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Once called the Central Library, the Downtown Library is part of the St. Joseph Public Library system. Designed by architect Edmond J. Eckel, construction on the building began in 1900 and was completed in 1902. The interior of the building features stained glass work created in 1907 by artist Paul Wolff, which sits below its iconic copper dome. The interior of the building was restored very closely to its original state in 2004. Some of the restoration efforts included the terrazzo lobby floor which had been covered with carpet for over 50 years. 

January 1890 – Librarian Purd B. Wright suggested making use of Missouri State Law allowing for the establishment of a free public library.April 1890 – Mayor William M. Shepherd appointed 1st Board of Directors consisting of 9 members.The St. Joseph Library Association donated its entire collection (3,272 volumes) to the new library and subsequently dissolved thereafter.Founding as an Institution1890 – St. Joseph Public Library is formed as an institution.March 23, 1891 – The St. Joseph Public Library opened. Delay in opening due to volume of books in need of processing. At the time of opening the library housed 5510 books.

As a result of Missouri State Law permitting the St. Joseph School District to issue bonds on the vote of the citizens of St. Joseph, on March 31, 1900, a special election was held.  2,512 votes in favor, resulted in a building that the school district would share with the new free, public library. The building was designed by St. Joseph, Missouri’s foremost architect, Edmond Jacques Eckel.  His schooling at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts school in Paris is reflected in the building’s architectural style

Downtown St. Joseph Public Library 

The building was finished in 1902 and cost $97,000.00 to complete.  The interior of the library features a staircase of Tennessee Marble with an oak balustrade and ornamental ironwork.  Heavy oak woodwork is embellished with classical moldings.  The interior features Tennessee Marble wainscoting and Ionic columns.  Protruding from the walls are pilasters, or engaged rectangular columns used for architectural support.  The Pilasters are composed of Scagliola, or plaster that imitates the look of decorative stone.  The stained glass window above the lobby was installed by the school district in 1907.  The floor of the library is Italian terrazzo.  The method, invented by Venetian marble workers in the 1500s for use in their own homes, uses chips of marble set in cement that are ground smooth and then sealed for a lustrous marble-like shine.

The interior features a staircase of Tennessee marble with an oak balustrade and ornamental ironwork. Heavy oak woodwork is embellished with classical moldings. Pilasters and columns are spaced throughout the interior. The stained glass was designed and created by Paul Wolff of the St. Joseph Art Glass Company and installed in early December of 1906. The terrazzo flooring is original to the building. It is composed of stone set in a base, sealed, and polished to a lustrous finish.

Lobby

St. Joseph Public Library - Downtown

This tour showcases some of architect Edmond Eckel's works in St. Joseph, Missouri. 

Edmond J. Eckel Tour

“The first newspaper, the Gazette, a weekly publication, was established in 1845, the first issue appearing on Friday, April 25th. William Ridenbaugh was the proprietor and printer, and the name of Lawrence Archer, then a prominent attorney, is given as editor. It is said that the type and press were part of the equipment of the Mormon paper, published at Independence, which had been suppressed. In 1854 Holly &amp; Carter took charge of the Gazette, then it passed into the hands of Gen. Lucien Eastin and next to P. S. Pfouts and J. H. R. Cundiff. In 1857 these gentlemen began the publication of the Daily Gazette, the first daily newspaper issued in the city. This continued until the breaking out of the war. When it became unsafe to utter such political sentiments as the Gazette upheld, the proprietors suspended publication, laid away the pen and went to the front to do battle for the South with the sword. June 28, 1868, the Gazette again appeared, Colonel Cundifif, Mr. Ridenbaugh and Peter Nugent being the publishers. In December of 1873 the paper passed into the hands of Joseph A. Corby &amp; Company. The next publishers were F. M. Tufts, George W. Belt and J. B. Maynard. In November of 1875 Mr. Maynard was succeeded by S. A. Gilbert. In April of 1878 the Gazette-Chronicle appeared, the Chronicle having been published by M. B. Chapman. Shortly after the consolidation, Charles B. Wilkinson and M. B. Chapman were announced as publishers. September 29, 1878, the ''Chronicle" was dropped from the name and the paper again appeared under its ancient and original title. In November, 1878, Charles B. Wilkinson assumed sole editorial and business management. March 12, 1879, it was announced that the paper had passed into the hands of the Gazette Publishing Company, a corporation that was to be under the direction of Charles B. Wilkinson, Lewis Burnes and W. E. Smedley, the latter of New York. Colonel Wilkinson was editor until July 12, 1879, when he went to Denver, where he died in January of 1881. Lewis Burnes died November 17, 1879. Then the management of the paper was in the hands of James N. Burnes. Jr., until January 1, 1886, with the exception of a brief period, from June to September, 1883, when it was managed by George E. King. Maj. John N. Edwards was the editor of the paper from June, 1883, until April, 1886. Mr. Burnes was succeeded as manager by Charles F. Cochran, January 1, 1886, who, after the departure of Major Edwards, was the editor as well as the manager until he was elected to Congress in 1896. He was succeeded as manager by Frank Freytag, Jr., who remained in charge until July 1, 1900, when he was succeeded by Chris. L. Rutt. On August 1, 1900, the Gazette and Herald were consolidated under the name of Gazette-Herald, with Chris. L. Rutt as manager and Frank B. Moore as editor. The owners were the Burnes estate and William M. Wyeth. About a month afterward the property passed into the hands of Walter B. Holmes of Memphis, Tennessee, who conducted it two months and then sold it to Charles B. Edgar and others who at that time published the Daily News. Mr. Edgar published the Gazette-Herald from the Daily News plant, with Chris. L. Rutt as editor, until March 30, 1902, when he sold the paper to Lewis G. Gaylord, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. From the time of its consolidation until its sale to Mr. Gaylord, the Gazette-Herald was published as an independent newspaper. Mr. Gaylord dropped the hyphen and "Herald" and published the Gazette as a Democratic paper until November of 1903, when he sold it to a syndicate of Republicans, who are now publishing it as the organ of their party. Elmer E. E. Mcjimsey is the editor.”“The Monday Morning News was started August 20, 1877 by Isaac Pfeiffer. Colonel Wilkinson took charge of the paper after several issues and made a hit with it. The last issue of the Monday Morning News appeared in June, 1878, when Colonel Wilkinson assumed editorial charge of the Gazette. In July, 1878, a week or two after its suspension, the material and franchises of the Monday Morning News were purchased by George E. King, and used by him in publishing an illustrated weekly. In October following he sold out to Judge Andrew Royal and W.M. Patton, who continued its publication under the original name of Monday Morning News. This, some time after, was changed to Western News by Judge Andrew Royal and George H. Cross. It was, at first, a small four-column sheet. September 3rd following, this was enlarged. April 19, 1881, the paper was purchased by W.F. Bassett and J.W. Spencer, who enlarged and otherwise improved it. Gilbert J. Spencer succeeded W.F. Bassett in the partnership. In 1888 the paper was sold by J.W. and G.J. Spencer to Byron Dunn and George W. Martin of Maryville. In July of 1889 the property was acquired by Carles M. Palmer and E.B. Haskell. C.M. Shultz was placed in charge of the paper, and continued to manage it until August of 1894. In September of 1894 Charles B. Edgar became associated with Messrs. Palmer and Haskell and published the paper until October of 1903, when he sold his interests to a company headed by Louis T. Golding of New York. The publication is now called The St. Joseph News &amp; Press, and represents the consolidation of the Daily News &amp; Evening Press. The Press was established in August of 1902 by W.H. Turner and Howbert Billman of Chicago and was published for about 14 months, when it was absorbed by the News corporation. Mr. Golding is now the publisher of the News &amp; Press and Cris. L. Rutt is managing editor.”

Originally addressed as 815 Edmond Street, this building was designed by Eckel & Aldrich, Architects and constructed in 1912. It has served as the home of the St. Joseph News-Press for over one hundred years.

St. Joseph News-Press Building

St. Joseph has a strong German heritage. German immigration to Missouri was consistent throughout the 1800s, but reached its peak in the 1870s-1890s with the Wars of German Unification. The fertile Missouri River Valley provided German immigrants with land similar to their homeland around the Rhine River, which earned the area the nickname of the Rhinelands. With St. Joseph being the westward terminus for the country, many entrepreneurs found their way to the city.Prussian immigrant, Frederick Smith, was one of the earliest settlers in the St. Joseph area, platting the city out for its founding in 1843. As German immigrants favored abolition, the influx of Germans into Missouri altered the predominant southern slave owning population of the state, increasing tensions leading into the Civil War. After the war, due to the large German population in St. Joseph, civic infrastructure was developed to serve the community, including a German-English School, Heckel’s Benevolent Home for German Immigrants, the Volksblatt newspaper, and the German-American Bank.The German-American Bank was founded in 1887, but it quickly outgrew its original location at 114 North Fifth Street. In 1889 the directors of the bank hired Eckel and Mann to design a new building at the corner of Seventh and Felix Streets. As this was the height of Ellis’ work with Eckel and Mann, the building was one of the first skyscrapers in the city with red brick Richardsonian design, open loggia, archways, and gargoyles and bas reliefs throughout. Its construction was delayed as plans for a grand hotel behind it failed to come to fruition.The German-American Bank served the German speaking population of St. Joseph until the onset of the First World War. As anti-German sentiment rose in the United States, it quickly became dangerous to identify with the culture of your homeland. WWI marked the end of the “hyphenated American.” You were either fully American, or you were the enemy. As such, the German-English School was renamed the Longfellow School as German language courses were removed from the school district and the German-American Bank became the American National Bank in 1918. The German and American crests which adorned the main entrance were covered until restorations in the 1970s. In 2015 Mosaic Life Care purchased the building. After extensive renovation and restoration, the building now serves as Mosaic's administrative offices.

Designed by Edmond J. Eckel, during that time the Eckel and Mann Firm, in the Richardsonian Romanesque style in 1889. The construction of the building is primarily red brick,  The institution arose out of the desire by the large German population in St. Joseph to establish their own bank. On the facade, you will find zoomorphic grotesques, gargoyles, and Eckel's signature wreath motifs. 

German-American Bank Building

Originally owned by George Olds, an agent for the Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Council Bluffs Railroad, and constructed as a double-brick residence completed in the summer of 1878. The architect for the original structure is unkown, but cost $11,000 to construct. In 1900 a ballroom addition for the building was designed by Edmond J. Eckel. Eckel was commissioned again in 1933 to add a gymnasium and squash court onto the building. 

The Benton Club of St. Joseph

Tootle-Lemon Bank, Sixth & Francis, N.W. corner, 1899.  Designed in 1899 by Edmond Eckel Architects.  This building was later the Tootle-Lacy Bank, and then the Tootle-Enright Bank, and finally the American National Bank.  It was demolished prior to 2011.

Tootle-Lemon/Lacy Bank

Designed by architect Edmond J. Eckel, this structure was completed in 1904. It sat on the east side of N. 5th St. In 1935, the building was sold to the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce who occupied the building until the 1960s. The Elks then moved into the Robidoux Hotel (demolished in 1976). The building was then sold again, this time to the American National Bank. The bank demolished the building to replace it with a drive-thru. 

Elks Club

The building is now home to Corby Place, a retirement community in St. Joseph. The building houses a desk that once belonged to the building's namesake, Joseph A. Corby.

The Corby-Forsee building, the first multi-story office building, towers over Downtown St. Joseph. Designed William Sylvester Eames and Thomas Crane Young and constructed by the Selden Breck Construction Company of St. Louis, Missouri in 1910. In 1927 Eckel and Aldrich designed the addition, which sits above the cornice. While the addition is, stylistically, more utilitarian in contrast with the original design of the building it does feature ornamental ironwork of acanthus and anthemion motifs. 

Corby-Forsee Building

The Saxton National Bank was founded by A.M. Saxton and designed by Eckel & Mann in 1880. Construction completed in 1882.

Edmond J. Eckel Tour

St. Joseph Public Library - Downtown

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