Feature 054: 318 North Delaware Street (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Sollars/Dunn/Compton House.
Architectural Style: Bungalow.
Construction Date: 1913.
Period 2 of Harry S Truman’s Life: Establishing Community Roots, 1890-1919.
Tax Identification: 26-310-23-21.
Legal Description: McCauley Addition, lot 14 and part of lot 13.
Description: Contributing two- and one-half story wood-frame dwelling designed by Robert L. McBride; rectangular in shape; gabled roof with gable dormers, clad with clay tile; uncoursed cut stone exterior with wood clapboards in gable ends; double-hung sash windows; porch with square uncoursed stone columns across facade; stone foundation with daylight basement. Elevated lot with lawn; stone retaining wall along sidewalk; trimmed hedges along foundation; large shade trees in front yard; alley to the north.
• Alterations: There is a rear second-story addition, which is not conspicuous from the public right-of-way.
• Noncontributing wide wood-frame hipped roof garage in rear [Feature 055].
History/Significance: Independence architect and contractor Robert L. McBride built this house in 1913. Ashton and Charles Sollars, a stock raiser, lived at 318 North Delaware in the late 1910s and early 1920s. W.C. Dunn, Sr., and Jr., became residents in 1921. Around the time, W.C. Dunn, Sr., worked as the head miller at Waggoner-Gates Milling Company, a long-time Independence milling company headed by Bess Wallace Truman's grandfather for many years before stock in the company went to several Wallace family members. W.C. Dunn, Jr., worked as a teller in the late 1910s. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Louis L. (known as Polly) Compton, the son of Frank L, and Lucy Jane Smith Compton, resided in the house. L.L. Compton became well known for producing and bottling "Polly's Pop." He played poker with Truman and was a member of Truman's Harpie Club; this was a club of about 16-18 of Truman's friends that was originally formed about 1924.