By Marshall Griffin, St. Louis Public Radio
Jefferson City, Mo. – Missouri's Historic Preservation Advisory Council has nominated 15 sites across the state to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Nearly half of the sites are in and around St. Louis. They include Father Dunne's News Boys Home and Protectorate, which was founded in 1906 and housed orphaned boys who sold newspapers on the street.
Karen Bode Baxter is a preservation specialist who made the pitch to the preservation council.
"Father Dunne's home was set up specifically for the kind of boys that might not be accepted into other orphanages, and also provided not only a home, but it made sure the boys got an education, and it provided them with some way of making some revenue through the printing operations that they had there," Baxter said.
The Salvation Army operates the facility today.
One of the nominated sites in the Kansas City area is the old Missouri City Savings Bank building in Clay County, which was originally a general store during the Civil War.
Jay Jackson owns the property today. He says Missouri outlaw Frank James faked a robbery at the store to cover up the murder of the town's mayor.
"The mayor of Missouri City was a Union Army officer, and he had insulted a local woman who was a friend of Frank's, arrested her, took her away from her 2-year-old son, and the mayor paid for it with his life," Jackson said. "Frank went in (to the store) to get cigars from his buddy, and his buddy said, 'make it look like a robbery!' So they did."
The National Park Service has 45 days to decide on the sites once they receive the applications. If chosen for the National Register of Historic Places, the sites automatically become eligible to receive historic preservation tax credits from the state.
Below is the complete list of sites approved today by the Missouri Historic Preservation Advisory Council:
* Springfield Grocer Co. Warehouse, 323 N. Patton Ave., Springfield
* Courthouse-Seminary Neighborhood Historic District, Roughly bounded by Middle, Themis, Main, Aquamsi, and Morgan Oak Streets, Cape Girardeau
* Administration Building, 800 University Dr., Maryville, Nodaway County
* Missouri City Savings Bank Building & Meeting Hall, 417-419 Main St., Missouri City, Clay County
* Missouri District Warehouse, 357 Main Street, Weston, Platte County
* Montgomery Ward & Co. General Merchandise Warehouse, 819 East 19th St., Kansas City
* Squibb, E.R. & Sons Building, 2500 Pennway, Kansas City
* St. Louis News Co., 1008-1010 Locust Street St. Louis
* Father Dunne's News Boys' Home and Protectorate, 3010 Washington Ave., St. Louis
* Chippewa Trust Co. Building, 3801-05 S. Broadway, St. Louis
* Berry Motor Car Service Building, 2220 Washington Ave., St. Louis
* Oak Hill Historic District, roughly bounded by Gustine St., Arsenal St., alley west of Portis Ave., and Humphrey St., St. Louis
* Affton High School, 8520 Mackenzie Road, Affton, St. Louis County
* Carney-Keightly House, 930 Hawkins Road, Fenton vic., St. Louis County
* Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas, 44 N. Lorimier, Cape Girardeau