7/25/2023 0 Comments Romantic things to do in joplin mo![]() One defining factor was who designed it: Louis Curtiss, a Canadian-born architect who eventually settled in Kansas City.Īccording to “Historic Missourians,” a project of the State Historical Society of Missouri, Curtiss had an impressive - and eccentric - reputation, including wearing all white and paying his rent in gold. ![]() If the Frisco patches up its station here there will be no chance for a new one for ten or twenty years.”) The Joplin depot’s architect paid his rent in gold “Joplin” is still visible on the former depot’s entrance. (So said the Springfield Daily Leader in 1910: “It would seem that Springfield should try to get the Missouri Pacific and Frisco to erect a fine union station here as will be done in Joplin. ![]() The depot was unique for a number of reasons, one of which appears to be making Springfield jealous. Osborne approved the structure ‘composed almost entirely of waste mine gravel, moulded into beautifulness.’” The celebration and speeches continued for hours. Beginning at 20th Street and proceeding down Main, a parade of police cars, fire trucks, marching bands, and thirty cars bearing railroad and city officials, arrived at the depot. The formal grand opening on Jattracted 5,000 citizens whose enthusiasm was hardly dampened by the drizzling rain. Fireworks, skyrockets, and torpedoes exploded overhead, and the train engineer responded by sounding his whistle loudly. on June 30, 1911, two thousand excited spectators watched as the first train pulled into the million-dollar station. The facility opened in 1911, and was a cause for celebration, says information compiled by the Joplin Public Library: Louis and San Francisco Railroad,” says Stebbins, noting its operation continued through 1960.Īccording to an article in the Savannah Reporter newspaper, work began in April 1910, when “a force of 200 men began excavating the site for Joplin’s new $1,00,000 union depot.” ![]() “The Frisco Building - still standing, being converted into luxury apartments - was a passenger depot for the St. The dispute was eventually resolved, and although access was given to all lines to use the station as wanted, not all did. In the early 20th century, local leaders - as well as those with the newly formed Joplin Depot Company - worked to recruit new railroad lines to the city, which was not appreciated by those already in operation. That fact was tied to contention in the city prior to its construction. It lived up to its name - the Joplin Union Depot - because its use was open to multiple railroads. “Joplin’s Union Depot served four railroads: the Kansas City Southern the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, or Katy the Santa Fe and the Missouri and North Arkansas.” “Joplin had an expansive network of railroads,” says Joplin historian Chad Stebbins. The Joplin Union Depot, located northeast of the intersection of Main and Broadway streets, wasn’t the first depot Joplin had, nor the only one in town when it opened. “And so, thinking about the idea of, ‘Oh, well, it’s not developable’ - well, nobody’s even tried really, because nobody knew it was there.” What is the Joplin Union Depot? The depot has been the victim of vandalism over the years, but still reminds of another age. And there’s never been any marketing done for it,” says Lori Haun, executive director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, of the depot’s visibility on a broad scale. “It’s just been sitting in our downtown vacant, deteriorating and deteriorating. Through its Endangered Properties Program, the Downtown Joplin Alliance announced a partnership in May with the Glenn Group to put the state-owned property on a national stage in hopes of finding a developer. Deterioration has caused the depot to be a shell of its former self - and the focus of renewed effort to find it a new purpose. JOPLIN – The Joplin Union Depot is a survivor - as it hopefully will continue to be.įor more than a century, the stately white structure from the romanticized age of train travel has remained - through time, vandals, failed redevelopment and a tornado that took out parts of the rest of the town.īut like the trains that still trundle past on the active rail line, time doesn’t stand still. This story is published in partnership with Ozarks Alive, a cultural preservation project led by Kaitlyn McConnell.
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