Marble plaques cover the walls in Memorial Hall's entrance, listing the names of local women and men who lost their lives to foreign wars with U.S. involvement. It's sobering to look at and reflects the reason why residents and veterans want to preserve its history and meaning.
For over a century, Memorial Hall has served as a gathering place for Joplin residents and veterans. However, in the past several years, it has required repair and preservation.
What was once a thriving building is now storage and office space. But it still holds a special place in people's lives. One of them is Bob Harrington, the Commander of American Legion Post 13. More than a century ago, Post 13 initiated the effort to raise funds for the hall's construction.
"They wanted to build some memorial to be able to honor the guys that had died in World War One and the Spanish American War, specifically, is where they were looking at that point," explained Harrington.
Voters passed the levy in 1920 to hire an architect to design and construct the building for just $250,000, equivalent to about $4.6 million today.
"Now we're talking millions to try to put it back in shape again," he said.
Harrington said he has worked with several consulting groups, including Temple Live and the Beaty group, to determine what can be done with the building, whether it's torn down or not. In 2022, Temple Live presented its findings to the City Council, and they seemed optimistic.
"The Beaty Group would actually take the hall and remodel it and get it back to shape. Then Temple Live, their organization, goes out and finds all of the performers and that sort of thing," added Harrington.
The hall was once a lively venue for gatherings, concerts, ballets, plays, and symphonies. Big-name artists performed at the hall. The famous "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" was first performed by the Nat King Cole Trio in Memorial Hall.
There are still watermelon stains on the ceiling from when comedian Gallagher performed his famous watermelon-smashing routine.
The city's Parks and Recreation Director, Paul Bloomberg, said he remembers some artists who came to the area.
"We had Snoop Dogg come. So that was pretty funny. He actually played basketball with our parks and rec maintenance staff. So that was a hoot," added Bloomberg.
It was the place to be for concerts in the Joplin area. But now with the Downstream Casino in Oklahoma and the Walmart Amphitheater in Arkansas, it's lost its 'spark'. Bloomberg understands the value of the failing building. He has a personal and work connection to the building - his offices are in Memorial Hall.
"It's just hard when it has that much history. I mean, I believe the building was built in 1924 and 1925, and it's just 100 years of history. I mean, you don't want to see that go away," added Bloomberg.
But finding a tangible solution has been a long and arduous process. And just like they needed a tax levy to build the hall, they'd need to pass another levy to repair it. City Manager Nick Edwards created a "Listening Tour" in 2020 to hear the concerns of Joplin residents. The nearly 150-page report mentions Memorial Hall 20 times.
In 2017, the Joplin City Council transferred ownership of Memorial's parking lot to Connect2Culture, which is now the multi-million-dollar Cornell Complex. It opened in 2022, the same year voters turned down a $30 million tax levy ballot measure.
The city has also considered tearing down the building and instead building a Veteran's Memorial Park. However, that still needs to be approved by the City Council and later by Joplin voters.
"It's tough to make a fast opinion and decision on what to do about the Memorial Hall. I don't envy the City Council because it is such an important piece to our community," added Bloomberg.
In an interview earlier this year, Joplin Mayor Keenan Cortez said he has fond memories of the building, but understands that something needs to be done, as a citizen of Joplin and an elected official.
"We can't just let the building continue to sit there and deteriorate year after year after year, and as an elected official. I can't just sit there and kick the can down the road to the next elected officials," Cortez said.
The city issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) earlier this year to determine the best solution for the building.
As of last month, there have been no submissions for a request for proposal, according to Lynn Onstot, the city's Public Information Officer.
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