Elledge Arcade Buildings, West Plains, Missouri.Photo byDoncram, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The historic Elledge Arcade Buildings are two commercial buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 26, 2001. They're also known as the Famous Grocery Building and the J.L. Elledge Building. Together, they share four one-story storefronts. In business, an arcade is a covered passageway or area with stores.

Backstory

The Famous Grocery Building was at #28 Court Square and the J. L. Elledge Building was at #2 Elledge Arcade.

The Famous Grocery Building was built in 1888 and remodeled in 1913. During the remodeling, the J. L. Elledge Building was constructed. These buildings share a narrow passageway facing the Elledge Arcade in the northwest corner of the West Plains courthouse square.

The remodeling of the Famous Grocery Building included an expansion that doubled the size of the building. The front of the Famous Grocery Building is next to the J. L. Elledge Building. The design of the front of the J.L. Elledge Building was identical to the front of the Famous Grocery Building.

Before these buildings were constructed, West Plains had to recover from the effects of the Civil War when the city was looted and burned. However, after the war, new settlers moved in and some former residents returned. West Plains was resilient in rebuilding and developing again.

West Plains' growth was increased once the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad reached the city. Tracks laid through West Plains in 1883 were the first to come through and they were the first tracks in south-central Missouri. The arrival of the railroad created a building boom in the city.

Joseph Leander "Lee" Elledge was the founder of Famous Grocery. Elledge and other businessmen took advantage of the commercial expansion during the 1880s.

Once the railroad arrived, Elledge saw that as an opportunity to start his own business. When telephones were installed on the square, Elledge managed to obtain telephone number 1. Within five years, Elledge was able to have two more buildings constructed.

When the buildings were completed, Elledge moved into the Famous Grocery Building. The second building was used as a warehouse. In 1890, he sold the second building and purchased it back in 1907.

In 1913, Elledge acquired the land behind the Famous Grocery Building and started work on a fourth arcade on the square. He eventually created the Elledge Arcade. He built an addition to the west side of the Famous Grocery Building and called that the J.L. Elledge Building. This building included two commercial spaces and the Famous Theatre which was West Plains' first motion picture theatre.

Joseph Elledge owned and ran the Famous Grocery until he died in 1920. The grocery continued to be operated by his surviving family into the 1930s. After it closed, his family kept ownership of the Famous Grocery Building until the early 1980s.

According to a local historian, the building became a businessman's club which was a pool hall. During the 1950s, a photography studio filled the space.

From 1913 to ca. 1928, the J. L. Elledge Building contained two commercial spaces. In 1928, the building housed the West Plains Daily Quill Newspaper for over 20 years. A rear addition was built while the newspaper was in the building. The building returned to two commercial spaces after the newspaper moved to a new building.

Thanks for reading!