Marilyn and Bill Davis work in the attic of their historic home at 301 S. Sergeant Ave. The couple moved to the area from Arizona last summer and are part of a neighborhood effort to preserve Joplin’s history. Globe/Roger Nomer

Marilyn and Bill Davis bought this Queen Anne-style house at 301 S. Sergeant Ave. last year and are restoring the property. Globe/Roger Nomer

For decades, the grand old dame at 301 S. Sergeant Ave. was shabbily dressed in deteriorating layers of cheap renovations.

Last year, though, the three-story Queen Anne gave Yuma, Ariz., visitors Bill and Marilyn Davis a come-hither look, and they fell for it.

"Bill said the house talked to him," said Marilyn Davis.

The Davises could see past the sagging ceilings and dilapidated porch to the possibilities of a painted lady restored to her former beauty.

They bought the house in July, and since then have been stripping away years of hapless remodeling and neglect.

The house had been partitioned into apartments; the Davises are disassembling the extra walls to restore the original floor plan. Many of the carved door and window moldings are intact, though the discolored wood is being stripped to show the intricate rosettes, fluting and natural oak color. A tiled fireplace was covered by a false wall. Some of the original plaster walls are salvageable, though a few will have to be replaced.

"The interesting thing is trying to figure out how it used to be," said Marilyn Davis.

The 4,100-square-foot home rests in Joplin's residential historic district called Murphysburg, which encompasses Sergeant Avenue from First Street to Seventh Street, and Moffet Avenue from First Street to Third Street.

Homeowners in the district are preparing to throw a party Saturday in observance of National Preservation Month. The event is to be staged in Jackson Avenue Pocket Park at Third Street and Jackson Avenue.

The park is one example of the accomplishments of those who live there, said Doris Carlin, a Realtor and a homeowner in the district herself.

She said two homeowners in the district bought a small, rundown house that once stood on the corner just outside the district because it was being used as a drug house. They tore it down and donated the lot for use as the neighborhood park. Other residents bought a small, rundown house between them, tore it down and split the lot to enlarge their yards.

Murphysburg, a section of homes built in the late 1800s by early Joplin industrialists and businessmen, was established as a historic district more than 15 years ago by city ordinance, according to Carlin and Dick Largent, city planner.

"It is a designation that recognizes the unique architecture of the homes in an area that allows owners to protect each other from remodels or renovation of homes in an inappropriate way," said Largent. He is the city's liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission, which oversees issues related to historic designation.

"The whole preservation thing was a grass-roots effort back in the 1980s by residents," Largent said, adding that the city staff went through numerous changes in the code until it found one the City Council would accept.

The code requires homeowners in a historic district to obtain approval from the preservation commission to ensure that exterior renovations of a house are appropriate to the style of the house and consistent with the intent of the neighborhood.

"It gives the neighbors who are participating a certain amount of comfort knowing that someone can't just come in and renovate in an inappropriate manner so there's some cohesiveness in the district," Largent said.

Controversy among residents over the extent to which the city could regulate changes to the houses arose at the time, causing the council to adopt a code that restricts exterior renovations only.

"It's fairly liberal in its construction," Largent said. "It allows for someone who feels aggrieved to go to the City Council for an appeal."

Largent said it was residents of Murphysburg who persuaded the city to adopt a preservation code. "The whole movement for historic preservation was a grass-roots effort from that neighborhood," he said.

As a result, Carlin said, "We've seen more people move back into the neighborhood and spend the money to bring the property up to date, up to the minute. It's safer and looks nicer" than when there were more rentals there.

Residents would like the city to install - or award Community Development Block Grant money they can use to pay for - period streetlights and signs for the district, though so far they have been denied that request, said Nancy Morton, another resident.

The district includes houses built by early Joplin entrepreneurs such as beer brewer Charles Schifferdecker and mining magnate O.E. Picher. One of the residents has put up a Web site, www.historicjoplin.com, about the neighborhood and some of its houses.

Carlin describes the house the Davises are restoring as one of Joplin's last remaining Queen Annes. According to the Web site Buffalo as an Architectural Museum, the Queen Anne style was the "quintessential American Victorian house with 'bric-a-brac' and 'gingerbread.' It was the dominant style of domestic building during the period from about 1880 until 1900; it persisted with decreasing popularity through the first decade of the 20th century."

But, the house lacks documentation of its builder or original owner. The Davises believe it was built in 1885. They have searched census records and genealogy records, but its history remains a mystery.

"I am real curious, and I'd love to have any information about its origins," Marilyn Davis said.

The lack of a pedigree and the amount of work they have left to do have not diminished the Davises' love for the intricate details of the house. They started the renovation last summer, and they expect it to take them about two more years because they are doing the labor themselves between trips to their other home in Yuma.

Marilyn Davis has had relatives in Joplin and visited here often. She has admired the old houses in the neighborhood for years, she said.

"One of the things about Joplin we like are all the old buildings," she said. "Where we come from, there's not a lot."

For more information about Murphysburg and other historical sites in Joplin -

Historical Guide to Joplin