The Downtown Joplin Alliance recently announced it given was $5,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to pay for an engineer to assess the long-abandoned Union Depot building.
According to the Joplin Globe:
That engineer’s report will enable the alliance to formulate more targeted marketing aimed at preserving and developing the 110-year-old train station.
The grant is the latest in an effort to save a building that is listed as a place in peril by the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation. Downtown Joplin Alliance members are seeking a developer to take on the project for redevelopment.
Lori Haun, director of the alliance, said the engineer may also be able to provide some architectural renderings based on findings. The grant will fund the engineer’s cost entirely, she said.
Earlier this year, the City of Joplin hired a commercial real-estate firm to market the depot with the hope someone can redevelop and renovate it.
The depot has been vacant for more than 50 years.
Joplin Union Depot is off North Main Street (aka bypass Route 66 from the 1930s to 1955) and West A Street on the city’s north side. The Broadway alignment of Route 66 also runs just south of the property.
(Image of Joplin Union Depot in Joplin, Missouri, by Jill Sullivan, courtesy of Missouri Preservation)