After the Civil War, local African Americans from Baptist and Methodist churches decided to form a single congregation called The African Union Church. However, it only lasted about a year. Then around 1867, First A.M.E. Church—the predecessor to St. Paul—was established. The congregation built its first church in 1868 and it was located at Fourth and Ash Streets. In 1890, the congregation sold the church building and bought the property on which it would be the current church. It was also at this time that the congregation changed its name to St. Paul A.M.E. The present church building was constructed two years later.

St. Paul A.M.E. Church was built in 1892. 

Laubach, Elizabeth. "Historic downtown St. Paul A.M.E. Church celebrates 145th anniversary."

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St. Paul A.M.E. Church is a historic African Methodist church whose congregation was founded c.1867. The church building was erected in 1892 and was designed combining Gothic and Romanesque architectural styles. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. 

St. Paul A.M.E. Church

This walking tour connects a baker's dozen of historic train stations, commercial/ industrial/ educational/ religious structures, a historic home, a hotel, and an armory. 

Columbia Missouri Downtown Walking Tour

This walking tour makes a loop through Columbia and begins at central Missouri's last remaining historic theater. The tour includes a variety of landmarks from downtown buildings to the town's historic railroad depot with stops at historic landmarks such as churches, hotels, and other buildings that were constructed in the early 20th century. The tour also includes landmarks related to famous residents such as John W. "Blind Boone and a historical marker for the former business district known as Sharp End. 

The 1928-built Missouri Theater in Columbia enjoys significance as the only remaining pre-Depression movie palace constructed in central Missouri. The Boller Brothers built the theater with a design that mirrors the Paris Opera House (Opéra Garnier). The Missouri Theater emerged during the Roaring '20s economic boom, where money spent on leisurely pleasures such as jazz, theater, and the increasingly popular movie films. By the 1920s, camera technology allowed for much better on-screen presentations, actors and filmmakers frequently joined movie studios, and the introduction of audio appeared. Indeed, the Missouri Theater opened its doors one year after the release of The Jazz Singer, which proved to be the first time movie viewers heard the sound played through speakers surrounding the theater while the movie played on the screen.  Theaters built during the 1920s enjoyed lavish detailing and proved costly. The Missouri Company, Inc., spent $400,000 on the construction of the Missouri Theater, which would equate to more than $6 million in 2020. The extravagant interior of the building enjoys a design inspired by the Paris Opera House. Hence, the building includes ornate baroque and rococo style of the Louis XIV era. Its most recognizable feature is an 1800-pound Italian chandelier comprised of crystal prisms and etched panels. However, the Great Depression prevented the completion of the original plan of a five-story building with apartments above the theater. The official opening occurred on October 5, 1928, to a capacity crowd that included 300 VIP guests. The theater displayed telegrams from famous Hollywood stars giving praise fo the new cinema. The guests enjoyed several forms of entertainment, including vaudeville acts and a group of high-kicking dancers known as the Missouri Rockets, who went on to become the famous Radio City Rockettes. As is the case with many grand cinema palaces built during the 1920s, the Great Depression, World War II, and the emergence of multiplexes and bigger screens made the luxurious cinema challenging to operate. By the 1980s, the theater proved it could no longer serve as a profitable cinema house. The Missouri Symphony Society purchased the theater in 1988 for $370,000, far less than the cost of construction 60 years earlier when adjusted for inflation. Financial losses continued to mount for the owners as profits from ticket sales were not sufficient to support maintenance and renovation costs. In 2011, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra began using the theater, followed by the University of Missouri Theatre in 2014. Today the theater serves as the home to the University of Missouri School of Music.

The Missouri Theater is central Missouri's only remaining movie palace and vaudeville stage from the early 20th century. When the theater opened in 1928, it embodied the grand cinema palaces built in that era and brought a sense of luxury and elegance to the movie-going experience. As with most extravagant movie houses built during that era, the creation of multiplexes reduced the economic viability of the Missouri Theatre in the last decades of the 20th century. Thanks to preservationists and local citizens, the building was preserved and now holds events throughout the year such as the University Concert Series from the University of Missouri. 

The Missouri Theatre

Built in 1930, the Missouri United Methodist Church is a fine example of Late Gothic Revival architecture. Designed by John A. Epple, it features high arches, crenelated battlements, and is constructed with stone—all of which give it a robust appearance. It also features beautiful stained glass windows, which were created in St. Louis. The windows on the north side depicts the Old Testament and the south side depicts the New Testament. On the west wall, the windows depict important figures of Methodist history. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Missouri United Methodist Church

The Virginia Building opened in 1911 and remains one of the largest historic commercial buildings in downtown Columbia. The structure is also the last former department store building in the city. The Virginia Building has been home to numerous offices and retailers, including the original Columbia Commercial Club and Missouri's first urban Montgomery Ward and Co. retail outlet. Today, the building stands as a reminder of the downtown's history as the center of retail shopping. Construction of the building in 1911 coincided with significant growth for the city during the early years of the twentieth century as Columbia's population nearly doubled from 1900 to 1910. The increased population led to a transformation of the downtown area from that of mainly residential buildings to a commercial district.  Three of the historic property's first owners and one its first tenants were part of the original Columbia Commercial Club, the precursor to the city's Chamber of Commerce. The club also rented space in the building shortly after the building opened for business. The Commercial Club had newly formed when the Virginia Building emerged. The club promoted downtown development, including paving the streets, building a courthouse, installing electric lighting, and constructing a municipal water facility. Credit has also been given to the Commercial Club for ensuring that a cross-state highway (now Interstate 70) passed through Columbia.Montgomery Ward and Co. moved into the building in 1928 as one of the first urban retail outlets in Missouri. The company proceeded to occupy the vast majority of the building and remained its main tenant until 1961. The era of the large department stores in downtown regions peaked during the middle twentieth century, eventually giving way to malls and other retail centers in the 1970s and 1980s. The Virginia Building stands as the only surviving department store building in downtown Columbia. The historic structure points to an era when Columbia had transitioned into an urban center and before malls and online shopping when people mainly shopped in downtown regions.

Constructed in 1911, the Virginia Building opened at a time when the city of Columbia was in the midst of a population boom. The building was home to the Columbia Commercial Club, the precursor to the Chamber of Commerce As the city grew, its downtown center transitioned from one dominated by homes and small shops to a bustling commercial district. In 1928, Montgomery Ward moved into this building and was located here until the 1960s. The decision of the retailer to move out of the building reflects the growth of when suburban malls. In recent years, downtown neighborhoods are once again the center of commerce and the Virginia Building is home to retail and office space. 

Virginia Building 

The Ballenger Building began in 1892 as G. F. Troxell's furniture store on the corner of S. Ninth and Cherry streets. The building was owned by the Ballenger Stone and Implement Company. The basement of the building in 1895 contained a soda water bottling business, to take advantage of a natural spring which had occupied this location. Before the Ballenger company bought the property, a Frenchman named Rene Butel operated a small bottling plant in this spot, producing soda water, birch beer, ginger ale, and other drinks. The rear ell of the building, from a 1904 expansion, has its own entrance and address (811 Cherry Street). since the ground level slopes down along Cherry, the third level of the ell is the same level as the second story of the main block along S. Ninth. The street level of the ell is the basement level of the main block. The building features limestone foundations and brick walls. Troxell's furniture store moved to another downtown location by 1909, when this building was the furniture store of S. M. Meyers. By 1917, the Meyers furniture store was gone and Troxell's was back in this location. By the early 1920s, the owners of the building were the Ballenger and Stone Realty Company. After the building was sold to the Taylor Company in 1927, a major remodeling episode took place in 1928. Afterwards, the building housed three levels of furniture; Taylor also had purchased the Troxell furniture company. By the early 1930s, the furniture company was located only in the rear ell of the building; the furniture store remained on this Cherry Street location into the 1940s. By 1933, the main, front part of the building contained a Safeway grocery store. Safeway opened in Columbia in another location nearby on N. Eighth Street in 1932, until they moved to the S. Ninth Street Ballenger Building the following year. This was the only Safeway store in all of Columbia until the early 1950s. The tenancy of Safeway in the Ballenger Building ended in the early 1950s, when they moved to a larger, freestanding structure west of the commercial district. The next tenants of the Ballenger building, the H. R. Muelller Florist shop, remodeled the store front and the interior before opening in 1952. The florist shop occupied the main spot on S. Ninth for several decades. The second story housed offices. The 1980s brought more remodeling of the storefront and the introduction of a restaurant tenant on the ground floor. It continued to house restaurants into the twenty-first century. The 2003-2004 remodeling aimed to install a storefront more in keeping with the 1930s architectural style and to return the ground floor to its original open floor plan. The building currently houses legal and other business offices on the second floor and Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company on the ground floor of the S. Ninth Street original building. Kaldi's has been around since 1994 but moved into the space in the Ballenger Building in 2007. The coffee shop is popular with the local college crowd, and offers espresso, sustainable brews, and fruit smoothies as their specialties. The Ballenger Building, NRHP-listed in 2004, is significant in local commerce as one of the longest continually-occupied commercial structures in downtown Columbia. It also is significant as an example of the two-part commercial block, the typical commercial building in downtown. The Ballenger Building illustrates the architectural decorative use of terra cotta, popular from the 1910s into the 1930s.

This two-story brick building was constructed in 1892 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Ballenger Building is a two-part commercial block with brick walls and terra cotta ornamentation. The building was built originally to house G. F. Troxell's furniture store. In 1904, a rear extension of the building provided more space. Major remodeling took place in 1928; this is when a new façade was added, including the red brick parapet wall slightly taller than the original façade, and the terra cotta ornamentation. The storefront was modified again in the 1980s when remodeling the building to house a restaurant; the stuccoed walls had large groups of casement windows. The storefront was rebuilt in 2003-2004 to a more historically appropriate design.

Ballenger Building 

Presently home to Commerce Bank, this was the site of the Haden Opera House from 1878 to its destruction by fire in 1901. That building was replaced by the Haden Building which included retail space and apartments. That building was also destroyed by fire in 1921 and replaced by the current structure which was home to the Boone County Trust Company and distinguished by its white terra cotta. Commerce bank acquired the company in 2006 and after remodeling the building's interior, opened the current downtown Columbia branch in 2010. 

Haden Opera House (1878-1901) and Haden Building 

Dr. John Smith Pemberton invented the soft drink Coca-Cola in 1886 in Atlanta. His partner and bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, came up with the name and the now famous logo. In 1888, Atlanta businessman Asa G. Chandler bought all of the shares of the company. Under his tenure, Coca-Cola grew significantly around the country starting in 1894 when Vicksburg, Mississippi bottler Joseph A. Biedenharm became the first to be awarded Coca-Cola bottling rights. By the late 1910s, the company boasted over 1,000 bottling plants, most of which were locally owned.&nbsp; Ed Roberson, who was from Newport, Arkansas, was one of these franchise owners. He was very familiar with the business as&nbsp;his father&nbsp;owned a franchise in Newport. Roberson bought the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1932 and built the plant on Hitt Street three years later. In addition to running the company, Roberson was also active in the community, serving as a member of several civic organizations. He and his family operated the plant for just over three decades before moving operations to a bigger building in 1966. The Hitt Street building then became the location of a printing company, which seems to have operated until the mid-2000s. Ragtag Cinema's roots date to 1997 but it was not officially founded until 2004 when it became a non-profit arts organization. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Now home to the Ragtag Cinema movie theater, the former Coca-Cola Bottling Company Building was built in 1935 by owner Ed Roberson. It was home to the Columbia Coca-Cola Bottling Company (a local franchise of the Coca-Cola Company), which seems to have been founded around 1927. The company was one of a number of soft drink bottling businesses in the downtown area, the first of which was established as early as 1877. The architecture of the building—Colonial Revival—is interesting in that it resembles a residential structure. It was designed this way because at the time it was built the neighborhood was still in part residential. The bottling company operated until 1966 and the cinema opened in the building in 2008.

Coca-Cola Bottling Company Building

Stephens College is the oldest of three universities in Columbia, predating the University of Missouri and Columbia University despite its humble origins as an academy for girls starting in 1833. In 1855, the trustees reorganized their school and renamed it Columbia Female Baptist Academy. The institution received a major boost when James Stephens offered the school a $200,000 endowment. The school began training teachers in addition to offering courses in theology and the liberal arts. In 1925, the school paved the way for what would become known as a "laboratory school," an elementary school where future teachers could learn their craft from experienced teachers under the watchful eye of their professors. The college also offered the first collegiate aviation program for women in 1944. The program was located at Columbia Municipal Airport from 1941 until 1960. The former airport is now the location of Cosmo Park. Nancy Corrigan, the second American woman to secure a commercial pilot license, was among the instructors. She also taught male aviators during the war.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Senior Hall was constructed in 1857 and was home to the only dormitory on the Columbia Baptist Female College campus. The all-female college was established in 1833 as Columbia Female Academy, an establishment of learning that grew to become Stephens College. Today, the college is the second oldest continuously-operating women's college in the United States. Senior Hall is part of the campus's National Historic District. 

Senior Hall, Stephens College

This historic Missouri building was constructed in 1927 and expanded in 1940. The building features a  terra cotta facade that includes the name of Central Dairy which occupied the structure until 1959. Dot Sappington and Clyde Shepard began the dairy in 1920 and commissioned the Kansas City-based architectural firm of Shepard and Wiser to build this building for their dairy after they outgrew two previous rented buildings. The company produced and distributed ice cream from this location with a fleet of trucks and deliverymen. Central Dairy was the largest dairy in the region and the business was sold in 1959 to Meadow Gold Dairy. Two years later, Downtown Appliance acquired the building. 

Central Dairy Building, Columbia 

This Classic Revival style commercial building is named in honor of its first occupant, S. H. Kress &amp; Company. The Kress Wholesale Company Store was one of the many "five and dime" stores located across the nation in the first half of the 20th century and occupied this building until 1946. Construction of the store coincided with both a commercial building boom and a decade of substantial growth for the city where Columbia's population nearly doubled from 1900 to 1910. The Mehornay Furniture Company moved into the building after that time and subsequently remodeled the building. Mehornay's business operated until the 1970s. In the decades that followed, the building has been the home to several businesses and generally mirrored both the decline of downtown shopping in small cities in the 1980s and 1990s as well as the return of businesses to historic downtown buildings in the early 21st century.  The building largely appears today as it did upon its completion in 1910. At the time, Columbia's store was part of the company's rapid growth emanating from the company's headquarters in Memphis,  Kress was Columbia;s first chain five and dime store, a term used to describe early twentieth-century department stores offering a wide variety of products. As the twentieth century progressed, five and dimes came to represent stores with inexpensive items while most referred to stores such as JC Penny and Sears as department stores. Kress began in Memphis in 1896 and then grew into a national chain with hundreds of stores located across the nation by the early twentieth century. Unique to the Kress chain, the company included an architectural division with nearly 100 employees serving that purpose. Each Kress building enjoyed a unique design and are now included as part of a museum exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D. C., titled"Main Street Five and Dime: The Architectural Heritage of S. H. Kress and Co." The Kress store in Columbia also functioned as an ipso facto social center. As noted in the nomination form to the National Register of Historic Places, the store features a Victrola record player that offered customers the chance to listen to music before committing to a purchase. This led to the store becoming a popular place for adults as well as young people. In many ways, the building's history as a place where people came to explore and enjoy music remains, as the building has been home to the Penguin Piano Bar and Nightclub since 2004. In this way the Kress Building offers a window into the history of downtown Columbia from department stores and other major retailers to locally owned businesses that reflect the way more people are returning to the downtown areas for entertainment and culture.

The Kress Building opened in 1910, capping off a decade that saw substantial growth for Columbia that resulted in the completion of this and several other commercial building boom. The Kress Five and Dime national chain started in 1896 in Memphis and then expanded to other neighboring cities before coming one of the largest national chain stores of the early 20th century with hundreds of stores. 

Kress Building in Columbia, Missouri

The First Christian Church organized in 1832 as one of the first Disciples of Christ congregations to form in central Missouri. The two-part building consists of the Sanctuary built in 1893 and the connected Clarence E. Lemmon Education Building erected in 1929. The Sanctuary is a representative example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style that grew popular during the 1890s. The Education Building exhibits a more classical style reflective of the 1920s. Two of the denomination's founders, Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, visited the Columbia church more than once in the early years, between 1832 and 1852, which speaks to its significance. The Columbia congregation started construction on its first permanent structure in 1836, followed by the erection of a more substantial structure that opened in 1861. Finally, in 1893, they built the church that stands today. First Christian Church members often played significant roles in and near Columbia. A couple of examples include Church disciple James Shannon, who served as the second president of the University of Missouri as well as the first president of Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. The Culver-Stockton founder, Pat Henderson, was also a member of the First Christian Church. Meanwhile, Luella St. Clair-Moss became one of the first deaconesses of the congregation. She served two terms as president of Christian College, president of Hamilton College in Lexington, Kentucky, member of the church's national board of education, vice president of the Disciples of Christ International Convention in Washington, D.C., 1930, and operated as an activist looking to seek women's suffrage in Missouri.The congregation grew substantially by the 1920s, requiring the church to consider building a new home or expanding their current church. Pastor Dr. Carl Agee successfully attempted to raise additional money through fundraising, but the project went forward regardless. The second building of the church opened in May of 1929, five months before the Wall Street crash and the start of the Great Depression. A few months after the crash, Dr. Agee resigned his position at the church and accepted a job to become dean of Missouri Bible College. Dr. Clarence E. Lemmon served as the first lengthy head pastor in the new church, serving from the 1930s through the 1960s. He proved to be a liberal activist in the church by encouraging the acceptance of members from other denominations and pushing for civil rights in the community. His paper, "Crisis of Fellowship," was read by a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Over the years, Dr. Lemmon published numerous articles and books, traveled the country as a speaker, and received several awards and recognitions. The church remains active today, but it stands as a reminder of the development of Columbia during the 19th century and the significant role the church played in that urban growth. Member of the church help build the community, played active roles in pursuing social justices, served on numerous academic boards, and helped turn Columbia into a recognizable city at a time when much of the country transitioned from mainly rural to predominantly urban.

The current church is comprised of two structures build in 1893 and 1929. The church organized as one of Missouri's first Disciples of Christ congregations in 1832, only eleven years after Missouri became a state. Its members proved highly influential in building the community, developing or working for colleges, and promoting everything from women's suffrage to correcting social injustices. A U.S. Ambassador once read to the United Nations from the writings of Dr. Lemmon,  who served as the head pastor for the church for thirty-three years from the 1930s to the 1960s. 

First Christian Church of Columbia, Missouri

The depot was built by the Wabash Railroad and was the terminus (the end point) of the railroad's spur to Columbia. The railroad used the depot for 50 years until 1964 when the line merged with the Norfolk &amp; Western Railway. It appears that the building continued to be used for its original purpose as a rail depot until the late 1970s or early 1980s. The city bought it in 1982 and restored it in 2007, which is when bus service began. Since 2011, the old depot also hosts a farmers and artisans market. The structure&nbsp;was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.&nbsp;

Built in 1910, the former Wabash Railroad Station and Freight House is a historic train depot in Columbia, Missouri. Designed in the Tudor Revival style, the depot is now a bus station. The structure is listed on the National Register and is historically significant owing to its role in the city's growth in the early 20th century along with the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Depot. 

Wabash Railroad Station and Freight House

Information about Samuel Elkin's life is not readily available but he became a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist by the time he built the house. He became the city's postmaster sometime later as well. He passed away in 1909 and Isabel continued to live in the house until she sold it in 1925 to C.F. and Madge Edmonston. After C.F. died, Madge converted the home in a boarding house by 1935. The next owners, Clifford and Frances Hanks, bought the house in 1969 and converted it into apartments. By the mid-1990s, only three apartments remained but were removed when the house was rehabilitated and converted into a stained glass workshop. Much of the original interior of the house is still intact including the cast iron fireplaces and wood flooring.

Venture capitalist and city postmaster Samuel H. Elkins built this elegant Italianate home around 1892. The unique front porch featuring a balustrade of wide lattice and scrollwork was added before 1908. The scrollwork reflects the influence of the Art Nouveau style. Other notable features include the cornice with pairs of brackets supporting a wide eave, a triangular pediment with a circular window, and bay windows. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and is a contributing property of the North Village Arts District, which is also on the Register. The house is occupied by an equity company.

Samuel H. and Isabel Smith Elkins House

The City of Columbia transferred the land where the armory was to be constructed in 1938; the land was then a commercial metal yard. The armory building cost almost $113,000 to build over two years, with costs shared by the federal government, state, and city. The architects were Robert B. Deering and David Clark, who orginally planned for the building to be made of brick. The Art Deco style of the armory, popular in the era, is rare to have survived to the present day in Columbia. The exterior has clean lines, with the most elaborate being the main façade. Exterior decorations, in keeping with the Art Deco style, are incised lines and geometric forms. The main (south) entrance's double doors are flanked by piers and topped by a flagpole above the letters "ARMORY;" a frieze below the roofline contains truncated conical shapes, formed by pouring cement into metal cylinders. Entrances on each of the other three facades are simpler doors or a vehicular door to the garage. From the beginning, the building was designed to be multi-purpose, with the military being primary and the city secondary. The building encompasses three levels, with the first (main) level utilized historically by the military as office space plus as a large drill hall of 77 by 94 feet on the rear of the building. The upper floor had offices, while the lower story contained offices and a drive-in garage with locker space and a kitchen. The first military forces to occupy the building were the 128th Field Artillery before mobilization in September 1940. The first city use of the building may have been in March of 1941. The drill hall became auditorium or gymnasium space when used by the city for meetings or recreation. The city paid the utilities for the building and expenses for maintaining the flooring in the auditorium. The auditorium was able to be accessed by its own ticket window and could operate separately from the military's front section of the building. When the building was last used by both the military and the city, in the 1990s, several Columbia Parks &amp; Recreation sports leagues played in the gymnasium, including basketball and volleyball. The Columbia College basketball team held their games in the gym for years. The building was listed in the National register in 1993 with significance in architecture, engineering, and social history. The architectural significance is tied to the Art deco style, while the engineering is related to a system of lamella, or diagrid, roof construction with arch and short timbers. The armory is one of only a few extant buildings in the state with this form of honeycombed roof support system. The social history significance relates to the New Deal project that allowed the building to be constructed during the Great Depression, and also to the armory's use by the city for community social gatherings. The Missouri National Guard moved operations to another location in 1999. The building is still utilized for city recreational purposes, known as the Armory Sports Center. The Community Recreation and C.A.R.E. (Career Awareness Related Experience) programs are within the armory, as is the CoMo Bike Co-op. The building holds the gymnasium, an aerobics area, a cardio/strength training facility, classrooms, meeting rooms, and offices.

The Columbia National Guard Armory is an Art Deco styled structure that was constructed in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Dozens of armories were built in this era in the U.S. under this federal government program. the entire building is composed of reinforced, poured concrete. Unlike earlier federal armories built to standardized plans, the New Deal program encouraged the use of local architects to design armories for each community. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. In 1999, the National Guard moved out of the building and the entire Armory became a recreational facility. The building houses the city's Community Recreation Department and other programs.

Columbia National Guard Armory 

Sharp End's transformation into a business district for the African-American community began around the early 1900s. At the time, the city's business district, known as Market Square, was located here. However, the area was prone to flooding from the Flat Branch creek so the city decided to move Market Square to its current downtown location on 8th and 9th streets. The move opened up the area for Black residents and it became one of the few areas in the city in which they were allowed to live, open businesses, shop, dine, and gather. By 1910, Sharp End had established itself as the city's commercial and cultural center for the African American community.Despite Sharp End's centrality to many residents, the city showed little regard for the area, which was known as the Douglas neighborhood. The city failed to maintain roads, provide basic services to most residents, and, until the 1930s, dumped garbage in the Flat Branch Creek, which was also filled with human and livestock waste. And because of widespread discrimination and limited opportunities, many Black residents were stuck in a cycle of poverty in small wood-frame homes that lacked plumbing or electricity. The city's neglect of the area was intentional and reflects the pervasive racism against Black residents in Columbia during the early 20th century.It was the cumulative effect of this indifference, however, that compelled the city to embark on its urban renewal project in the 1950s. In 1949, Congress passed the Federal Housing Act, which granted funds to communities around the country for the purpose of acquiring blighted areas through purchase or eminent domain. The poverty and blight of the Flat Branch area were a direct consequence of the city's decades of neglect. In 1956, the city designated 126 acres in the area to be taken by eminent domain. Federal and state law required property owners to be fully compensated but this was not the case for the Black residents and business owners. The city paid just over half of the $1 million that was estimated to be fair value for the 126 acres. The second round of urban renewal began in 1959, and it saw the removal of hundreds of buildings, including 80 Black businesses. Many residents were not eligible for public housing built in the neighborhood, nor were they allowed to get home loans to buy houses in mostly white areas. As a result, urban renewal displaced Black residents and prevented many of them from generating wealth through homeownership.The historical marker was installed in 2015 by the Sharp End Heritage Committee, the Economic Development Inc., and the City of Columbia. It is one of several markers of the African American Heritage Trail.

This historical marker was dedicated in 2015 and commemorates a predominantly African-American business district called Sharp End that grew in the early 1900s and was taken over by the city in a series of urban renewal projects in the early 1960s. The district was located on both sides of Walnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets and featured many restaurants, barbershops, clubs, and other businesses. Apartments and a church were also located here. Sharp End developed in the early 1900s and was one of the few areas in the city where Black residents were allowed to operate businesses because of rampant discrimination, a factor that also limited opportunities for Black consumers in other parts of the city. The only building that remains of Sharp End is a brick structure on the southwestern corner of 5th and Walnut.

Sharp End Historical Marker

John W “Blind”
Boone overcame poverty, disability and racism to become a nationally known
musician and composer (Historic Missourians).&nbsp;
Born in 1864 to Rachel Boone, an escaped mixed race slave from Kentucky
descended from Daniel Boone (Perfessor Bill).&nbsp;
Boone never knew his father, a white bugler for the Union Army.&nbsp; Boone’s blindness resulted from cerebral
meningitis at the age of approximately six months, when his eyes were removed
and his eyelids were sewn together. &nbsp;

Boone was
encouraged and supported in his musical talents by the citizens of Warrensburg,
MO.&nbsp; In 1872, the community united to
send him to the Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis, where he learned to
play classical piano under the tutelage of an older white student, Enoch
Donnelly.&nbsp; After a couple of school
years, a new principal denied Black students the same privileges as white
students, including no access to pianos.&nbsp;
Boone began sneaking out to the Tenderloin District to listen to and
play with African American musicians in saloons.&nbsp; The principal noted Boone’s absences and
dismissed him.&nbsp; Boone was living on the
street when a white railroad conductor provided him passage back to his mother’s
home in Warrensburg.

In December,
1879, at the age of 15½, Boone met John Lange, Jr, a successful businessman,
who owned an entertainment establishment.&nbsp;
Lange booked Boone to play a Christmas program and recognized Boone’s
talent as well as his vulnerability.&nbsp;
They struck up a lifelong friendship and working relationship, Lange
becoming Boone’s manager until Lange’s death.&nbsp;
Boone married Lange’s youngest sister, Eugenia, in 1889 and they
purchased the home at 10 North Fourth Street. &nbsp;

Boone was
known for his generosity as well as his musical ability.&nbsp; He supported churches and other organizations
through donations and loans.&nbsp; Among these
were Christian College, which became Columbia College, and First Christian
Church of Columbia, a white congregation that accepted Boone as their first
Black member.&nbsp; Boone gave away most of
his earnings, which were substantial for the time, dying with less than $150 in
cash and his home the only remaining assets.&nbsp;

Credited,
along with Louis Moreau Gottschalk, with giving legitimacy to Black music,
Boone is counted among Missouri’s Big Three - Scott Joplin, James Scott and
Boone (Blind Boone Home).<div>





<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a>John W Boone House, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W_Boone_House
, 08/27/2013, Web, 11/27/2014&nbsp;

John Wlliam “Blind” Boone, Shs.umsystem.edu/historicmissourians/name/b/blindboone,
n.d., Web, 11/27/2014&nbsp;

Blind Boone, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blindboonehome.com/">www.blindboonehome.com</a>,
n.d., Web, 11/27/2014&nbsp;

John William “Blind” Boone, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.perfessorbill.com/comps/jboone.shtml">www.perfessorbill.com/comps/jboone.shtml</a>,
n.d., Web, 11/27/2014&nbsp;

Blind Boone, A Musical Prodigy, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aaregistery.org/historic_events/view/blind-boone-musical-prodigy">www.aaregistery.org/historic_events/view/blind-boone-musical-prodigy</a>,
n.d., Web, 11/27/2014&nbsp;

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John W Boone, a nationally known musician and composer and one of Missouri's “Big Three,” is considered by many historians to have inspired the development of ragtime music through his adoption of the syncopated rhythms he saw in everyday life within African American communities. Boone's home, his only remaining asset at the time of his death, later served as the location of a funeral home. The property was in disrepair and in danger of being demolished in the late 1990s. Local residents and preservationists mobilized to save it with the help of city officials. The home was renovated and is currently owned by the City of Columbia. The home has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.

Home of John W "Blind" Boone

Constructed in 1909, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Depot is a good example of an early 20th-century train station. It was built by the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad and was one of two train stations in the city (the other was the Wabash Railroad Station). Notable features include the octagonal pavilion, terra-cotta, red brick, and arched windows. Currently, the building is home to Shiloh Bar & Grill. Its construction was a reflection of how important railroads were as a key economic driver in Columbia and the region. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 

Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Depot

The ten-story building known as The Tiger Hotel was constructed in 1928 by the Simon Construction Company as luxury accommodations. Designed by Alonzo Gentry, who also helped design the Statler Hotels, the original design held 100 rooms. The original operators had intended to create a combination hotel and theater but learned that another developer nearby planned the same thing. Will Bowling, one of the four men in charge of The Tiger Hotel, reportedly made an agreement with J. Dozier Stone, the owner of the Missouri Theater, that each building would stick to one purpose. When car travel became more popular, the hotel rebranded as The Tiger Motor Hotel and featured free guest parking in automatic garages. In the 1950s, rates were $6.50 per night for non-air conditioned rooms and a buck more for air conditioned rooms. In 1979, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building is faced with red brick and features cream-colored terra cotta ornamentation. The first floor is faced with terra cotta with stone quoins at the corners. The central six windows of the first floor above the entrance doors are decorated with terra cotta keystones with a lady's head motif and scrolled buttresses (see the second photo). Large terra cotta urns top the hotel's attic story. Twenty-foot high ceilings create a dramatic entry to the lobby, featuring large piers with applied tiger heads. The mezzanine level contained a ballroom with crystal chandeliers and elaborate molding. The building's owners went bankrupt twice in the 1980s. Business had declined due to not being located on an interstate route. The Tiger was renovated into a retirement community in 1987 and was known first as the Tiger-Kensington and later in the 1990s as Tiger Columns. The building has been used for overflow housing for University of Missouri students. The letters in the TIGER sign atop the building were restored in 2004 after not being lit for 42 years. Each aluminum letter is about eight feet tall and was recurved to match the old letters, that had been cut by hand. The hotel building had changed hands almost a dozen times in eight decades, once reportedly via a game of poker. The hotel reopened in 2014 after its first year of renovations under a new owner, Glyn Laverick, a native of England. The interior was taken back to the brick walls and reconfigured. Laverick happened across the building while passing through Columbia several years earlier and was intrigued by its possibilities but was told the vacant structure, formerly the senior center, already had a developer. The Tiger Hotel's latest incarnation under Laverick as an independent hotel with 62 guest rooms has earned a four-star rating. Their tagline is "Upscale modern meets historic urban architecture." Many of the interior elements have been altered over the years, but the grand chandeliers by Tiffany &amp; Company in the lobby have survived and the terrazzo inlaid floors have been restored. The building boasts the oldest mailbox in Columbia, between the two elevator doors on the main floor. The hotel includes a speakeasy lounge, the Vault; a nightclub, V2; a restaurant, The Oak Room; and a cupcake/pastry shop, The Velvet Cupcake.

Constructed in 1928, this historic hotel became the first skyscraper between St. Louis and Kansas City. This was the leading hotel of the city and boasted luxurious and state-of-the-art features such as an ice water cooling system. The hotel closed in the 1980s and the building was converted to retirement condos and operated as the Kensington for many years, but retained the original "Tiger" sign on the building's roof. This sign, like the building itself, has long been one of the leading landmarks in Columbia and was restored in 2004. The building underwent an extensive renovation under new ownership in 2011 and once again serves as the leading downtown hotel on the road between Missouri's two largest cities. 

Columbia Missouri Downtown Walking Tour

St. Paul A.M.E. Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information