Former U. S. Post Office/Court House – Joplin and Wall Avenues Historic District – Joplin, Missouri
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 37° 05.310 W 094° 30.872
15S E 365395 N 4105763
Historic former US Post Office and Courthouse in Joplin, Missouri.
Waymark Code: WMNT6K
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/29/2015
Views: 3
U. S. Post Office/Court House, 302 S. Joplin Avenue; 1906, contributing
Former governmental building converted for office space. Renaissance Revival in styling, this is the district’s most highly articulated property and incorporates a raised basement finished in rusticated stone, a red brick main body and a flat roof with a parapet punctuated by a roof balustrade. Compatible 1936 WPA-financed addition on west elevation.
Built from designs by U. S. Treasury Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor, this Renaissance Revival-style former federal building contained a federal court house, the community post office, the offices of the U. S. Marshall and the U. S. Attorney, military recruiting offices, the Bureau of Mines, and the district office of the Internal Revenue Service. City Directories indicate that a cigar stand was also on the first floor. Its construction indicated the importance of Joplin in the days of the mining boom—the previous post office had been on the second story above a grocery store.
– National Register Nomination
The post office move from the building in 1962 and the former post office area was converted into more federal offices. With relocation and cutbacks in federal agencies more of the tenants moved from the building, by 1999 only the IRS had offices remaining. At which time the building was declared excess by the GSA.The Economic Security Corporation, a private social service agency, moved into the building in December 2001 and continue to maintained offices in the building.