Who Built Downtown Kirksville? The Architecture of Irwin Dunbar

Irwin Dunbar did not literally build downtown Kirksville by himself.

Kirksville had many architects, builders, carpenters and masons.

But the City's Cultural Resource Survey describes Dunbar as perhaps the most prolific architect in Kirksville, and his work appears across commercial, civic, religious and residential buildings.

Who was Irwin Dunbar?

Dunbar was born in Glenwood, Missouri, in 1888.

The City survey says he graduated from the University of Missouri in 1914 with a degree in mechanical engineering and moved to Kirksville, where he practiced architecture.

His brother John Dunbar also worked as an architect.

His early Kirksville work

The City survey describes Dunbar's 1914–1917 work as showing Craftsman influence.

Documented projects from this period include buildings associated with:

• Princess Theater;
• Trinity Episcopal Church;
• Sojourners Club;
• Acacia Club.

These projects show that Dunbar was already working across entertainment, religious and organizational architecture before World War I interrupted his local career.

World War I changed the career path

The City survey says Dunbar served in France for 19 months during World War I.

Afterward he remained in Europe long enough to study art and architecture in Toulouse in a Beaux-Arts-related program.

He then returned to Kirksville.

That European experience helps explain why his later work should not be reduced to one fixed "Dunbar style."

By 1921 he stood out locally

The City survey notes that Dunbar was the only architect listed in the 1921 Kirksville city directory.

His 1920s work included a range of prominent projects associated with:

• Citizens National Bank;
• First Presbyterian Church;
• Rollins Apartments;
• Baxter-Miller Building;
• Kennedy Theater;
• institutional and civic buildings.

The portfolio is broad enough that his influence reaches beyond one downtown block.

His career was not confined to Kirksville

Dunbar moved to the West Coast in 1927 and studied architecture at the University of Southern California and Chouinard School of Art.

He later returned to Missouri during the Depression and worked for the Missouri Highway Department.

The City survey lists an office at 212 N. Franklin during part of this period.

World War II-era construction conditions later took him to Moline, Illinois, where he worked for John Deere & Company.

He retired in 1958 and eventually returned to Kirksville.

Dunbar died in 1975.

Later work included public architecture

Documented later projects include the Rieger Armory, completed around 1940, along with other public and residential work.

That makes his Kirksville career unusually long in stylistic terms.

His projects span:

• early Craftsman-influenced work;
• churches;
• theaters;
• commercial buildings;
• apartments;
• public works;
• civic architecture.

Date conflicts need to stay visible

Local sources do not agree perfectly on every building date.

Examples include:

• Princess Theater: 1915 in the City survey versus 1916 in some tour/opening material;
• Baxter-Miller Building: different 1920s dates depending on the source;
• Dunbar House: variable dating.

Those disagreements are not a reason to discard the architectural history.

They are a reason to avoid false precision.

Dunbar designed; others built

Architecture history can accidentally erase builders.

Dunbar produced designs.

Contractors, craftsmen, owners and laborers physically constructed the buildings.

So "Who Built Downtown Kirksville?" is best understood as a question about design influence, not sole authorship.

See eight surviving examples as a tour

Visit Kirksville maintains an official eight-stop Dunbar Architecture Tour.

See The Irwin Dunbar Architecture of Kirksville: A Self-Guided Local History Tour.

The larger lesson is that Dunbar's influence is visible because his career touched many different kinds of buildings.

Once you recognize that, downtown Kirksville stops looking like a collection of unrelated old façades and starts looking more like a layered architectural record.