By Marshall Griffin, St. Louis Public Radio
Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is hoping to get seven sites across the state added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Three of the sites are in St. Louis: The Federal Cold Storage Buildings, the Wellston Loop Commercial Historic District, and a boundary increase for the already-listed Central Carondelet Historic District.
Architectural historian Michael Allen spoke on behalf of Wellston Loop.
"That's a very distressed area...there's a lot of city-owned property, a lot of vacant land surrounding it, and those historic buildings are the economic assets that are left, that are usable, that will help fuel a future resurgence there," Allen said.
Other sites around Missouri include the Todd George House in Lee's Summit and the Masonic Temple in Kirksville. Truman State University Professor Cole Woodcox is confident the temple will be approved.
"The Masonic Temple in Kirksville is a rare example of Egyptian Revival architecture in the state...there are only a few buildings in the state that actually incorporate this style, which was popular from about 1900 until the 1930's," Woodcox said.
If the sites in Missouri win final approval, they'll also become eligible for the state's Historic Preservation tax credit.
Once the applications are in, the National Park Service takes about 45 days to decide each site's status.