Center-City Springfield: East Commercial St.

The second place our photographic tour of Center-City Springfield will take us is East Commercial Street. If you have not read the introduction to this tour, now would be the time for that.

When North Springfield was founded, it was located on this street, around its intersections with Jefferson and Benton Streets, which are on the east side. So this is where we find the greater majority of civic history. One example, which I don't have a picture of, is Rathbone's Ace Hardware, which has been in business continually for over 110 years, under the name Rathbone.
Here is a sidewalk shot of the more historic half of C-Street, with the Citizen's Bank clock directly in front of us. The City of Springfield has actually done a nice job with streetscaping, to make the area more desirable. Here you can see the black street lamps, and wide, fresh-looking sidewalks.

As I said in the previous post, Commercial Street is a major study in contrasts. Here we have C-Street's first fancy restaurant (in ages), called Peabody's, and a book store that's been closed for who knows how long. Peabody's is where I took my wife for Valentine's Day this year.

One thing I have not mentioned yet is C-Street's charity scene. The strip is anchored by two major institutions for the less fortunate: Victory Mission on the west, and the Missouri Hotel (pictured below) on the east. The photo here was intended to highlight the historic detailing on the building.

This is a very controversial issue in Springfield, as it is in many cities. The hub of life for many homeless and vagrant people is either Commercial Street, or Downtown proper... two neighborhoods the city would like desperately to breathe new life into. And it can indeed be difficult to get people to invest venture capital into a place where people are known to have little or no money.

Sadly, many of the city's attempts at a solution involve nothing more than moving these people around, and barring new service agencies from moving in to help. This is unfortunate, but on the other hand, when a city has a cultural and architectural heritage like this, which is wasting away, doesn't it have a responsibility to restore it? And that takes money, right? What do you think?

Another face of C-Street is the flea market/antique store scene. Here's a storefront I particularly like:

And yet another face... a Professional Massage Training Center.

Following is an "aerial" shot of Commercial Street's Farmer's Market. Obviously things have not quite ramped up yet at this point. But last summer, this is where we met the lady who would eventually be our coffee provider at the Front Porch: Julia's Java.

Probably the proudest landmark of Commercial Street history is the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge. Built in 1902, and restored for its 100th birthday, it crosses 13 sets of railroad tracks, for a total span of 562 feet. Commercial Street runs parallel to the railyard, and right up against it. Back when North Springfield was founded, there were no bridges or tunnels for getting across the tracks... everyone had to go straight across. Consequently, when rail traffic was heavy, sometimes it would take hours before passage was possible. This was the arrangement that led to the construction of large, beautiful homes south of the Commercial Street, for the business owners, supervisors, and officials. The only place the common workers could afford to live was on the less convenient north side of the tracks. It was, quite literally, the "wrong side of the tracks", and to this day, the north side of Springfield is known for being poorer than the south side.

Back to the topic: the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge was built to provide a solution to this problem, so that anyone (on foot, anyway) could travel back and forth across this wide and bustling rail terminus.

Next-up: Downtown Proper.

Center-City Springfield: West Commercial St.

The first place our photographic tour of Center-City Springfield will take us is West Commercial Street. If you have not read the introduction to this tour, now would be the time for that.

Here is a street shot from the west end of what you might call "Historic Commercial Street", looking east:

Commercial Street is a funny character. The occupancy rate is still quite low, and there are miserable-looking vacant or neglected historic buildings everywhere. And yet... there are tons of first-class residential lofts, and numerous photography studios, design & marketing firms, art galleries, top-notch office spaces, beautiful streetscaping, and several classy entertainment establishments. Really, the best word to describe it is "weird".

The first thing we'll come to, starting from the west end, is the Belmonte, which is run by Springfield's Vineyard Church. The Belmonte started out right downtown, where it had a slightly larger space, and was known for fairly regular weekly concerts. It was, and still is, a pretty hip place... some say too hip. But they're good people, and they really want to reach out to their generation of skeptics and agnostics through the use of a common, comfortable, creative space. As it is now, I'm still trying to figure out what their goal is for the current facility. But still, I feel like I have more in common with this group than most Christians in Springfield. Here's two shots of the Belmonte:

Next is a dual shot of Lindberg's (left), the oldest continually operating pub in Springfield (over 100 years) and a future photography studio. Although it's had some straggly years along the way, Lindberg's is now beautifully restored, with wads of gorgeous hardwood. It's truly a classic pub. The only drawback is all the smoke, and the too-loud blues jam stuff they like to play live.

On the right is the up-and-coming Freedom Photography, the studio of my cousins, Matt & Heidi Giles. The upstairs is nearly finished, and ready for them to move into with their adopted son, Isaiah. If you go to the website, you'll see some stunning pictures of the work they've done. Downstairs has a little ways to go yet, but you can already tell it'll be a first-class studio space.


Here is an example of what Commercial Street is known for: Flea Markets and Second-Hand Stores... although this is definitely the classiest example: The Style.


One excellent addition to the Commercial Street scene recently, was that of a cozy coffee house. This one is called Big Momma's, and it's got great food and coffee, and is extremely cozy up front, where the coffee bar is. Fortunately, they have a big room in back where there's plenty of space for concerts, dramas, and other events. The Core has even put some thought into establishing a second Worship Gathering here.


To end our tour of West Commercial Street, I'll take you to the Firehouse Courtyard, where our friend Kelly Stevens will be marrying her German fiance, Julius, this September. Apart from all the other things I mentioned, C-Street has several funky open spaces, some elegant like this one, and others



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Center-City Springfield: A Photographic Tour

I love my mission field.

Back when I was 17 and 18 looking for the right place to re-locate and attend college, I was wary about Springfield, Missouri. First, it was too easy. It's the city where both my parents went to school (Evangel and SMSU, now MSU) and the city where most nice little pentecostal kids from my area migrated (due to the presence of Evangel, CBC and AGTS.)

Second, it was too small. I had gotten used to living in substantial metropolitan areas... Kansas City, and Tulsa before that. But Springfield is by all accounts a small city. Perhaps large among the small cities, but still.

Third, the whole city looked like Glenstone to me. For the initiated, let me explain that most of the main thoroughfares in Springfield are lined with strip malls and cluttered with their super-tall road signs. Glenstone is the worst... this description is true for a solid 7 or 8 miles, and people drive on it as if they're trying to read every word on every sign. When I looked at Springfield, I didn't see any of the urban fabric or historic significance that usually draws me to a city: I just saw strip malls and road signs.

Glenstone is also the street where Evangel's campus is located, and Evangel is where I ended up enrolling, to study music. So Glenstone was an ever-present reminder of how Springfield and I were essentially incompatible.

Another feature of Springfield that you may have picked up on already is that it is a veritable mecca of higher education. Word has it there are 11 colleges, and 30-40,000 college students, depending on how you count. This has the very advantageous effect of bringing in bright young minds from around the country, many of whom are determined to leave Springfield upon graduation. But, you know, you meet that special guy or girl, who is graduating one or two years after you... so you graduate, you get a job, find a place, make some friends, establish a routine. And by the time that special someone has graduated it's just a lot easier to stay put. So Springfield manages to hold onto some of those bright minds, and that's no small thing for such a small city.

In addition to that, it turned out the Springfield did actually have some urban fabric after all. It's just that it was torn, stained and at one point it was almost ripped to shreds.

In the 70s and 80s, the city got into its head that many of the historic buildings Downtown were a hazard and/or an eyesore. By the time anybody saw otherwise, the architectural legacy of our Center-City was in danger of fading to black, and the 90s were a time of desolation for what should be the liveliest part of town.

There are two specific districts of Center-City Springfield that are worth mentioning here: Downtown proper, and Commercial Street. The former was established as the city of Springfield in 1838, and the latter as the city of North Springfield in 1871. The two merged as the single city of Springfield in 1887. These are the two most significant historic urban districts of the city, and which I have the most stories about.

So I'm going to take you on a photographic tour over the next several posts, showing you pictures of our mission field, telling the stories behind them, and giving you a sense on the map of the location of each one. To start you off, here are two maps that gives you some perspective on the location of Downtown and Commercial Street in relation to each other, and to Springfield at large. Here is a map of Springfield, with the boundaries of the following map outlined in red:

And here is the map that includes both districts of Downtown and Commercial Street:

And that brings us to the map I'll be using to show you the locations of each image on our little photographic tour. Enjoy!


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