JOPLIN, Mo. — The 100th birthday of Joplin’s Union Depot may bring a rebirth for the building that for nearly 60 years served as a destination and departure point for local train travelers.

City Manager Mark Rohr last week outlined downtown development plans that included a proposal for the depot be renovated as a site for the Joplin Museum Complex. Museum officials are to discuss that proposal Tuesday.

Though the state is waiting for a formal plan from the city, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says officials are anxious to work with Joplin officials on efforts that would end with a restored depot in city hands.

If so, it would be the first successful revitalization effort after several failed attempts to revive a local landmark.

Designed by renowned architect Louis Curtiss and constructed in 1910, the building was a fixture on the Kansas City Southern Railroad Line until 1969, when Joplin passenger service ended. The railroad maintained a freight office in the building into the 1970s. After that closed, the historic building became a magnet for transients, trash and graffiti.

The depot was the subject of several failed attempts to rehabilitate it for commercial use, including one that generated at least three lawsuits against the developer. At one point, it was sold for $1,400 in back taxes, then was “rescued” by state ownership.

Museum home

Groups in charge of the museum and its artifacts have reached no consensus, said Allen Shirley, president of the Joplin Historic Society. Directors of the society, which owns all the museum artifacts except the mineral collection, will discuss the proposal with members of the museum’s governing board Tuesday.

“We plan to meet together soon so we can get everyone on the same page,” Shirley said. “We’ll give them the information we have to date and find out what they think.”

Clair Goodwin, president of the museum board, said: “We’re going to discuss the proposal and what we would need — space and environmental conditions are the absolute necessities — then we’ll look at the pluses and minuses. The good thing is, people are concerned about the museum.”

Boosters

Rohr, in his presentation to the council, said he thought the museum should occupy the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

That opinion is shared by others, including a state spokesman and a builder involved in an ill-fated restoration project more than 20 years ago.

Judd Slivka, a spokesman with Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources, said state officials are talking with the city and waiting for officials to develop an overall plan.

Joplin “has done some really positive things with historic buildings,” he said. “When this all shakes out, we’re very interested in working with the city and we’re certainly enthusiastic about anything that would put that building back in local hands for a historical purpose.”

Local architect Chad Greer also is a project booster. Greer had moved away from Joplin and when he returned last October, he said, “I couldn’t believe that building was still sitting idle.”

Greer produced the artist’s renderings of the depot interior that Rohr used in his council presentation. He said he and others have gone through the building and found it “in remarkably better shape than one (would) imagine.

“That’s not to say that work won’t be required, but we feel strongly the building can be saved without compromising its appearance.” he said. “When you think about rehabilitating, compared to what it would cost to build a building of this caliber today, it makes such sense to preserve it.”

Rohr noted deterioration cited in an architect’s study of the building done several years ago.

“I’m not an architect, but I’ve been told by architects there are materials and techniques that will address those problems,” he said.

David Glenn, of Glenn Group Commercial Development, in Joplin, said he told Rohr soon after his arrival in Joplin “that the best thing he could do is develop the depot for a museum.”

Glenn was the general contractor in a $1.2 million project that started in 1989 to restore the depot for a retail development that was to include shops, cafes, a railroad museum and gardens. Nancy Allman, a principal in the corporation that proposed the project, said financing included a $175,000 loan from state historic preservation funds, and was to include private investment, a $500,000 mortgage loan and a $125,000 grant from the city that was to be allocated in the final stages of construction.

But months into the project, lawsuits had been filed by three contractors.

MCM Restoration Co. said it had been paid $67,440 but was still owed $43,057. Glenn said his company was owed $40,504, while Rainey Roofing and Sheet Metal was owed $59,951.

The roofing company received a second mortgage as a settlement of its lawsuit, then foreclosed on the property when Allman did not pay what was agreed in the settlement. Allman filed an $11 million countersuit claiming she was overcharged and that Glenn’s company had removed artifacts that might cost the project part of its historic tax credits.

In an auction of the building in May 1998, the state bought back the depot by entering as its bid the $175,000 it had lent toward the project. The state did not receive any payments on the loan.

Glenn said he also received nothing from the developer, adding, “according to the court, my claim would have been second in line after the state, but I’ll never get a penny.” The state later said it would be willing to work with other entities to restore the building. Main Street Joplin at one time tried to raise money for a restoration project.



Exhibits

The Joplin Historic Society wants a larger museum, but also “has an obligation to protect and preserve the exhibits that have been placed in our hands,” said Allen Shirley, president of the Joplin Historic Society.