William Lincoln Garver was an American architect, civil engineer, author, socialist leader, and political candidate from Missouri.

He was also a prolific political activist, authoring numerous pamphlets and articles on socialism.

Garver was born in 1867 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but his family soon moved to a small farm outside Salina, Kansas.

In the late 1870s the family moved Fulton, Missouri, where Garver graduated high school.

He was the assistant architect and superintendent of construction for David R. Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall on the University of Missouri campus.