By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
The stone dogwood flowers in Rose Holland’s garden have been there for decades.
“They were just going to throw them in the trash,” she said. “I thought they were real pretty, so I brought them home and put them in my flower garden.”
Holland didn’t know that the fragments and broken pieces she collected nearly 40 years ago had any historical significance. It was not until she read a story in the Globe about Dave Caylor and his work to re-create the pieces that she knew she had kept something important.
“I saw his article in the paper and saw the photograph of the flower in the corner,” she said. “The minute I saw that flower, I knew what it was. I called him, and he came out here to see what I had.”
Holland, in fact, had some — but not all — of the missing pieces that Caylor needed. He now will be able to make molds from those pieces to re-create ones missing from the Gryphon building at 1027 S. Main St. The building, formerly known as the Interstate Grocer building and the Bagcraft building, is being restored and renovated into an office building.
Had Caylor not found the pieces, he would have had to painstakingly re-create them from scratch using an old photo of the building that did not provide much detail.
“It’s just amazing that she had them,” Caylor said. “I now have some of the detail I have been trying to find for the cross pendants. These were key components in the design. To be able to retrieve the original pieces is amazing.”
Caylor already has re-created one piece that Holland had in her garden.
“The piece I made is 22 inches long. The original piece was 23 inches long,” he said. “I knew when I made that piece it might be off an inch. It was.”
Holland, who lives near Reinmiller Road, said: “I worked up there (Bagcraft) for 23 1/2 years. I can’t remember if a tornado or lightning hit the building to cause the pieces to fall to the ground.
“They all were just scattered on the ground. They did not have a use for them. They were going to throw them away. I thought they would look nice in my garden.”
Holland, who retired in January 1993, collected about 10 pieces — some of them with the brick still attached. Caylor, who searched through archives of the Library of Congress to find similar terra cotta designs, acquired four of the pieces from Holland.
“These are the real thing,” she said. “He knew what he was looking for. He was tickled to death to get them.”
Caylor is re-creating 25 handmade molds to replace damaged or missing terra cotta pieces on the building. When he’s finished, he will have re-created and poured more than 200 pieces.
The terra cotta will be used in the reconstruction of the ornate parapet at the top of the building on the west side. It initially was believed that the brick and terra cotta pieces in the parapet were intentionally removed in the 1940s.
Holland, who will turn 78 next week, said: “I don’t think so. It was either lightning or a tornado that did that.”
Damage path
Joplin was struck by a tornado in May 1971. The damage path started near 18th Street and Maiden Lane, and cut diagonally across the city to Missouri Southern State University. It is possible that the Bagcraft building was in the path of that twister.
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