Downtown Alliance partners with DNR, local firm to preserve Joplin Union Depot

In an effort to preserve a historic piece of Joplin’s history, the Downtown Joplin Alliance, through their Endangered Properties Program, has announced a new partnership with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Office, and the Glenn Group, a Joplin-based firm that specializes in commercial real estate, to secure a future for Joplin’s Union Depot.

Joplin Union Depot was designed by Kansas City architect Louis Curtiss – who is often referred to as “the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City” – and built by the Manhattan Construction Company of New York. It opened in 1911 and was in service until its closure in 1969.

The Department of Natural Resources gained ownership of the Depot through the Historic Preservation Revolving Fund in the 1990s after an unsuccessful rehabilitation. While various entities have expressed interest in acquiring the property since then, these inquiries have not generated a financially capable purchaser.

This DJA-MoDNR partnership is an opportunity for the depot to benefit from DJA’s expertise and resources to enhance its marketability and make progress toward finding a preservation-minded purchaser.

In 2020, Downtown Joplin Alliance established their Endangered Properties Program, a revolving fund specifically for intervening in historic properties with questionable futures.

These funds, while generally not enough to pay for an entire project, allow the Endangered Properties Program Committee to take control of a property through donation or option, then seek developers for the property through marketing, feasibility studies, structural assessments and other needs specific to a particular building.

The Joplin Union Depot is important culturally, historically and architecturally, and returning it to productive use would be mutually beneficial to the Joplin community and to future generations of Missourians. Through this cooperative agreement, Downtown Joplin Alliance has the authority to market and promote the property to local and nationwide audiences to secure a developer.

Downtown Joplin Alliance Executive Director, Lori Haun states, “We are thrilled to be able to use our Endangered Properties Program as a tool to help reach prospective developers for the Depot. This building is a well loved and iconic piece of Joplin’s history and we look forward to it being part of our growing downtown community once again.”