The Colonial Apartments located at 406 Walnut Street in Carthage, Missouri (Jasper County) were constructed in 1948. These two historic red brick apartment buildings are two-storied. The architectural firm which designed tghe complex was from Kansas City, Missouri, Neville, Sharpe, and Simon. The architectural style is Colonial Revival. The builder and owner was B&G Construction Group. In 2001, the apartment complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After World War II, the Colonial Apartments were constructed to meet the population's need for more rental housing. This complex was a private project by B&G Construction Company consisting of realtor and insurance man, Luke Boggess, and a mason and builder, Albert "Shorty" Graul. They formed a partnership around 1939.
The apartment complex consists of sixteen apartments and four two-story town houses
Decorative trim is wood, painted white. Principal decoration is in door enframements, which exhibit a variety of Colonial Revival motifs. (Source.)
Carthage
Carthage was founded at a mill site on Spring River during the 1830s. Carthage and all of Jasper County benefited economically from World War II including having Camp Crowder in Neosho, Missouri. Camp Crowder was a military installation established in southern Neosho in 1941. Once the war was over, service men and women needed a place to live.
The Colonial Apartments has had three owners. The original owner, B&G Construction, dissolved when one of the partners died. In the 1970s, a new owner took over, and the third owner acquired the property in 1999. According to the 2020 census, the population was 14.7k. Carthage is about a two hour drive from Kansas City, and one hour from Springfield.
The design of the apartment complex was simple. The units were modest in size.
Architects
The architectural firm of Neville, Sharpe, and Simon was formed in 1940. The founding partner was Homer Neville. Neville was previously with the firm of Gentry, Voskamp, and Neville. That firm along with Hoit, Price, and Barnes designed the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City in the mid-1930s.
During the Depression and the War, a lot of work for Kansas City architects was government-sponsored. About 1940, defense work brought a surging demand for their services and it wasn't all in Kansas City.
Despite having been used as rental housing for more than half a century, the Colonial Apartments are little altered, and retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials, feeling, and association. (Source.)
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