East Town, Boots Court nominations to national register head to state council

Jul. 13—JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will meet Friday to consider the nominations of a number of properties, including Joplin's East Town district and Carthage's Boots Court motel, to the National Register of Historic Places.

East Town is a district of the original city bounded by Broadway-Langston Hughes, Landreth Avenue, Hill Street and Division Avenue. Its significance for the national register lies in its "complex and rich" history as a Black neighborhood, consultant Rory Krupp, of Owen & Eastlake Ltd. in Columbus, Ohio, writes in his nomination form.

"East Joplin has all the Black neighborhood entailed: gradual disinvestment, environmental degradation and, eventually, urban renewal. The neighborhood had a Black segregative infrastructure in a Black school and a Black park," he wrote. "The neighborhood and district also has all the hallmarks of Black agency, celebration, memory and resistance. Emancipation Day was celebrated in East Town. Black entrepreneurship thrived in the district. The main street celebrates a noted Black poet, and a community mural honors famous Black Joplin residents."

East Town has maintained a "small Black enclave" since Joplin City was platted in 1871, soon after the discovery of lead along Joplin Creek, Krupp wrote. But race relations deteriorated rapidly at the start of the 20th century as more than a dozen lynchings took place across Missouri, including the lynching of Thomas Gilyard in Joplin in 1903, and the decline of mining as an industry was mirrored in the population.

Some East Town residents left, never to return, Krupp said; others stayed and watched as the city was first segregated and then integrated. Their contribution to Joplin, he said, "was much larger than their community."

"Black residents navigated threats of implicit and actual violence, segregation and later integration in schools and commerce," Krupp wrote. "This interplay is evident in the history of East Joplin's built environment. Reflecting this history, the district is a mix of a mining town downtown and a changing interracial residential community in southwestern Missouri."

Boots Court, 107 S. Garrison Ave. in Carthage, is an "intact example of motor court lodging serving automobile tourism and roadside commerce on U.S. Route 66 in Missouri," said Gail Emrie, of Fair Grove, in her nomination of the old motel. This type of development generally featured a one-story building with attached units and an office; the units for travelers typically held a bed and a bath, with parking located right outside the door.

The motel's two buildings, constructed in 1939 and 1946, are "original and in good condition," with original concrete stucco, metal windows and signage, and black glass tiles, Emrie said. Even the neon on the outside of the building is original, having been restored by former owners Deborah Harvey and Priscilla Bledsaw.

"The setting, design, workmanship and association are iconic Route 66, taking travelers back in time when there was a 'radio in every room,'" Emrie wrote. "... Boots Court, an example of motor court roadside lodging, is a unique and important landmark on Route 66 in Missouri."

The advisory council will meet at 10 a.m. Friday at the Lewis and Clark State Office Building in Jefferson City. The council reviews all Missouri nominations to the National Register of Historic Places before they are submitted.