We still rely upon the police, the fire department, security guards, janitors, and twenty-four hour fast food restaurants to look after us in the wee hours of the morning. One rarely thinks of the people who work the night shift, but as this article shows, little has changed since the turn of the century. The article demonstrates a style of journalism that no longer exists as editors now demand clarity and conciseness, not flowery run-on sentences. Hopefully it will leave most readers with an even greater appreciation for the City that Jack Built.Īvailable at Hastings and through the publisher at In the following story that we have presented in its entirety below, an anonymous Globe reporter writes in a florid style that one no longer finds in the pages of today’s newspapers. It is accessible to readers of most ages and is a enjoyable read for those who enjoy local history, the history of Joplin, and illustrated histories. Joplin is a well written and illustrated history of Joplin, Missouri. For those who have and enjoyed the above mentioned Now and Then and Again, they have a great companion to Joplin. Those who own Leslie Simpson’s prior works may recognize some, but not all of the images used, however all offer entertaining glimpses into Joplin’s past. We also recommend that you might consider giving a donation the Post Memorial Art Reference Library. Our advance copy notes that “Profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Joplin Chamber of Commerce Business Recovery Fund†so you can be assured that your money will go to a good cause. Sadly, Simpson’s work illustrates just how many Joplin buildings and other landmarks have been lost to the ravages of time, benign neglect, or lack of vision.
Each illustration has been carefully chosen and offer unique glimpses into Joplin’s social, cultural, religious, and architectural history. The captions for each illustration are insightful, well written, and historically accurate. Although one might expect that because the book is postcard history the book might be poorly researched, it is not.
The book is helpfully divided into nine sections that cover different topics such as mining, industry, residences, schools, churches, and hotels. Simpson does an excellent job of balancing the past and present so that readers are taken through Joplin’s early years, subsequent growth, Route 66 years, up until the time of the tornado. The book provides readers with an understanding of the people, places, and events that shaped Joplin into the city that it is today. It is a lavishly illustrated postcard history of the city accompanied by detailed, informative captions.
Simpson’s latest book is a wonderful love letter to Joplin, a fine work that covers the history of the city from its establishment in 1873 to the present day. Leslie Simpson, the director of the Post Memorial Art Reference Library, writes in the epilogue of Joplin, “This book is my love letter to the city of Joplin, of which I am proud to be a citizen!†To learn more about the Union Depot, read our five part history of the depot here: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V. Here at Historic Joplin, while we championed the move of the JMC to the depot, we are just as satisfied with this new idea so long as its implemented and one of Joplin’s most valuable architectural jewels is preserved for future generations.
A hotly debated issue silenced by the tornado of 2011, the restoration of Joplin’s Union Depot has quietly started to filter back into the conversation of the city’s future. While the previous discussion was focused on turning the depot into a new home for the Joplin Museum Complex, an idea that the governing boards of the JMC were reluctantly being dragged toward accepting, the new round of talks has removed the JMC from the equation. SPARK is the word now, “Stimulating Progress through Arts, Recreation and Knowledge of the Past,” which is part of the current plan by the city and Wallace Bajjali Development Partners to turn north downtown Joplin into a center for arts and recreation.Īs recent articles in the Globe have stated, the new plan for the Union Depot is to renovate it as a home for restaurants, not for the museum. In the current budget of the Master Plan, the city voted in late December, 2012, for the creation of a TIF district which would pay for some of the redevelopment projects, to set aside “$68 million for a performing and visual arts center and Union Depot restoration…”  If you were wondering about the JMC, in the same process, money was planned to build a completely new museum home which would be somewhere in the vicinity of north Main Street.