Joplin’s City Hall Holiday Window Lighting!
The storefront of the former Newman’s Department Store (now Joplin City Hall) is lit with the Holiday Windows.
Visit Joplin has installed the fifth “stained glass” winter scene as part of the city’s downtown holiday appearance. The scenes adorn the front windows of City Hall and look out onto Main Street and Route 66. This year’s addition is located on the 6th Street side of the building.
Regional artist Sandra Pemberton created a three-panel scene painted on vinyl. Sandra, known regionally for her large-scale murals, has painted all five scenic depictions:
2021: Santa’s Stop in Joplin
2022: (Dressed for Holiday Style) Department Store Displays of Days Gone By
2023: Holiday Home
2024: Mining Camp Tradition
Patrick Tuttle, Visit Joplin director, says, “The tradition of decorating the windows continues the practice started by Newman’s Department Store, the building’s original inhabitant, and one rekindled by city hall staff since 2009.”
The 2025 installment
MAIN STREET ‘66’ CELEBRATION … depicts the bustle of a midwestern community’s wintery lifeblood. Main Street in any town, in any year, evokes a generational sense of nostalgia, characterized by fashion, culture, and the spirit of the people who experience it. This year’s artistic interpretation features Joplin’s Main Street (also historic Route 66), festive lights, decorations, and cheerfulness, bringing the holiday season into view. Vintage cars capture the essence of the open road in honor of Route 66’s 100th anniversary.
Tuttle concluded, “Though the stained-glass scenes can be viewed by residents and guests alike at any time of the day, the stained-glass effect is backlit and best observed at night.”
The holiday scenes will be on display until Friday, January 2, 2026.
Plus, in a fun local twist, if you look closely you can find an old friend – Boomer the Groundhog! Boomer, who has served as Visit Joplin’s mascot for several years, makes a holiday appearance in all five scenes. He appears six times in the 2025 edition, a hidden salute to the 2026 Route 66 Centennial.
Storied history of a fun holiday tradition
Newman’s Department Store building has a storied history of bringing the spirit of the holiday season to life in Joplin’s Downtown, right along its Main Street frontage. The facility opened in 1910 and offered a wide range of products, from women’s finery to household goods. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is cited for its architecture and its place in Joplin’s history, particularly in relation to commerce. Over the years, the building has been referred to as the Newman Brothers Building or the Newman Building, with the store name simply being Newman’s.
The City of Joplin purchased the five-story Chicago-style building in 2003, and City Hall has been added to its references since 2005. In 2009, through the leadership of the Joplin City Clerk’s office, an effort was made to rekindle the spirit of decorating the “storefront” for the holidays, similar to the tradition of Newman’s Holiday Windows of the 1940s until 1972, when the department store moved out of downtown to Joplin’s new development, Northpark Mall, on Range Line Road. Volunteers helped City employees with grand designs of the season by decorating the first-floor windows that face Main Street. For the first few years, members of the Tri-State Model Railroaders participated in model train displays featuring picturesque village settings.
Early displays depicted Christmas through the eyes of a child, while each year, the settings became a bit grander as they were revolutionized with mannequins and animatronics. No matter the theme or technology, the goal was to keep the holiday spirit alive while respecting the building’s original tenant, Newman’s Department Store.
In 2021, the direction of window decorating took a new turn. Artist Sandra Pemberton was hired to create a stained-glass-like holiday storyline. Each panel of vinyl was framed to fit each window. This format could be more easily stored and reused for several seasons. A Holiday Window by Robert O. Isaac, who created displays for Newman’s from 1946 to 1956.
HISTORY OF THE JOPLIN CITY HALL HOLIDAY WINDOWS
2021: SANTA’S STOP IN JOPLIN … is a wintery scene in three panels that showcases Joplin’s Grand Falls with a classic Woody Wagon, some puppy helpers, gifts, nature, and the merry man himself, Santa, pausing before delivering another sack of presents.
2022: (DRESSED IN HOLIDAY STYLE) DEPARTMENT STORE DISPLAYS OF DAYS GONE BY … draws from the days when Newman’s Department Store would be decked out for holiday shoppers. Depicted in three panels, the left panel shows men’s and women’s fashion for the season, as well as the styles that upper society might wear. The right double panels bring Toyland to life with all the excitement of the toys that fill a child’s wishes.
2023: HOLIDAY HOME … is a 19th-century depiction in two panels that brings to life what a family Christmas might have looked like. 2023’s story unfolds, pulling from the stories from the Post and Picher family homes. Though the family could be any Joplin family, a few tidbits have been brought to life in this storyboard. The grand staircase, “Where all the stockings were hung,” is that of the Oliver S. Picher home in the historic Murphysburg neighborhood. Listed on the Murphysburg.org website, the interior of the house is a picture of elegance, featuring high wainscoting, stained glass windows, crystal chandeliers, ten-foot vaulted ceilings, six fireplaces, a servant’s dumbwaiter, and a grand staircase. The tree is a remembrance of a delightful tale: Dr. Winfred Post wired together many trees to achieve the grand height of the family tree in the Great Hall of their home on E. 15th Street. He would fashion a hook on the end of a pole to place decorations on top of his creation.
2024: MINING CAMP TRADITION … recounts Joplin’s mining history as part of the Tri-state Mining District. A miner’s life was hard and, at times, treacherous. They deeply valued family and faith. In three panels, though the winter weather may have brought snow, ice, and cold conditions to the top side, the climate within the mines stayed consistent year- round. Bringing a little of the season’s spirit from their homes, miners enjoyed what merriment they could in their camps and the caverns.
2025: MAIN STREET ‘66’ CELEBRATION … depicts the bustle of a midwestern community’s wintery lifeblood. Main Street in any town, in any year, evokes a generational sense of nostalgia, characterized by fashion, culture, and the spirit of the people who experience it. This year’s artistic interpretation features Joplin’s Main Street (also historic Route 66), festive lights, decorations, and cheerfulness, bringing the holiday season into view. Vintage cars capture the essence of the open road in honor of Route 66’s 100th anniversary. Bonus: Each edition has a special appearance from the mascot of the city’s tourism marketing effort, Visit Joplin – Boomer the Groundhog. See if you can find him.