Joplin, MO, Carthage Subdivision, Joplin Branch, Galena Branch, Tuckahoe Branch, MP 331.5

Hey, everyone.

I am doing self-directed research on railroads that paralleled Route 66, including the Frisco between Saint Louis, MO and Joplin, MO.

I have been to Joplin three times and have made good pictures of the Frisco building on Main Street.

I was rather surprised to discover a photograph of an alleged SECOND Frisco depot in Joplin, as indicated above by the PDF filenames MO.Joplin.pdf and MO.Joplin2.pdf.

Does anyone know where this depot was located?

What was this depot called?

Was it a commuter depot?

Street address or intersection?

Is the building perchance still standing?

And what is the large IGA warehouse in the background with the Milwaukee Road logo in the lower right?

Thanks!

Edit 3/17/2024: Responses to the questions in this post are outlined below.

a) The freight house and after September 1, 1955 "new" depot was located at 1015 South Main Street, Joplin, MO 64801.

Note the passenger waiting room addition on the north side to the original freight house office. Photograph view looking southeast.

This was the fourth (4th) Frisco depot in Joplin, MO.

The original Frisco depot and its two successors, depots 1, 2 and 3, were located to the north in the downtown central business district core.

Depot 3 and its 8-story office tower still stand at 601 South Main Street, Joplin, MO 64801. The building has been converted into the Frisco Station Lofts.

b) The structure was called the Frisco freight house and, after 9/1/1955 the Frisco freight house and depot.

c) No, Frisco commuter service in Joplin ended in the early 1920s.

That service was provided at the Frisco stub end depot and office tower in the downtown central business core to the north at 601 South Main Street.

The downtown central business core depot and office tower has been converted into the Frisco Station Lofts.

d) Both Frisco depot location addresses are noted in the responses above.

e) No, the freight house and "new" depot were torn down on the mid 1990s.

However, the downtown depot and office tower still stands to the north on the southeast corner of South Main Street and East 6th Street.

f) Adjacent to the IGA warehouse is a Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (CMSP&P) or Milwaukee Road 50' boxcar.
MKD

 

Do a Google street view of 1027 South Main Street, Joplin, MO.

The large building in the background is the old Interstate Grocery Association building.

The site for the Frisco freight house depot looks like it is a parking lot now.

One block west is a clean Santa Fe caboose all by its lonesome.

I would bet that the Milwaukee Road logo is on the side of a boxcar.

 

Chris is correct.

This is the Frisco's Joplin freight house, and passenger depot.

The structure was 340'-4" long x 40'-5" wide at the street. There was a shed platform on the east end that was 1201'-0" x 22'-5". The two-story section was 39'-6" x 40'-5” and served as the freight house offices.

The Frisco shifted operation to its new, brick Joplin depot on September 1, 1955.

A portion of the two-story office section adjoined the freight house was converted to a waiting room, ticket office, telegraph office, and an office for the general agent.

Among other reasons, the new depot location improved operations by eliminating a reverse move, which was required at the old depot at East 6th Street and South Main Street.

The Frisco web site has a bug the precludes me from posting the B&B diagram, and the Joplin track arrangement.

Darren is correct with the location and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific (CMSP&P) or Milwaukee Road boxcar that is spotted by the warehouse.

 

The Frisco freight depot office!

Yes, of course, now it makes sense. Now I see things in the picture that I missed before and that is why the PDF floor plans do not match the appearance of the building. They belong to a different structure!

That other website lied to me! Thanks to everyone for helping me clarify this.

Just one more trivia question for Darren, is the location of the Santa Fe caboose the former location of the Missouri Pacific (MP) stone passenger depot?

That building was moved to Rangeline Road to become the Timberline Steakhouse and now the Pacific Rim Asian Fusion joint.

Edit 3/17/2024: The former Missouri Pacific stone depot was relocated to 2850 East 29th Street, Joplin, MO 64804. As of today it is currently occupied by the restaurant Maria's Mexican Grill and Cantina.

The building has been occupied by multiple tenants, mostly restaurants including several not listed, since being relocated. The structure was just south of the path of the category 5 tornado that devastated a large swath of southern Joplin on 5/22/ 2011.

The former depot sits to the west, adjacent to the south inclined approach to the South Rangeline Road overpass over the Kansas City Southern (KCS) main line.
MKD

 

If you link to the Springfield Greene County Public Library in Springfield, MO website and click on the photograph for identifier p01171, you get the picture that I posted above.

http://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/depots/jasper.cfm

Associated with this image is a PDF file that you view by clicking the link "View Floor Plan". The PDF file, 2 pages, contains the floorplans as posted in this (Frisco) thread.

MO.Joplin.pdf

MO.Joplin2.pdf

Edit 3/29/2024: https://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/depots/floorplans/MO.Joplin.pdf

Added current link to the downtown depot office tower floor plan.
MKD

To my seeing, the floorplans belong to Frisco passenger station downtown, while the picture is of the freight house depot station further south.

I wrote to the librarian in Springfield, asking if he was SURE that this is correct.

I stated my reasons why I thought there had been a mix-up.

He insists that the picture is the passenger depot and that the floorplans belong to the building as show.

Go figure.

 

In the Springfield-Greene County Library digital collection there are numerous errors.

Like you, I have have sent my corrections, but they have have gone unheeded.

 

Where the Santa Fe Caboose sits is where the Missouri Pacific (MP or MoP) depot was once located.

Also a couple blocks down the line is the former MP roundhouse.

It is now occupied and used as a private business though.

Edit 3/17/2024: The former MP depot before it was moved was located at 1001 South Main Street, Joplin, MO 64801.

The former MP roundhouse is located at 1070 South Missouri Avenue, Joplin, MO 64801. It is currently occupied by Trojan Heat Treating, Inc..
MKD

 

Chris,

I did a double take when I saw the platform dimensions. That is a lot of real estate.

 

I have seen two conflicting dates as to when Frisco passenger service ended in Joplin.

I have read two articles concerning the history of the Joplin Frisco passenger station that state that passenger service ended there in 1955.

I have read from other sources on the internet that the last Frisco passenger train left Joplin in October 1960.

Does anyone out there have any knowledge of this?

 

Mike Condren's web site lists the last Joplin passenger service as October 15, 1960.

 

Thanks

 

I suspected that may had been the case.

Thanks for confirming it.

 

On July 2nd of 1960, The Kansas Supreme court allowed Frisco to stop service of it trains from Monett, MO to Wichita, KS.

On September 30th, the announcement was made that the last run would be October 12th of 1960. Trains Eastbound No 310 and Westbound No 309.

They consisted of a locomotive, a baggage car, a combination mail and baggage and a 60 seat air-conditioned chair car.

On Wednesday, October 12th, it was reported that the last run would be Saturday, which would have been the 15th.

The source of these reports was the Wichita Eagle daily paper.

Tony LaLumia

 

A couple of things, because I was there.

Somebody mentioned the Interstate Grocer's Association, bur actually it is the Independent Grocers Association (IGA). My grandfather, a Joplin grocer for 50 years, was a member and an officer at one time.

Secondly, the Frisco Building housed other businesses. One I remember vividly was the Frisco Pharmacy. All my grandfathers scripts came from there and I used to ride down in the mornings with him when he picked them up. I still have a number of empty prescription bottles of his because of the name.

Third, sadly, the train came off almost at the same time we had his funeral in the fall of 1960.

The era of my youth in Joplin was over.

BD

 

The Frisco Joplin depot was also home to doctors and dentists for many years according to a local railroad history expert.

 

Frisco Passenger Traffic Department Bulletin 2315 advises that trains No 309 and No 310 would be discontinued effective October 16, 1960.

Last runs operated from both Monett, MO and Wichita, KS on Saturday, October 15, 1960.

 

If you study a timetable from that era, you will see that the westbound train No 309 came from Monett, MO to Wichita, Ks, then it was turned and returned to Monett, actually Springfield, MO.

Usually about a 2:30 arrival and a 4:30 departure.

Tony L.