The Way We Were - Connor Hotel Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

*gln: [b][green] ARCHIVING Disabled cache. [/b][/green]

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Greetings,

It has been a while since I first looked at this cache. I can't find any recent responses about maintaining this cache so for the time being it will be archived and removed from the active cache listings. We are no longer leaving caches stay disabled for extended periods of time.

Groundspeak and the geocaching community appreciate your contributions to geocaching and I hope to see this cache back in operation soon.

If you can get it back up and running in the next week or so contact me to get it re-listed. Otherwise plan to move it slightly and set up a new cache page.

[B][green]Most problems can be solved with good communication so reply back to the reviewer and we will do everything possible within the guidelines to get your cache published. It is best to give me as much information as possible instead of saying nothing at all. This will speed up the process and we can get your cache published. [/green][/b]

Glenn

"Seek quality, not quantity".

Your friendly Missouri Geocache Review team is
Glenn (*gln), & Mongo

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April 16, 2011 7:31 PM by *gln

More
Hidden : 2/1/2009
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A good friend of mine gave me some historic Joplin postcards as a gift. I found them so fascinating that I wanted to make a series of postcard caches to show the way Joplin used to be.


Of all the caches in the series, this one shows the most complete transformation of an historic site. It has a high difficulty rating due to the high number of muggles in the area. It would be best to look for this one on a Sunday when there shouldn’t be too much traffic or pedestrians around. If you park just right, a passenger in the car could grab the cache. The cache only contains a log.

In 1906, Thomas Connor contracted with the Joplin firm of Dieter & Wenzel to build an 8-story steel, concrete, stone, and brick hotel for $350,000. However, when the hotel was completed in the spring of 1908, the total price had soared to $750,000. The first two floors featured heavily rusticated Carthage limestone. Floors three through seven, faced with brick and accented with stone lintels above the windows and quoins at the corners, gave an undulating appearance with their bay projections on every other window. Ornamental brackets decorated the top floor windows and the front balcony. Other notable exterior features were the carved-stone frieze panels, caryatid figures, and a lion's head. Above the regal hotel, crowned with a green-patina copper cornice and balustrade, an open-air roof garden overlooked the city.

The Connor's reign was inexorably linked to the success of the rail system, a fact confirmed by this Kansas City Southern advertising card. The Union Depot and the Connor Hotel, located less than 3 blocks apart, provided each other with paying customers. However, as rail service declined in the 1960s, so did tenancy in the Connor. More people traveled in automobiles, not by train, and they preferred the modern conveniences of the motor hotels, or motels, located at the edge of town, on highways such as Route 66, 43, and 71. Summer vacationers demanded air-conditioning and swimming pools, amenities that the Connor could not supply. Ironically, the Connor Hotel and the Union Depot closed in the same year-1969-victims of public apathy, high taxes, and urban sprawl. In 1970, the Connor's contents were auctioned off for back taxes, leaving a boarded up shell that soon filled with pigeons and rain water.

The City resolved to demolish the hotel and build a modern new public library on the site. The condemned landmark, however, did not go down without a protest. In the fall of 1978, a demolition team had prepared the structure for razing by notching the steel beams to hold sticks of dynamite. Instead, the Connor came down with a thundering crash at 9:15 Saturday morning, November 11, a day ahead of schedule. According to eyewitnesses, dust and debris spewed into the air like a thick cloud from an atomic bomb. The choking blackness engulfed motorists and pedestrians who happened to be in the vicinity. The shock of the collapse quickly turned to horror after City officials learned that three members of the demolition team were trapped beneath countless tons of twisted steel, broken concrete and brick, and splintered wood. The Missouri National Guard arrived, bringing forty pieces of heavy equipment-dozers, generators, and dump trucks. Rescue workers toiled round the clock in twelve to sixteen hour shifts. The 82-hour drama made national news, and Reader's Digest magazine published a story about Alfred Summers' horrific ordeal. The 31-year old worker miraculously survived in a narrow cavity beneath the rubble, but his two co-workers had died instantly when the building fell. Several thousand onlookers applauded on November 14 when Summers was finally set free.

In its place now sits the Joplin Public Library. It is difficult to imagine that a magnificent hotel once stood there.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Oynpx

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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