Title	Frisco Building 1
Title-Alternative	Transportation 23
Identifier	JPL10_385_007_a_B
Creator	unknown
Contributor	Simpson, Leslie, Post Memorial Art Reference Library; Curt Teich Co., Chicago
Publisher	Joplin Public Library
Description	By 1897, Joplin was well-established as a rail center. The Frisco (San Francisco) railroad began service to Joplin that year, with passenger trains arriving and departing every hour. Although the one million dollar Union Depot had opened less than two years earlier, the Odd Fellows Lodge of Missouri began construction of another million dollar depot five blocks south in 1913. The Lodge, which planned to lease the 8-story structure for use as the Frisco depot and a high-rise office building, proclaimed that it would be the finest passenger station in the Southwest. The Isaac T. Cook Construction Company of St. Louis built the fireproof reinforced-concrete edifice, facing it with brick and ornamental marble. Entrances on both Sixth St. and Main St. provided easy access to ticket booths, waiting rooms, telegraph offices, and lunch counter on the first floor. Forty large electric lights and one hundred smaller fixtures shone overhead. The Frisco even provided a separate women's waiting room, equipped with elegant mahogany furniture and upholstered chairs. Upper floors housed some 80 offices for railroad officials, dentists, doctors, insurance agents, barbers, and beauticians. The basement held rooms for telegraph operators, conductors, and freight handlers as well as baggage and express areas. A huge coal-burning furnace required ten to twelve tons of coal nightly just to warm the lobby and the Pullman sleeping cars that sheltered there. East of the building lay the train sheds, concourse, tracks, and paved area where passengers embarked and disembarked. Huge crowds arrived on Sunday, December 2 to marvel at the lofty marble lobby with its sweeping staircase and shiny brass elevator tended by a uniformed operator. Others scurried to buy souvenir tickets; Dr. E.C. Burkholder paid 15 cents for the first ticket sold. The opening day crowd cheered as the first train pulled out at 12:30 p.m. and headed to Kansas City. On March 26, 1914, the company insuring the new high-rise conducted some rather remarkable structural tests. Agents filled rooms 317 and 318 with 50 tons of lead and then placed another 240,000 pounds on the 6th floor. The Frisco passed the test with flying colors, convincing the insurance company of its sturdiness. The Frisco's decline began in 1955 with the end of passenger train service and the exodus of doctors and dentists to the newly-opened Medical Arts Building at 24th & Jackson. Occupancy dwindled until only a handful of loyal tenants remained, sticking it out with only electric space heaters for warmth and sweltering without air-conditioning in the summer. The last occupants finally moved out in 1987, and the doors shut for good. Vandals stripped the building of its electrical wiring and fixtures. Cracks in the brick sheathing, falling brick, and a collapsed overhang boded certain doom for the derelict structure in spite of several ill-advised attempts to save it. This story, however, has a happy ending. In 2002, developers began work restoring the Frisco; it reopened in 2003 as apartments for senior citizens. Sources:Attoun, Marti. "Doors closing on an era." Joplin Globe. November 20, 1987.Attoun, Marti. "Frisco: no tenants aboard." Joplin Globe. November 22, 1987. "Frisco to open its new passenger depot to traffic tomorrow." Joplin Daily Globe. November 29, 1913. "Frisco's eight-story passenger station is opened to the public." Joplin Daily Globe. December 2, 1913.Gibbons, Charles. Angling in the Archives. Joplin: H. Lang Rogers, 1996.Lehr, Jeff. "Landmark to turn corner." Joplin Globe. September 19, 2002. "Million dollar station in construction." Joplin Daily Globe. March 2, 1913.Snow, Harlan. "Clouded title hangs over Frisco Building." Joplin Globe. February 6, 1992. "Spotlight on Joplin." Joplin Globe. May 6, 2002.
Subject	Frisco Station (Joplin, Mo.); Railroad stations--Missouri--Joplin; Frisco Railroad;
Language	English
Date-Creation	1913
Date-Current	8/21/2004
Type	Postcards
Collection Name	Joplin Historical Postcards
Source	From the collection of Rodney Blaukat
Coverage	Missouri -- Jasper County -- Joplin; Missouri -- Newton County -- Joplin;
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Contributing Institution	Joplin Public Library (Joplin, Mo)
County	Jasper County (Mo.) Newton County (Mo.)
Copy Request	Contact Joplin Public Library at 417-624-5465, or email jpl@joplinpubliclibrary.org