in 2002 and hung them. In 2020 the restoration team built reproductions of the doors for the restaurant, and the originals came home, were refurbished, and are comfortably resting back to their original setting between the grand parlor and dining room.

In the 1890s pocket doors earned their keep. Closed, they held fireplace heat in the parlor and gave Charles Schifferdecker privacy for business dealings. After a dinner party, the men retired behind them for ci**rs and brandy. (The ladies retired to Wilhelmina’s sitting room.)

Come see in person these beautiful solid oak doors embraced in elegant-curved frames. Tickets available via the link in our profile.

10/02/2026

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝘁?

You are in good company. Through the years of restoration work, plenty of Joplinites told us the same thing: as soon as it's done, I'm coming. The scaffolding is long gone, both homes are open, and the doors at 422 and 406 Sergeant Avenue are waiting on you. One visit covers a tour of both homes.

Mark your calendar for an October tour today. We are open Thursday-Saturday 11:30-5 and Sunday 12:30-4. Book the date at the link in our profile, and cross it off your list at last. You won’t regret it!