Martin Spring Store & Springhouse

Martin Spring Rd, Martin Spring, MO
Phone:

East < GO > West

In the 1920's William Richard "Bill" and Emma Martin built this two story building that served both as a home upstairs and store and gas station downstairs. There were gas pumps out front and a few cabins out back. They also operated the little stone springhouse next door. The store was converted to a home when I-44 opened.

GPS: 37.937914,-91.827252

In the late 1930s and early 1940s local school and other baseball teams would play on the Martin Spring field", which must have been nearby. Bill Martin also ran an Oldsmobile dealership "west of Rolla on 66" in the early 1940s, exactly how far west is still mystery to me, but newspaper ads mentioned 2-1/5 miles..

It's hard to see in this photo with the leaves out in full, but an old house is peeking from behind the store.

The small stone springhouse was rebuilt in the 1950s after a car crashed into it. It's a modest looking building, but it reportedly housed a pretty large spring. The 1930s WPA Guide to 1930s Missouri mentions the springhouse and the spring which it reports flowed 840,000 gallons per day, most of which found it's way into the Little Beaver Creek a short distance away. An old photo shows a large "Martin Spring" sign on top of the springhouse.

It wasn't until after the Martins moved in that the area and the spring became known as Martin Spring. Before that the spring was known as Sycamore Spring according to old newspaper clippings etc.

There are a pair of out houses left standing back near the woods on the east side of the property.

Photo(s): 2017, 2018, 2023