By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
The subject matter may be painful for people who know Joplin, contrasting as it does buildings that once defined Joplin’s identity with those that now define it.
In fact, “Now and Then and Again: Joplin Historic Architecture,” a new book about Joplin’s architecture by Joplin resident Leslie Simpson, can be downright depressing.
But that’s the point.
“I want to inspire people to preserve what we have got left for everyone’s future,” Simpson said.
The 98-page book contains almost 200 photographs. It is based on “Extreme Makeover: Joplin Edition,” a computerized slide show that Simpson produced a couple of years ago to show to local groups. She offers half-hour and one-hour versions of the program.
“I developed the program by using present-day views of sites around town contrasted with vintage photos of historic buildings on that site,” she said. “I have shown it to 25 groups, so far.
“Every time I have shown the program, someone will tell me, ‘I wish you had a book about this.’ The (buildings) that get the loudest groans when I show the program are included in the book.”
Simpson often prefaces her program with a warning about the “architorture” the audience is about to witness.
One of the loudest groans involves the Columbian building at 418-420 S. Main St. When it was built in 1893, it reflected the popular beaux-arts style and featured beautiful stonework for the facade.
The ornamentation was removed and replaced with a featureless facade by the 1930s, and the site then deteriorated into a “shaggy” vacant building, Simpson said. The front recently was given a new look by Jeff Neal Co., and today it is home to Columbia Traders.
“When I show people what the Columbia Traders building originally looked like ... it kind of makes you sick,” Simpson said. “Everyone who sees it asks, ‘What were they thinking?’
“Another groaner is the Ambassador Apartments at Fifth Street and Moffet Avenue. We show the apartments and the house that once stood there. The house was really flamboyant, like the Schifferdecker House that exists near there now.
“When I show the program, people won’t shut up. A 30-minute program can last three hours. Somebody has a story to tell about every building — how they bought sodas there in the 1950s. They relive their youth.”
Simpson has used the theme of a reality makeover show, “but these are not necessarily good makeovers,” she said. “I’m trying to have fun with something that is depressing.
“Some people have begged me to stop my program because it is so depressing. They can’t stand it. I have enjoyed the reaction. Hopefully, people will choose to get involved when they see what can happen if you don’t get involved.”
‘Biggest Loser’
Her program’s “Biggest Loser” section shows a vintage picture of a site and the vacant lot that exists there now, but the book is not just about lost houses and storefronts.
“Many of Joplin’s original industrial buildings were architecturally wonderful,” Simpson said. “They took pride in not only the look of their homes but the look of their industrial buildings.”
Another part of her presentation — “What Not to Wear” — shows buildings with classic facades that have been covered up with metal siding.
“The Joplin Globe is featured as the first example of what not to wear,” Simpson said. “When people see it, they snicker. We call it the ‘cheese grater’ building.”
The book features some of the same buildings, as well as evolving makeovers of buildings, such as Newton’s Jewelers at 428 S. Main St.
“It has been there for a long time,” Simpson said. “That building has had four different facades, but all of them have been Newton’s Jewelers. It shows an evolution of taste. There was the 19th century storefront. Then it got the semi art deco look in the ’40s, and so on. That building has had more face-lifts than Joan Rivers.”
The book contains 95 before-and-after descriptions. Most of them involve structures in downtown Joplin or along Route 66, where former motor courts have been replaced with sometimes abandoned shopping centers or strip malls.
Simpson has been gathering photographs and doing research for her slide program for decades.
“The book is a reduced version of the slide program,” she said. “There are 300 and something pictures in my slide show. When I decided to do the book, I thought that many photos would be too unwieldy. I could do a second volume in the future of photos that I was not able to include in this one.”
