Feature 271: 417 West Maple Avenue (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Axline House/Miller House and Barber/Beauty Shop.
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival with commercial brick addition on main facade.
Construction Date: ca. 1905 and ca. 1965.
Period 5 of Harry S Truman's Life: Serving as Elder Statesman, 1953-1971.
Tax Identification: 26-230-09-03.
Legal Description: Old Town, part of lot 41.
Description: Contributing two- and one-half story wood-frame dwelling; rectangular in shape; gabled roof with gabled dormers and boxed cornice at bellcast gabled ends, clad with composition shingles; weatherboard siding; one-over-one double-hung sash windows; daylight basement. Contributing one-story brick commercial building; rectangular in shape; brick exterior; fixed glass windows; concrete slab. Lot slopes slightly up toward the rear; brick portion of the building occupies the former yard space between the original frame house and the sidewalk.
• Alterations: weatherboard siding added; carport added to west side; one-story brick commercial building was adjoined to the front of the house around 1965.
History/Significance: This Colonial Revival style house was probably built for Edgar E. and Ivy Axline. Edgar Axline, a Jackson County judge for the eastern district from 1908 to 1912, owned and managed the Batter Block at 215 West Lexington Avenue [outside the historic district] in Independence. He also owned several farms in the county and raised Poland China hogs. He survived two wives, and died in 1928. John G. Elsea owned the property from the early 1920s into the 1940s. In the mid-1960s, George Miller, who cut Harry Truman's hair, and Doris Miller, who styled Bess Truman's hair, moved their barber and beauty parlor from 214 North Main Street [outside the historic district] to a brick shop connected to the front of their house here at 417 West Maple Avenue. The brick portion of this building was probably built in the mid-1960s.
Note: The original 2011 nomination form implies that the house and the shop should be counted as separate features, but counts both as only one. Therefore, they are counted here also as a single feature.