There are 2 new trips to reflect on. The first to Kansas City documented the US Courthouse and Post Office at 8th and Grand. It is a massive structure that is being repurposed as condominiums/apartments. Unfortunately, I was unable to get into the lobby, but the outside has excellent Art Deco motifs with eagles and excellent light fixtures. It would be quite a place to call home. The second stop was the US Post Office on Pershing. Unfortunately, I am uncertain as to whether this is strictly speaking New Deal or probably in the transition. The cornerstone is for 1933. Just to the east on Pershing, is the set of bas reliefs of the generals from WWI who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the WWI Memorial on the hill to the south. It is a spectacular site. The bas reliefs are of Marshall Foch, Admiral Beatty, General Pershing, General Diaz, and General Jacques, commissioned as a WPA project and sculpted by Walker Hancock. He, also was the sculpture for the massive horses/riders at the St. Louis, MO WWI memorial and was the professor of Art at Washington University in St. Louis for many years. The last stop was not for documentation, but visited the City Market in the section of Kansas north of the main Downtown area, just south of the Missouri River. City Market was a WPA project and now has a combination of restaurants, stands, and groceries that are particularly active on week-ends. It also is the home for the Steamship Arabia which was dug up by a group of Kansas City treasure hunters. Once they realized what they had found, they determined to keep the contents together and founded a museum. It is the largest collection of pre-Civil War objects in the world and is truly amazing.
The next trip started in Columbia, picking up some sites just discovered including additions to Fred Douglass school, a historically black school, now an alternative high school that was currently being used in the summer. The original building dated to 1916 with additions both to the north and south. The second was a large addition to Ridgeway Elementary school from 1934. The architects married the addition to the original quite well with a duplicate entrance to the school in a classic form. It is currently a magnet school with the emphasis on individually designed curriculum to reflect the needs of individual students. Both of my children attended Ridgeway. I attempted unsuccessfully to determine the addition to Hickman High School, but have a lead on that to look at architectural drawings.
I then revisited Fulton, getting better pics of the airport and a plaque at the front of the George Washington Carver school, a historically black school. There was a plaque, but no specified federal agency responsible for funding, rather surprising. Next up was the Fulton State Hospital, originally the lunatic asylum, founded in the mid-1800's. A total of 5 buildings were built as New Deal programs including a 2-story addition to a clinic, the power plant, the nutrition, dining, and auditorium building, a 5-story hospital, and 2 large buildings that are now associated with the department of corrections(not available for photography). Together, it is a great complex and has interconnecting tunnels between the buildings. Unfortunately, only the nutrition/dining/auditorium building and the power plant are in current use(also the 2 corrections facilities). They are the "victims" of the changes in treatment of mental illness with the abandonment of in-patient treatment and the use of treatment in local clinics. Refurbishment and repurposing of these buildings is unlikely with the use of asbestosis and the need for security in the area. The 5-story building has classic, simple art deco motifs at the entrance. What can be done with such buildings??
It was then on to Kirksville, the home of both Truman State University(the state teacher's college in the 30's) and the A. T. Still School of Osteopathy, the first school of osteopathic medicine in the country. Baldwin is one of several Truman State buildings, a large classroom building on the northwest side of the quad, still in heavy use. The quad itself was a WPA project with the landscape architect being Hare and Hare from Kansas City. At the south end of the quad is the Kirk Memorial building, currently being renovated. It has a form similar, though smaller in scale, to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. The north building of the Orphelia Parrish school was a New Deal project and served as the junior high school for the college's lab school. It is currently the art museum. It is the 1st of 2 additions to the original building. I searched for the old field house, but was unsuccessful in definitely finding it. The Industrial Arts building is southwest of the main campus, added onto in the 70's, but the original building remains towards the rear. It is completely unadorned and reflects the industrial arts and the later date of construction(1940).
The Kirksville Armory has the characteristic white stucco exterior and the art deco entrance on the east side. It remains the Armory for the local National Guard unit. Close to the Truman State campus is the 2-story Greenwood school, previously an elementary school, similar in design and size to the Eugene Field school in Mexico. It is in disrepair, unfortunately and seems to be used for storage by the University. Stucturally, it seems to be sound. Next is the Willard School, another elementary school that is slightly smaller than Greenwood, also 2-story, but less well-maintained with multiple broken windows. It seems to be a private storage site, but there was no-one around. For both of these schools, there were no plaques visible. The old 1914 High School had an addition, but the whole school is not being used and the addition is not clear. There is an AT Still Kirksville School of Osteopathy clinic building at the south end of the business district and just east of the hospital, now Kirksville Regional Hospital that is still used by the Osteopathic School, built in 1936, uncertain as to the program used for partial funding. It is in excellent condition and has clearly been well-maintained.
On the way back to Columbia, I made a stop at La Plata for the Post Office and the painted wood relief sculpture by Emma Lou Davis. It depicts Missouri livestock, with minimal relief, strong outlines, and painting of the animals.
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