This residence, also known as the King House, is a red brick and stucco Colonial Revival style residence at 111 East Patterson, Kirksville, Missouri. Located adjacent to the Truman State University campus, it was designed for Dr. Smith in late 1924 by architect Ludwig Abt (1882-1967) of Moberly, Missouri. Kirksville contractor William M. Geoghegan (1865-1949) completed construction in 1925.

E. Sanborn Smith, MD (1875-1950), a Macon County, Missouri, native, earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland in 1900. After practicing in Massachusetts and serving in the United States Army Medical Corps during World War I, he returned to Missouri in 1923 and entered into partnership with Dr. Ezra C. Grim and Dr. Edward A. Grim in the Grim-Smith Hospital, Kirksville. He built this house directly across the street from the hospital and lived there until his death in 1950. His widow, Emily (Frey) Smith (1875-1969), remained in the home until her death nineteen years later.

The Smith's daughter, Emily Montague Frey (Smith) King (1912-2006), and her husband, William Boyd King (1914-1990), also resided in the house from the mid 1940s until their respective deaths. They began sharing the home with Emily's parents when Boyd, a 1937 graduate of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State University), returned to his alma mater as Head Basketball Coach in 1946.

The home is now owned by Campus Christian Fellowship after being owned by the King Foundation, a charitable trust created by Mrs. King. The Smith House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2009. Dr. Cole Woodcox, Professor of English at Truman State University, made the nomination and donated a copy of the registration form to complement the plans and specifications. It provides a detailed physical description and well-researched history of the home and was the source of information for this introduction. Learn more about the house and these families in our digital exhibition on the Smith/King International House.