A rite of passage for nearly every Joplin city council for the past five decades, an update on the deteriorating conditions of the city’s Memorial Hall.
KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
The hall, constructed in 1925 on 8th St S. Wall and S. Joplin had its first and last major renovation in 1976 with accessibility improvements in 2003.
It was also used in March of 2020 during the pandemic for Municipal Court that was before a partial roof collapse in June of that year. Ever since it’s been closed to the public.
A future use study was completed in 2021, the same year Joplin voters rejected a multi-million referendum that would have significantly overhauled Memorial Hall. It has sat closed to the public and vacant ever since.
According to the 35-page presentation on thecity’s website, JoplinMO.org, virtually every aspect of Memorial Hall is in poor to fair condition. That includes the building exterior which has multiple issues linked to the settling of the structure, including cracks that have allowed severe moisture issues.
Extreme problems with the interior of Memorial Hall including a non-functional elevator, a partially functional HVAC system, and numerous environmental issues due to multiple decades of neglect by the city.
Representatives from Kansas City, Missouri-based SFS Architectswill be on hand tonight for the presentation. The formal portion of the Joplin city council meeting gets underway tonight at 6.
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