List of 10 endangered historic structures includes courthouses across Missouri.
ST. LOUIS — Clark County Clerk Leih Ann Hayden recalled the day the ceiling tile fell in the middle of trial.
“It just missed the lawyer sitting there,” Hayden said. “The ceiling tiles come down in this building. It leaks terribly. The air comes in the windows. The pipes freeze in the wintertime.”
The courthouse in Kahoka, built in the 1870s, is among several in the state threatened by a lack of money for upkeep and repair, according to the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation, which on Tuesday announced its list of the state’s 10 most endangered places for 2007. The goal is to raise awareness about the plight of historic structures and to offer up technical assistance in saving them.
The list cites nine specific structures, ranging from a depot in Poplar Bluff to a sheriff’s office in New London to a home that housed immigrants upon their arrival in St. Louis. The MKT rail bridge in Boonville is on the list for a third year.
But the list also cites “courthouses across Missouri,” many dating to the 19th century. Missouri Preservation said some state lawmakers see funding for maintenance and repair of courthouses as nonessential. With local funding hard to come by, especially in cash-strapped rural areas, many courthouses have fallen into disrepair.
The Clark County Courthouse, near the Iowa border in northeast Missouri, has no maintenance budget. Last year, the county tried again to pass a sales tax to pay for badly needed repairs. It failed.
So Hayden, who has been county clerk for 23 years, spends some of her time dealing with the quirks of the aging building. She chases away the squirrels and hawks that make their way into the attic. She throws a sheet over the bats and carries them outside. After it rains, she empties the buckets that sit beneath the leaks.
The story is typical of many Missouri courthouses, said Cole Woodcox, chairman of Missouri Preservation.
“So many have different maintenance issues and county commissioners who have few dollars to work with,” Woodcox said.
The list, announced at a news conference in St. Louis, focuses on historic structures considered “at risk.”
Seven of the 10 spots on the most endangered list are holdovers from 2006, including the courthouses. New to this year’s list are the McCarty Street Houses in Jefferson City, the Ralls County Sheriff’s Office and the Yetter Building in Worth County.
The list, which is in no particular order, also includes the Odd Fellows Home in Liberty, the Andrew Baker House in St. Francois County, the Poplar Bluff depot and stairs, the Martinsburg Jail/City Hall/Firehouse building, and the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in St. Louis.