As previously reported,The folks behind the Cafe on the Route in Baxter Springs will soon open a new restaurant in the Gryphon Building. The Gryphon building, also known as the Bagcraft Building, once housed Joplin’s bustling Inter-State Grocery Company. The proprietors of the new eatery are looking for old menus from Joplin’s past so that they can get ideas about possible menu items. If you have an old menu sitting around, be it from the Connor Hotel or Hidden Acres or another historic Joplin restaurant, that you would be willing to share, let us know. You can either comment here or send an email to our address under the About tab at the top. Thanks!
Update on Gryphon Building and Dedication of Joplin High School
There are two articles concerning history in the Joplin Globe this weekend. The first is a further update on the recently renovated Gryphon Building. Last week we referred to an article on the present status of the building and its progress in finding tenants. In that article, it was mentioned that a restaurant would be entering the building. This weekend brought more news along that front.
Richard and Amy Sanell, owners of the successful Cafe on the Route over in Baxter Springs, will be the ones behind the Gryphon building restaurant. Of interest, Richard Sanell suggests that the menu might be based upon previous menus of downtown’s former great dining locations, the Connor hotel and the House of Lords. More info on the Sanells and their plans can be found in the article.
The other article is a short write up by Joplin Museum Director, Brad Belk, on the dedication of Joplin High School in 1958. The article briefly covers the decisions behind building the new school, the funding measures that succeeded and failed, and the final result with some specifics, such as the number of bricks used in the school’s construction.
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Now back to the trenches!
A Town Called Joplin
Although it is now considered a ghost town, Joplin, Virginia, was named after Joplin, Missouri. William Crow, a native of Jasper County, Missouri, and brother to former Missouri Attorney General E.C. Crow, settled in Virginia. He became a justice of the peace, notary public, and postmaster. As postmaster, he had the privilege of naming the small hamlet in Virginia. He chose the name Joplin. When asked why, Crow replied, “Because the postal department wanted a name with as few letters as possible, and one that would be easy to remember. When [I was] a boy, I made many visits to Joplin, Missouri, as I was reared at Carthage.”
Crow returned to Joplin, Missouri, in 1931, and recalled, “I remember when there was no Joplin, no Webb City, no Galena, Kansas. And as a boy I knew that country when it was all open and wild. Baxter Springs was an Indian trading post.” Upon finding out that Joplin had grown in the years since he had left, Crow remarked, “I can only say that anyone who leaves the boyhood home and remains away for 20 to 40 years should never visit that place; he is sure up for a great disappointment.”
When asked about the origins of Joplin, Montana, residents had no clue why the town was named Joplin. George L. Brennan, the agent for the Great Northern Railway, recalled that before 1909, Joplin, Montana, “was a blind-siding on the main line of the Great Northern Railway.” The area, he said, was used for sheep and cattle ranches until the federal government opened it up for settlement just before 1909, and an influx of settlers quickly snapped up all the available land. Some of these settlers may have been from the Joplin, Missouri, area. Today Joplin, Montana, has an estimated population of 210 residents.
If anyone is aware of any other hamlets, villages, towns, or cities named Joplin, let us know.
Source: Joplin Globe
