From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation approved nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for the Joplin Downtown Historic District and a 108-year-old store and social center in Newton County. The council met Friday in Branson.

The Joplin Downtown Historic District consists of 33 historic commercial buildings on South Main Street between Fourth and Sixth streets.

“Once the heart of the booming Tri-State mining area, downtown Joplin housed mining supply stores, huge department stores and myriad restaurants and saloons constructed to service and supply area residents,” the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said in its news release about the nomination. “Easily accessed by train, an extensive interurban rail system, and later U.S. Route 66, downtown Joplin hosted both the elite of the community and its more rowdy denizens.”

Preparation of the nominations was partially funded by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to Joplin. The grant was administered by the DNR’s State Historic Preservation Office.

The Lentz-Carter Merchandise Store in Stella was built in 1890. According to the DNR, it was Stella’s first solely commercial building.

“Typical of general stores of the era, it provided everyday items such as groceries, clothing, toys and tools. It catered to the local farmers as an outlet for their produce and provider of large-scale farming equipment.”

The building also was a social center for residents of Stella. The upper floor of the building was used as a Masonic Lodge for more than 60 years, while the first telephone in Stella was installed on the first floor. It is the oldest surviving building in Stella.

Other properties approved for the National Register in Missouri include:

n The Christian and Anna Keller Farmstead near St. Louis. Keller built the house, with internal smokehouse and food cellars, between 1855 and 1860 of stone and clay brick quarried and made on site.

n Todd’s Landing just outside Arrow Rock, which is believed to be the Saline County site where William Becknell assembled the first successful trading expeditions from U.S. territory to Santa Fe, N.M., in the 1820s. 

Advisory Council