La Plata Square Historic District - La Plata, Missouri - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The town of La Plata (population roughly 1,4861) is located in Northeast Missouri in Macon County, about 13 miles south of Kirksville. The nominated district is the downtown commercial area on South Gex (pronounced ‘Jay’), Moore, and Sanders Streets positioned around the town’s public square. The district consists of 48 buildings and structures, and the public square. Of these 49 properties, 36 buildings, one structure, and the public square are contributing to the district and eight buildings and three structures are non-contributing. The dates of the contributing properties range from 1855 to the 1950’s. The majority were built in the early twentieth century. The buildings are mostly one-or two-part brick commercial blocks with minimal decoration.

The majority of the buildings in the La Plata Square Historic District are brick one or two-part commercial blocks with flat roofs. Many, if not most, share party walls with their neighbor creating an uninterrupted wall of commercial buildings. Isolated buildings are usually due to demolition or construction of smaller modern buildings. La Plata has retained the majority of its downtown district with minimal intrusion of modern buildings.

There is not much stylistic variation in these properties. Fires in the early years of the 20th century plagued the downtown area destroying many of the multi-story high-style 19th century buildings. The citizens, however, were quick to rebuild. This speedy reconstruction is reflected in the simplistic design of buildings. Undoubtedly expediency not aesthetics played the primary role in reconstruction as well as maximizing the amount of available space. Costs too likely played a role, as a few of the buildings became single story instead of two. In addition, they were devoid of ornamentation unlike their 19th century predecessors. Despite this trend, a few of the late nineteenth century buildings have survived with relatively few changes.

The early twentieth century buildings built after the fires were simplistic in design, generally featuring flat roofs, relatively plain facades and large lower level storefronts with recessed entries. Nearly all of them have subtle decorative brickwork and decorations at the cornice and above the windows." - National Register Nomination

Street address: Along portions of Gex, Sanders, and Moore St. La Plata, Missouri County / Borough / Parish: Macon Year listed: 2008 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event Periods of significance: 1850-1874, 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Government Current function: Commerce/Trade, Government, Vacant/Not In Use Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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