Lawless House - Arrow Rock, MO
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 03.972 W 092° 56.933
15S E 504422 N 4324124
Historical marker commemorating a pioneering family in the Arrow Rock area.
Waymark Code: WM1EZV
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2007
Views: 43
D Lawless and his wife Martha Anne Dawson Lawless built this Queen Anne
style farmhouse in 1903. They had been raising their family of eleven
girls and one son in the log home of his father, Burton Lawless, just south of
Arrow Rock.
The Lawless family is an important one to the Arrow Rock Community.
In 1829, D's parents, Burton and Nancy Lawless, and John and Mary Bingham each
gave 50 acres to the town commissioners for the purpose of establishing the town
of Philadelphia, Missouri, which in 1833 officially became Arrow Rock.
Additional Lawless land ran south of the village along the Missouri River bluff,
now the Arrow Rock State Historic Site and the site of this house.
The farmstead represents the transition from a southern plantation culture
where hemp was king to the beginnings of diversified farming of the 20th
century. D Lawless grew wheat, oats and corn, which instead of being being
cash crops, were utilized more for livestock feed or for grindings into flour or
meal at the gristmill. He was also known for breeding fine road horses and
workhorses.
D and Martha moved to Marshall in 1918. The Brewe family purchased
the property and added the room on the west side of the house where they boarded
local preachers.
In 1946 Mr. and Mrs. J. Edwin Barger purchased the property. Mr.
Barger introduced newer crops like alfalfa and lespedeza and developed a herd of
over 100 purebred Angus cattle. The property remained in the Barger family
until sold to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 1991. ~ text
of marker