Dr. E. Sanborn Smith House, also known as the King House, is a historic home located at

Kirksville Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, Adair County, Missouri, Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Kirksville is home to ...

, Adair County, Missouri. It was built in 1925, and is a -story, "T"-shaped, Colonial Revival style brick and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

dwelling. It has a side-gable roof with dormers and features decorative half-timbering on the second floor.

History

Located adjacent to the Truman State University campus, the King House was designed for Dr. E. Sanborn Smith in late 1924 by architect Ludwig Abt (1882-1967) of Moberly, MO. Kirksville contractor William M. Geoghegan (1865-1949) completed construction in 1925. E. Sanborn Smith, MD (1875-1950), a Macon County, MO native, earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland in 1900. After practicing in Massachusetts and serving in the US Army Medical Corps during World War I, he returned to Missouri in 1923 and entered into partnership with Drs. Ezra C. and Edward A. Grim in th
Grim-Smith Hospital
Kirksville. He built this house directly across the street from the hospital and lived there until his death in 1950. His widow, Emily (Frey) Smith (1875-1969), remained in the home until her death nineteen years later. The Smith's daughter, Emily Montague Frey (Smith) King (1912-2006), and her husband, William Boyd King (1914-1990), also resided in the house from the mid-1940s until their respective deaths. They began sharing the home with Emily's parents when Boyd, a 1937 graduate of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State University), returned to his alma mater as Head Basketball Coach in 1946.

Current Status

The home is now owned by th
King Foundation
a charitable trust created by Mrs. King. The Smith House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2009.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Colonial Revival architecture in Missouri Houses completed in 1925 Buildings and structures in Adair County, Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Adair County, Missouri 1925 establishments in Missouri {{AdairCountyMO-NRHP-stub