Commercial Street Historic District - Springfield, MO
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 37° 13.768 W 093° 17.704
15S E 473825 N 4120369
Now in the north of the city, this street was once a thriving business center, and is still home to a variety of stores and restaurants, preserving much of its original character.
Waymark Code: WMJKNE
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2013
Views: 4
The historic district comprises both sides of East and West Commercial Street for the length of about three blocks, south and adjacent to, and running parallel to the railroad tracks. With its own listing in the National Register of Historic Places is the
Jefferson Street Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge crossing the multiple railroad tracks.
From the NRHP Nomination Form:
"The Commercial Street Historic District contains seventy-one one- to four-story masonry commercial buildings fronting on Commercial Street between the north west corner of Campbell and Commercial and the northeast corner of Robberson
and Commercial on the north side, and from Lyon to and including Lot 24, City Block 27 on the south side. Sixty buildings or portions of commercial rows were built before 1910, with peak construction periods occurring between 1884 and 1891 and between 1902 and 1910. These structures- reflect commercial design and building technology characteristic to the Springfield vicinity and small Missouri towns during the forty-year period from 1870 to c. 1910 and, because of the prevalence of properties from this period and their inherent design similarities, the district conveys a sense of visual cohesiveness.
Structures dating from subsequent significant periods in the district's development contribute elements of diversity to the retail and wholesale strip as they reflect aesthetic preferences and construction technology from c. 1910 to c. 1935. Storefront alterations, virtually ubiquitous in the district, constitute the principal feature that detracts from the integrity of individual properties and the district as a whole. However, because most of the upper floors remain intact or largely intact, the structures retain sufficient amounts of historic integrity to clearly reflect their historic development. As the Commercial Street retail and wholesale district developed as an adjunct to the railroad in North Springfield, it was laid out along the tracks; they transverse at an oblique angle the otherwise uniform, modified grid system of streets. The district is linked to the southern portion of the City and, specifically, to the commercial district which surrounds the Public Square by seven cross streets and to the northern portion, of the City by bypasses at Lyon and Washington and the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge which spans the tracks."