Forgotten MISSOURI: Towns With Unique History & Incredible Architecture

all right everyone I am in rural Missouri let's see let me show you on the map um I am the Blue Dot so I am south of Kansas City Oklahoma City is to the South and the West this is Kansas real close to the Kansas border I am in Southwest Missouri I've got some really interesting towns here they um they have their problems they have a lot of crime and children's poverty is really high in all of them but they also have a lot of fascinating history a lot of quirky character I'm really looking forward to checking these towns out and showing them to you the first town is Lamar now we'll talk a few numbers before we head into downtown population of Lamar today is around 4 300 people Peak population was in 2010 they were a little over 4 500 people so the town is holding its population pretty well it's not dying beating age is 39 U.S average is 38 that's pretty close interesting number here 53 percent of the town is female 47 is male 12 of the females here are widowed but 12 of the males are widowed as well that is very unusual almost always there are a lot more widows female widows than there are men anyway um I'm kind of on the outskirts of town what I'm going to do is head into downtown and uh we'll start really diving into the statistics there and of course the history of the town a couple of fascinating gentlemen are from this town so we're going to talk about them all right so yeah let's do that let's head downtown all right I'm making my way into downtown Lamar Missouri it's a county seat so it has a County Courthouse over here thinking what I'm going to do is get out on foot and take a look because um well there's kind of a lot to see here and I've got a lot to tell you about the town so that's what I'm gonna do I'm going to park right here in front of this Courthouse and get out on foot Lamar is the county seat for Barton County this is the county courthouse built in 1888 Romanesque architecture so it takes cues from 11th century Medieval Europe subtle cues it's not really in your face is it beautiful building though anyway um it's a beautiful day here in Missouri it is I don't know about nine about 9 30 9 between 9 and 9 30 in the morning perfectly still no wind it's mid-june today is a Friday the year 2023 of course 70 degrees out here Fahrenheit 21 celsius so wow it's perfect I mean it is perfect weather now as I roam around this downtown Square let me tell you about the city of Lamar 94 of the town is white two percent Hispanic last four percent is mixed per capita income here is 19 800 a year so that's 380 a week that each and every person who lives in this town lives lives on 380 a week median household income is 32 200 a year that's 620 a week for a household so incomes honestly are pretty low you see it in the poverty numbers 38 or 35 poverty and uh wow I told you about crime earlier let's see if I can zoom in on that scene there isn't that crazy looks like some prisoners are being transported is that what I'm looking at I have honestly never seen anything like that not in person yeah that looks like some prisoners being moved wow all right well that's a good time to talk about crime um 44 per 1000 people last year that's uh about twice higher than the U.S the US is 23 per thousand people mostly property crime though property crime was 39 of those 44. violent crime was five anyway I had started to talk about poverty um 35 percent here children's poverty is 37 percent that's really high that is uh geez three times higher than the U.S average folks 65 and older it's 18 percent they have a beautiful old theater here downtown the plaza built in 1934 still in operation still showing movies when it was built it was quite that to do if you will a lot of famous Studio heads came to its opening a lot of famous movie stars either came here or sent letters you can see that is absolutely beautiful theaters are always among the most interesting buildings in these old downtowns they also have Statue of Liberty here in the Square with faith in and loyalty to the United States of America the school children of Barton County have caused to be erected this replica okay that felt odd saying it but anyway pretty awesome huh this was put here in 1950 . it's been here a while you guys know who that is that is Wyatt Earp what does Wyatt Earp have to do with Lamar Missouri you're wondering it may surprise you to know that Wyatt Earp began his storied law enforcement career right here right here in Lamar when he was 21 years old his father became Justice of the Peace of this town and young Wyatt became the constable here's a picture of him as constable 21 years old this picture was taken in 18 69. right here in Lamar that's where the picture you're looking at was taken anyway he was the Constable Constable here for two years and together with his father as justice of the peace they ran the town as father and son now while here he married a young girl she was the daughter of the gentleman that owned the biggest hotel in town and um life seemed really good but she died in childbirth either that or with typho uh she died of typhoid fever while pregnant I'm reading both things but it really affected him he became a changed man and um left town and started getting in trouble with the law instead of enforcing it and that happened for a few years horse theft uh let's see embezzlement that kind of thing but eventually he strained out went to Dodge City and of course that is the story of his life that most of us hear about now did you know that Harry S Truman the 33rd president of the United States was born here in Lamar he was this was the house that he was born in one of the downstairs bedrooms now he is the president who dropped the atomic bombs on Japan Hiroshima and Nagasaki one of the things he's known for but he's known for other things as well but anyway [Music] man that's big trucks to be driving down little residential streets [Music] there's a well there on the other side different times let's see what the placard says shall we here we go welcome to Harry S Truman birthplace Historic Site 33rd president of the United States was born in this house on May 8 1884. perch his parents purchased the home in 1882 for 685 dollars interesting the neighborhoods look beautiful um very All-American looking town the median home value in this town is ninety thousand dollars little over telling you that as I check out some houses here's one for sale I wonder how much they want for that when you internet's loose can figure that out I am on College Street here on here in Lamar [Music] nice neighborhoods though mostly looks real nice of course you do get some people who like to accumulate a lot of stuff that is a lot of stuff what on Earth will they ever do with all that that is so much is that a red a redneck flea market I don't know possibly but anyway um I'm thinking it's time to head to the next town so let's do that right now everyone I am entering the town of Jasper Jasper Missouri look um there's a sign here that is letting me know that this is the way very helpful um now in the year 2000 there were a thousand people here today there are 800. so it's losing a little population median age is 38 53 percent of the town is female that means 47 is male 94 of the town is white four percent is Native American one percent Hispanic one percent mixed here is City Hall let's get a good look at that and I'll just take a slow drive down or through the downtown can tell you more it's pretty quiet here really quiet let's see uh median household income is forty seven thousand nine hundred a year that's 920 a week poverty is 18 percent which is pretty high children's poverty 17 and under 28 percent that is twice higher a little over twice higher than the US average for 65 and under it is nine percent crime is pretty low though crime here is or last year was 17 per 1000 U.S average is 23 so it's lower there is a teen center but it is closed now as I drive through the town heading towards residential I'll tell you the median home value here it's 84 800. now guys I have to tell you there is a specific reason why I came to this town do you know the movie Roadhouse I do it's one of my favorite of all time Roadhouse the movie Stein Patrick Swayze is a guy who comes to the small rural town has straightened things up in a bar called the double deuce there's a doctor in town that he falls in love with played by Kelly Lynch he's got a sidekick Sam Elliott it's a butt kicking movie a little bit cheesy but a lot of fun that movie took place right here in Jasper yeah this is where it took place not crazy them been looking around for the double deuce I can't find it turns out Road House was not filmed in Jasper even though it took place here it was filmed in California boo lame right check out this um treasure dairy cream um it is not open that's a blast from the past though isn't it a little ice cream shop that is too cool too bad it's not open look at this old gas station too wow really old gas station it's days long over I am entering the town of Carthage Carthage Missouri I got some stuff going on there now the town of Carthage or this town was was named after the ancient city of Carthage that was on the Mediterranean I believe that would be Tunisia now the town has uh fifteen thousand five hundred people in it that's Peak population uh the town is growing it's got a real pretty Drive coming into town that's why I wanted to show it to you so what I'm doing right now let's see median age here is 32 54 of the town is female 46 male so this is the third town in a row where there are a few extra ladies let's see sixty percent of the town is white 34 percent is Hispanic one percent black one percent Asian one percent Native American last three percent is mixed a couple other things uh let's see median household income is forty one thousand four hundred a year that's uh just under 800 a week yet another Bridge they should call this the town of bridges or the city of bridges because there are a lot of them anyway as I make my way into town I'll show you a few other things uh crime it's pretty high 35 incidents per 1000 people U.S average is 23. but it's all property crime about 80 percent of that this town is on um route 66. I'm actually on Route 66 right now and there is a classic historic hotel or motel right there I'm going to show that to you next but you can see it uh as I'm sitting here in the intersection it's right there boots Court let's take a closer look so here it is Boots Court radio in every room right here on Route 66 this hotel was built in 1939 Art Deco architecture still open to this day it is really cool looking isn't it I got this old cop car here give you a look at that real quick there's a guy inside he's just hanging out isn't he anyway um how you doing how you doing man huh yeah yeah sure yeah I uh so this is the second oldest Motel on the road here of course the oldest is the Wagon Wheel up in Cuba cool and then uh Carey New Mexico has the third that's the blue swans Tucumcari yeah but this intersection is the crossroads of America through Jefferson Highway the main north south this intersection here yes Crossroads of America so that takes you to Canada that takes you to New Orleans and route to six takes to Chicago Santa Monica California so this is a carport for your car when you stay at the hotel or the motel 39 in the bag that was actually added by a different family in 46 uh Neely family I tried to try to replicate the style but they're larger rooms right the reason after World War II uh people start traveling with families right so they needed a double beds basically that is too cool man yeah if you want some really good architecture uh mostly late um 19th century early 20th century you can go to where I live two miles away Red Oak two we got 70 historic buildings I was thinking about going to Red Oak I am definitely going to see that you gotta see the square that's the second most photographed building in the state all right so you're taking me to a tunnel this is the basement this is where laundry and uh Bridge today kind of serves as a storm shelter and just a utility um space for like pipes and wires but so this is underneath we're underneath the boots now so we're underneath the road now and we're heading towards the front opposite it goes all the way and you'll see the change right here where it goes to the Carthage model walls oh wow so I'm not gonna take the whole weight but I'll take you back so wow yeah in the 40s I think it was or early or late 30s I was trying to invent a kind of a DIY do-it-yourself air conditioning space he thought he'd cool the air here and then you'd send it to the rooms it didn't work but hey we got a neat tunnel out of it it's an idea exactly that's amazing of course this is the classic some of this is Carthage uh marble so yeah that's the Carthage marble which of course is the Limestone here it's so hard it could be polished into lime looks like marble it looks like marble and it's Paul and the courthouse is built with it that's right 100 and also it will be going to Jefferson City Washington Monument DC has Carthage marble in it there's a lot of buildings to do yeah have it amazing um yeah it was a it was used all over the country actually that's cool you got too expensive to Quarry and they stopped at some point right that's cool man now I just went in that door and that tunnel that I just showed you goes all the way up to the front and that's something and like I said these are little carports so you could park your car in there and stay in your room anyway I haven't even made it to downtown yet it is this way I'm going to show you one of the most amazing courthouses in this entire United States so I'm gonna head over there right now all right I am out on foot here in the downtown Carthage Square Carthage is the Jasper County Seat that means it has a County Courthouse and here it is this is one of the most beautiful courthouses ever built seriously it is what they call uh Rich richardsonian architecture or richardsonian Romanesque is a an architect his name is Henry Richardson who designed buildings that took their cues from 11th century medieval Europe but his type of architecture in particular looked like castles he's uh or that's definitely what that looks like isn't it looks like a castle this building was built in 1895 it is the second most photographed structure in the state of Missouri number one of course is the Gateway Arch not going to beat that that's one of the most photographed structures in the world but anyway this makes a lot of State Courthouse lists as one of the best buildings of this type in the United States you can see why it is shockingly beautiful should we go inside yeah I think we should you feel like you're walking up to a castle you really do it is something now it is made from what they call Carthage marble that is a limestone from a quarry near here this particular limestone is so hard that it can be polished like marble and so there are many structures in the state that uses this marble but this building uses it in its entirety so let's go inside let's check it out they've got a little Museum here first thing you see is this hi there good are you you actually man this elevator they have an old school elevator here wow yeah this is definitely an old one isn't it and so you take people up huh uh well why not okay I can't say no to that so this is your job you take people up and down I do them some of the days I clean as well oh okay you're probably like doing this better right it gives you a little bit of a break yes this is really neat window oh yeah yeah I'm not I'm not gonna do any of that I'm not gonna disturb anything but uh yeah so we're on the top floor is that right cool um yeah this is the first to me I've never been in one of these I mean I've been at elevators but yeah this is a pretty old one this is our second floor oh okay and if you go over to the window it's a pretty cool for me oh I can go look out this window here this one okay well I'll do that yeah I could see where I just came in huh that's cool okay and you got a little uh little I guess you'd call it Museum type area down here below yeah okay well I'm gonna go check that out probably some rap Route 66 stuff I'm guessing is right in front of Mrs blue 66 and then on different Halls there's just different things okay cool thank you for the ride well now that was fun Route 66 overview Crossing three time zones in eight states Route 66 linked communities together from Chicago to Southern California in Missouri the fabled highway across 10 counties spanning 300 miles including this town so let's take a little quick quick look in here we'll try to make it fast because I can feel this video getting out of control lengthwise an old school telephone booth here I'm just going to walk out the other side I've done go back into downtown what do you guys think let's do it voila that was awesome did you know the Battle of Carthage which happened near here was the first major land battle of the Civil War now I was surprised to read that I've always thought it was the battle of Manassas but the Battle of Carthage took place July 5th 1861 right here and it was the first full-scale land battle of the Civil War the battle of Manassas was fought on July 21st that's 16 days later so I'm a little bit confused by that because you don't really read about the Battle of Carthage being the first one but it seems that it is maybe someone else can fill in the blanks on what I'm missing here but that's what I'm reading but anyway let's check out this mural here for the town tells the story of the town some of the people who came from here James Scott Ragtime composer Annie Baxter first woman elected Marlon Perkins television host and zoologist oh yeah that's right he is from here I remember him let's see correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't he Mutual of Omaha guy I used to watch that show as a kid anyway building is magnificent isn't it he'd look at it all day now I looked up that guy Marlin Perkins to make sure I was right and yes he was the host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom I watched that show every Sunday every Sunday night as a kid I'm sure some of you remember it as well if you do put a clap in the comment section because uh how awesome huh anyway yeah Marlon Perkins he's from here I never missed that show every Sunday night now the number I haven't given you yet is the poverty numbers uh it's 36 percent here that is three times higher than the US average but even worse at Children's poverty 17 and under is 55 percent um that is maybe the low or the highest children's poverty I have seen in my travels I've been to a few places in Mississippi and Arkansas where it was in the low 50s but 55 percent that is really high I'm not sure why maybe someone who lives here can explain it poverty for folk 65 and older is nine percent anyway yeah I'm just gonna look around here a bit that looks like an abandoned house and a few older houses here really interesting architecture you could use a little work but um there's a lot that are beautiful like this one beautiful home here huge porch yeah I love that this is where the Battle of Carthage was fought it's definitely peaceful Now isn't it let's see what does the sign say American Civil War 1861 1865 the Battle of Carthage July 5th 1861. the Battle of Carthage was a mobile engagement spread out over a distance of about 10 miles one of the earliest battles in the Civil War it was among the many contests fought in Missouri in 1861 to decide if the state would remain in the union or join A Confederacy there are some pretty amazing houses near the Carthage battle site I mean look at that that is a beautiful home there is another one up the street here that is for sale I'm on Prospect if anybody wants to look it up yeah here it is this house and that is for sale Prospect Avenue if anybody wants to look it up I'm curious as to how much they want for that it's an amazing old house it needs a lot of work but you can definitely see the potential am I right we are in Joplin Missouri you hear me say we because I have the wife in tow I guess not in tow she's ahead of me she has me in tow we are gingerly making our way towards these Falls well she's already there isn't she she beat me she's got better shoes on than me anyway this this is Grand Falls it's uh one of Joplin's top attractions and I can see why it's pretty what do you think you ready to go swimming huh what you say you want to go swimming huh so ready to come out here and walk you know I had like cute little yeah yeah this means we carry shoes in the back of the back of the car I got my boots out that's why I always make sure you have shoes in the car anyway uh just taking a look at it before we head towards downtown it's pretty isn't it do a swing around give you a look got a few people out here that's really nice well all right let's head into town we're at another site here to see in Joplin this is the Bonnie and Clyde garage apartment no this is what it looked like I think it looks pretty much exactly the same during the Great Depression Bonnie and Clyde hid out here for several weeks uh here we'll read this sign here in just a minute yeah they hid out here for several weeks but they partied so hard and bothered the neighbors so much that the police were called the police suspected that it was them so they set up what they set up surveillance and then of course then they came in for the arrest Bonnie and Clyde escaped but while escaping they killed two cops but they were in such a hurry to escape they left pictures they left a camera that had pictures that they had been taken of themselves and uh here are some of the pictures that uh well we could we got some really good pictures I'm Bonnie and Clyde anyway yeah I was looking at old pictures of it it looked exactly like this looks exactly the same I think this is private property now I'm not sure I'm sure these people are not thrilled about it but uh anyway yeah Clyde Barrow Bonnie Parker rented this apartment holed up here for 13 days April 13 1933 law law officers from the Joplin Police Department they thought they were bootleggers Outlaws open fire on them killing yeah two cops they escaped but they left behind a roll of Kodak film that yielded the first publicly seen photographs of the Infamous Gang so there it is that's a big fat oops what the camera leaving the camera behind it's not an oops for us we got to see pictures of them yeah it won't come off it's not giving me my wish week there we go okay finally finally we're at Fred and red this is one of the landmark restaurants of this town it's been here since the 1940s yeah go through here so we're gonna order some food to go to eat tonight we're gonna have lunch here downtown Joplin but we're gonna get something to go here that's what we're going in for well we decided to get their signature spaghetti Reds we're gonna get two of those to go with cheese and onion yeah this place uh it smells so good in here no we're from Dallas this place in spaghetti ribs well we've got dinner for tonight some uh what was it called they're red spaghetti red spaghetti red it's called spaghetti red yeah it's gonna be good it's gonna be a good dinner tonight we are in downtown Joplin here's a picture from 1910. from exactly where I'm standing right now you can edit looking at it and here it is today looks a little different doesn't it it's a quaint downtown though I like it it's kind of pretty down here what do you think like I said it looks like it's thriving yeah we've been to downtown there's a few people here yeah well as we walk through downtown we'll talk about the numbers of the city uh already did the population there's a little over 50 000 people here Peak population medianade yeah this town is uh growing median age 37 gender breakdown is 50 50. 50 male 50 female don't see that very often 82 percent of the town is white seven percent is Hispanic three percent is black two percent Asian one percent Native American last five percent is mixed median household income forty six thousand eight hundred that's uh nine hundred dollars a week median household that's pretty good poverty is not bad 18 percent that's a little higher than the US average but um but the cost of living here is lower for children 17 and under it's a little higher 22 percent but still that's the best of these towns what are you pointing at that Salon oh anyway uh [Music] yeah the median home value here is 129 000 so yes uh cost of living is a little bit lower the uh High School graduation rate here is high it's uh over 90 91 percent U.S average is 85. so people get their diplomas here High School diplomas all the numbers look pretty good for this town except except for one crime uh let's go down the other side of this thing because it's really noisy and then we'll talk about the crime in this town anyway uh so let's talk about crime in this town it's really high last year 73 incidents per 1000 people U.S average is 23 so that's three times higher than the U.S Missouri's uh crime rate is 31 per 1000. Missouri's is higher than the us as well but it's still considerable considerably higher than the state let's get another look at downtown so I did a little bit of the breakdown it's mostly property crime about 80 percent 68 of the 73 is property crime five is violent crime and that's just mostly uh assault even though they did have six murders six murders in Joplin that's actually pretty low that's pretty low yeah now we are on 7th Street which is route 66. I don't know if you can see the 66 there uh so Route 66 goes I guess what perpendicular to downtown yes yes Main Street that's looking down 66 route 66. let's look in the other direction and of course this is downtown anyway it's not a huge downtown but it is pretty I like it well we got a hole in the wall dive tight joint here uh Blackthorn we're gonna go in and have one drink and then go have some lunch what do you think sounds like a plan that sounds like a plan find the bar though it's a quaint little place I'm having a Turning Point Beer that's out of New York they don't have any local and they are at a Guinness and you're having Jack Daniels like you always do right yes [Music] all right we are on Route 66 that's we're getting our kicks here on route 66. uh we're gonna go to a seafood restaurant crabbies and uh we're gonna have some seafood so here we go yeah this place looks nice it's not in a fancy part of town but uh this looks like a really nice place what I was just trying to figure out where you're sitting that's all anyway yeah here we are at the bar looks nice it's a nice place I like the lights up there I feel like I'm in a high class joint how about you no it looks really nice our food is here I'm having blackened tilapia and shrimp with uh I think that's risotto yep it is 16 all right sixteen dollars even for that and you're having jambalaya right yeah mine was a special but it's got um it's andouille sausage and there's other things I know he said there's crab meat in here yeah um I feel like I'm missing one of the meats but it looks amazing so yours is 16 16 as well yes so both of these are 16. uh well we'll see if they're any good they look good though don't they here's the consensus mine is excellent shrimp was good the blackening seasoning tastes really good on the tilapia and uh that was risotto right yummy really good I'm not a big risotto but the eater but I like this how's your jambalaya probably the best jungle I have ever had really better than what I make for you oh my goodness it's so good um and the marinara is just a light marinara which was good because I didn't want a heavy Mariners yeah it was extremely yummy and the sausage I really think brought it all together because all the other meats are very like light meats you know but sausages I'm not sure about that being in there but it is it really did it really added to it okay so if you're in Joplin crabbies is good okay everyone that's the end of this video uh we are shooting up north next so uh so be looking for those

Channel: Joe & Nic's Road Trip

Views: 491,712

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Id: VIHJ3zB-PuI

Length: 49min 0sec (2940 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023