The Remnants Of This Abandoned Train Depot In Missouri Are Hauntingly Beautiful
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Stephanie Butler
Author
Although this train depot in Joplin has been sitting idle and unused for several decades now, it was once a stop for many different railroads.
Completed in July of 1911, the Joplin Union Depot's most popular railways included the Kansas City Southern Railway and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.
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The depot was designed by the Canadian-born architect Louis Curtiss. It was featured in the January, 1912 edition of Popular Mechanics for its use of mining waste in the concrete. *
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The last train, the Southern Belle, visited the station on November 4, 1969. This ended 58 years of constant service.
After train service ended, the station slowly fell into disrepair.
With its many empty and unused walls and rooms, it became a destination for wanderers and vandals, as seen by the many markings and tags throughout the station.
Although the station was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1973, it remains unoccupied.
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The restoration of Joplin’s Union Depot has been debated and discussed over the years.
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At one point, discussion was to turn the depot into a part of the Joplin Museum Complex.
Most recently, SPARK, or "Stimulating Progress through Arts, Recreation and Knowledge of the Past," involved a current plan by the city and Wallace Bajjali Development Partners.
The idea was to turn north downtown Joplin into a center for arts and recreation, of which the depot would be a part.
One idea for the Union Depot is to renovate it as a home for restaurants.
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Despite all the plans, the depot sits abandoned.
There is currently a Facebook page set up to Save Union Depot.
However, nothing new has been posted since last April.
For a complete tour of the site, check out this great video by YouTube user UrbanMan 2015. (Note: some of the graffiti contains profanity.)
Sadly, one of Joplin’s most valuable architectural jewels sit unused due to a lack of funding. The hope is that before the building declines further, it is able to be preserved for future generations in some incarnation. What do you think they should do with the space? *For more information on mining waste and its uses, see this article by miningfacts.org.
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