Midtown Initiative · St. Joseph, Missouri
A remarkable past.
A future we build together.
Restoring a historic corridor. Strengthening a neighborhood. Inviting more people to help write its next chapter.
The place. The people. The possibility.
More than a corridor.
A community with a story.
Midtown holds some of St. Joseph’s most important cultural, architectural, and civic stories. It is also home to neighbors working together to strengthen the place they call home.
Led by longtime civic leader Gary Wilkinson, Midtown Initiative promotes neighborhood revitalization and economic development. Many of its leaders live in Midtown, bringing lived experience and a lasting connection to the work.
The Historic Corridor Project
Connecting landmarks.
Reconnecting a neighborhood.
The corridor runs from 12th to 18th Streets along Charles and Sylvanie, connecting two community assets: the 1929 Bartlett Gymnasium and the 1879 Wyeth-Tootle Mansion.
The vision is to care for the neighborhood’s infrastructure while making its history more visible and its future more inviting.
The work includes
New curbing and sidewalks
Restoration of existing brick sidewalks where possible
Improved driveway and alley approaches
Tree removal and replacement where needed
Interpretive signs sharing the corridor’s stories
Understanding the history
Investment changes
what comes next.
Parts of Midtown were shaped by redlining: practices that restricted access to home loans, insurance, and investment. Decades of disinvestment left lasting effects on housing, infrastructure, and opportunity.
Midtown Initiative brings residents, nonprofits, businesses, and civic leaders together to improve housing, support small businesses, create workforce opportunities, and encourage renewed neighborhood investment.
The people and history already here are the starting point for that work.
A living legacy
Bartlett School and Gymnasium
A landmark in the neighborhood’s educational and community story.
Booker T. Washington
His 1906 visit is part of St. Joseph’s history.
Coleman Hawkins, Kelsey Beshears, and John Lucas
Stories of music, civil rights, military service, and community leadership.
History lives here
Remembering
the Six Triple Eight.
Midtown’s history includes Georgia Tivis and the legacy of the Six Triple Eight. Their story is part of a broader history of service, resilience, and contribution that deserves to be remembered.
From historic churches and schools to homes, civic leaders, and cultural figures, the corridor gives us places to preserve and stories to carry forward.
Film artwork: The Six Triple Eight.
Fall 2026 · Community Impact Project
The next chapter
takes all of us.
On Tuesday, November 24, 2026, from 9–11 AM, The Joseph Company’s 3D Master Class cohort will clean streets and distribute door hangers that connect neighbors with the restoration effort and a future community vision gathering.
Our labor is volunteered. Sponsors support that service with gifts for kids through MidCity Excellence, Noyes Home for Children, and Voices of Courage Child Advocacy Center.
Choose one recipient or support all three equally.
Stay connected
Keep the vision moving.
Neighborhood restoration grows through people who plan, serve, collaborate, and invest. Learn how this cohort is putting leadership into action, meet the organizations helping local children, and sponsor the work.