The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Joplin Metro

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May 18, 2008

Slide show provides tour of historic Joplin buildings

By Debbie Robinson

news@joplinglobe.com

A slide presentation Sunday at the Joplin Public Library showing what Joplin looked like decades ago attracted Becky Allman because her grandmother had lived in a historic Joplin home.

Allman said her grandmother lived in the James Geddes house at 301 S. Sergeant Ave. from about 1943 to the early 1960s.

She said she was excited to know that the house is being restored by a couple from Arizona who now own the property.

“I hope I get to see it,” she said.

The hour-long slide presentation was made by Leslie Simpson, an archivist with the Post Memorial Art Reference Library who worked on the project for the past six months.

The program, titled “Extreme Makeover: Joplin Edition,” featured slides made from postcards in the library’s digitized postcard collection, and photographs of current sites taken by Simpson.

The sites included the former Fox Theater, now home to Central Christian Center, and the Keystone Hotel at Fourth and Main streets that was demolished

Simpson told the group of about 50 people that Americans became obsessed in the 1960s and 1970s with urban renewal, resulting in the demolition of many old buildings

One slide depicted a building that housed a cigar manufacturing company in the early part of the 20th century.

“Joplin was very big in the cigar industry at one time,” Simpson said.

Another slide showed a photograph of Harlem Avenue where a horse-racing track once stood.

The site of the Joplin Boys & Girls Club at Third Street and Comingo Avenue was at one time a children’s home, Simpson said.

She described the current condition of the Carnegie building, formerly the public library, at Ninth Street and Wall Avenue.

“It’s full from floor to ceiling of junk, and there is so much office equipment stored there,” Simpson said. “It’s a hazard, and it’s heartbreaking.”

Other slides showed many of the Victorian homes that once populated the area of Joplin and Wall avenues.

Simpson said her interest in older structures began when the former Connor Hotel collapsed during a demolition project. The hotel stood on the site that is now the public library.

She said she is excited to see the interest in renovating older buildings, such as the Frisco and Newman buildings.

“I’ve always been interested in old buildings,” she said. “It’s just exciting to see this.”

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