Jewell Theatre

On June 2nd, 1915, my great grandfather Francis Oren McHenry who was a hard working, proud man who used to be the editor and chief of the Sparta Herald in Christian County, MO., but worn down by illness and back luck including the death of his wife, was working for room and board {{trying to get enough money saved to go back to be with his only child in El Paso,Texas}} lsleeping on the couch in the 2nd floor where the Corn Land Company rented the space. Turned on the gas & wrote his last letter to his daughter. It was known at that time as 'the old Jefferson theater building'. Nobody claimed his body so it was held for over two month in the basement of the local mortician's basement on ice till my grandmother sold everything she had back in El Paso to make a down payment to the ghoul. He then dumped my great grandfather's body into an unmarked grave in the potter's field there in Springfield.

Addendum by McHenry to Message Posted Mar 10,2005 at 11:13AM:
I neglected to include that my Great Grandfather committed suicide intentionally do to his state of despair, it was not an accident. The way it was written by me above would leave the reader a bit confused since all I said wrote was 'He turned on the gas' .. Corner's Inquest: Death by asphixiation with suicidal intent..plus the final goodbye to his daughter-my grandmother. I just felt it was fitting that somebody, somwhere should know about this completely unknown bit of personal history of the Jewell Theater ; unknown even to everyone in the familiy after that date since he was never spoken of again since in those days , suicide resulted in one's immediate excummication from all family records. I uncovered the events of his life and death on my own 80 years after the fact.
D. McHenry

Looks like the Jewell has been dwemolished. A google maps view of the area shows an empty lot turned into a small park.

There is an historical marker indicating where this theatre was, because the Ozark Jubilee was presented on its stage. This was a very important piece of mid-century history for Springfield, to have a nationally televised program originating here. The theatre building was demolished in or soon after 1961, when the theatre closed. Later, the entire block where the theatre stood was leveled and made into a little park. The marker can be found near the intersection of Jefferson and McDaniel in downtown Springfield. Auditorium picture here: http://www.springfieldhistorymuseum.org/archives/detail.php?AccessionNumber=2000-147-1&Q=theatre

Exterior here: http://www.springfieldhistorymuseum.org/archives/detail.php?AccessionNumber=2000-147-2&Q=theatre