St. Joseph's College
Landmark is worth only $1
"Long a landmark in Springfield, this 3-story apartment building with 47 rooms sold at action yesterday for $1. It was one of 46 big and little structures sold to make way for the Chestnut Street Throughway project of the Missouri State Highway Department. It is at the northwest corner of Jefferson and Chestnut, and like the other auctioned buildings, must be off the ground in 30 days. It was bought by M. Marvin Springer, Route 4.
"For years the building has been an apartment house. Longtime Springfield residents, however, remember that in the '90s [1890's] it was a Catholic Church and school.
"In 1892 the Benedictine Fathers established an academy for boys on this site. The north part of the tract was occupied by the residence of Charles H. Heer, Jr., son of the founder of Heer’s Stores. That home was donated to the Catholic Church and it was used for the residence of the priests who conducted the school. The remainder of the building, which had a chapel on the second floor, was added for classrooms and the like.
"This became the forerunner of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. At the time the school was established there were several German speaking families who asked to attend church in the chapel. As their number increased they purchased the site at Scott and Campbell and erected the present St. Joseph's Church. After a time the school was discontinued.
"Around 1911, Dr. Samuel A. Johnson purchased the building and founded the Johnson Sanitarium for treatment of mental and nervous diseases. This was the first institution of its kind in this part of the state and it prospered. A mental patient, however, went berserk and killed the physician.
"The building then was converted to apartment house use. It has been remodeled several times, the most recent reconstruction including a complete stucco job on the bricks."
For more history of the Catholic Churches of Springfield see:
St. Joseph parish diamond jubilee 1967
The Centennial of St. Joseph Church, 1892-1992
On the mission in Missouri, 1857-1868 and Fifty years ago: a memoir: Two Irish-American classics by John Joseph Hogan with an Introduction by the Most Reverend Raymond J. Boland Bishop, Emeritus Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph. Edited by Crystal Payton
South of the tracks: a centennial history of St. Agnes Parish, Springfield, Missouri, 1908-2008 by Sally Lyons McAlear
Immaculate Conception Church: 1868-1981
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