Heer's Department Store

Willard · Post by **Willard** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 2:09 am

Hey All! I just got a reply today in the post to my letter I wrote a month or so ago about touring Heer's. They said I was welcome to call and tour on Monday, March 28th. I'm going to take them up on that offer. I'll see if they will let me take pictures and such and I'll also see if they'll allow me to post them... they'll be pictures of the building before renovation begins. Also if you didn't know, there's an artical that was writen about me in the 2005 Guide to Springfield. This magazine is put out by Springfield! Magazine and is available at Barnes and Noble. Copies are $5 each or you can go to the Library Center on S. Campbell and ask to read over their copy. The artical is on page 46. Enjoy the artical and wish me luck on Monday!

Post by **White Rabbit** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 6:12 am

Argh. I'm jealous.

tyler · Post by **tyler** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:14 am

My mom use to work there in the late eighties. Apparently, it's demise came when the majority of the Heer's executive staff was caught in this big cocaine scandal.

Willard · Post by **Willard** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:51 pm

Apparently, it's demise came when the majority of the Heer's executive staff was caught in this big cocaine scandal.

That's a new one. I know several (and I mean more then you can probably count) people that used to work there in the late 1980's and early 1990's and there was never any Cocaine. Janet Boswell pretty much is the reason for the stores demise. She bought it in 1987 and then prceeded to redecorate the store. She spent money on the wrong things and never once had any sort of building renovation done. She literally thought that the merchandise was hers for the taking so she would take stuff from the store w/out paying for it. Oh yeah and the "company" had a Rolls Royce for a company car. After Boswell bought the store, it started loosing money (I wonder why?) and then she made a stupid move in late 1989 early 1990. She had some employees move some stock that wasn't selling from the Joplin stores (the old Newmans Stores, one at 6th and Main in Joplin and on in the mall down there) to the Heer's store on the square. There was a leak in the building that had damaged some merchandise and Boswell had the other merchandise moved to that spot as well and had buckets of water poured on it. She then tried to collect on the insureance for it. What happend next was the employees squeeled on her to the insurance adjuster. He notified the city of Springfield. To make matters worse the insurance company was located in Kansas. This was no longer a city matter... this wasn't even a state matter, the now became a federal matter. Commiting fraud across state lines is a major felony. Anyway, there was a big trial and Boswell recieve the punishment. 7 years in a federal prison. Look it up in the month of July 1990 microfilm of the Springfield News-Leader at the Library Center. It's all there... oh yeah and I have copys too.

Well what was left of the company filed for bankeruptcy and then sold Heer's to a realestate company called Klein out of Cincinati Ohio. They were in the buisness of buying out and trying to save floundering buisnesses. That lasted all of 4 years and in the winter of 1994 after 123 years of continued business in the City of Springfield, Heer's Department Store finally closed. A rather sad ending for a store that was very important to Springfield's growth. A sad ending for a legacy that the Heer family started. Over all it was just sad and I'm getting all misty eyed.

Willard · Post by **Willard** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:12 am

Ok, now that that little bit of depressing information on how Heer's met its demise, here's the rundown on my little tour of the old store today!

I felt like I was kind of rushed, but it was still the coolest thing in the entire world! I didnt' get the chance to take as many pictures as I wanted to... mainly because I spent way to much time explaining where everything was located when the store was first built 90 years ago. (wow I can't believe it's that old) Anyway it was awsome... you can see the old glass prisms from the basement that used to be in the sidwalk above (a thin layer of concrete is now over them on top but they are still there!).
The 4th floor restraunt still looks the same as it did in the 1950s however anything that could easilly be removed was removed when the store closed in 1994. No booths were even left but the stage at the West end is still there! All of the wood vaneer in the restraunt was taken from one Mexican Mahogony tree in 1915.
You can't tell that there was an auditorium on the 6th floor but that's because it had been compleatly taken out in the 1950 remodel. What was neat was the fact that part of the originall stairwell was still there and there is a full story of painted over windows facing it. What else is cool was there were sky lights in the celing of the 6th floor to let in light from the 7th floor Skylights. the skylights for the 6th floor are still there but the 7th floor ones are gone. The original stairs going up to the roof from the 7th floor are gone as well. In 1950 they moved them to the old elevator shaft that used to be directly under the tower (that's right the elevators used to go from the basement to the roof via a shaft under the tower. it was removed in the 1950 renovation due to the knocking out of the north wall for the basement, 1st and 2nd floors.)
Anyway, The view from the roof is AWSOME!!! I got some great pics up there and I also got to go up into the tower. The second floor of the tower is were the old radio station was in the early 1920's. There's an old electrical panal in the wall that's still there. The coolest part is in the upper par of the tower... that's where the old Water tank is that used to be for the firesprinkelers in the rest of the store. It kicked major ass! Anyway, I'll be posting some pics here within the next couple of weeks. I'm going to see if I can get another tour sometime and see if I can have a longer time to look around. I'll be sure and take more pictures next time. Also within the next couple of weeks I'll be posting a lot about Heer's on my History website.

ann_marie · Post by **ann_marie** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:12 am

I can't wait to see the pictures. Do you run the Springfield history group on Yahoo? Or were you talking about something else?

Willard · Post by **Willard** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:18 am

Do you run the Springfield history group on Yahoo? Or were you talking about something else?

I run the Springfield History Club on Yahoo!. I'm afraid that I'm not very good at keeping it updated however

ann_marie · Post by **ann_marie** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:22 am

Willard wrote: I run the Springfield History Club on Yahoo!. I'm afraid that I'm not very good at keeping it updated however

Yeah, I'm subscribed but I can't recall any messages except one just recently. Not much action at all.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:24 am

I want to see pictures. When are they planning on opening it to the public?

tyler · Post by **tyler** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:22 am

Willard wrote:Janet Boswell pretty much is the reason for the stores demise.

She is also the main person caught up in the cocaine issue.

Kit · Post by **Kit** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 1:42 pm

i heard that the roof leaks or did for awhile and did a lot of damage ... that and the wiring were what helped it to sit for sale for soo long.

Post by **White Rabbit** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:29 pm

Argh, I want in there.

skrizach · Post by **skrizach** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:27 am

Oh Williard, I love you! You're so full of sweet old information. I can give you some sweet information about the future though. It has to do with what's happening April 5th....things are going to change.

Willard · Post by **Willard** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:17 am

She is also the main person caught up in the cocaine issue.

I want to know your sources of the cocaine story... as far as I know and all of the digging I did (and people I've been talking to) there was nothing to do with cocaine.

i heard that the roof leaks or did for awhile and did a lot of damage ... that and the wiring were what helped it to sit for sale for soo long.

Yeah the roof leaks... because it's the only part of the whole building made of wood. The roof isn't the reason for damage inside however. In the summer of 1995 or 1996 some guys broke into the building and on the 3rd floor set off the sprinkler system. That cause a bunch of water damage and ruined the entire 3rd floor (or what was left of it).
The reason noone wanted to buy Heer's for the longest time is because Warren Davis bought the building for a million dollars. He wanted 2 or 3 million for it, which the building wasn't even worth the million he bought it for. I think Prost Construction got ripped off by buying Heer's for the 2 million dollars they did and Warren Davis made a bundle of money off of the transaction. The other reason noone wanted to buy Heers is there is a little problem with bringing it back up to building code. That's a few million dollars alone... then comes the part of renovation... another few million dollars... When all said and done I'll bet Prost Constucion will invest about 10 to 15 million dollars on Heer's.

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:11 am

When all said and done I'll bet Prost Constucion will invest about 10 to 15 million dollars on Heer's.

I think they should wait about a year, have no one work on it so we can go inside and check it out without interuption.

Underground Ozarks

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