Steve Pokin

SPOKIN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Hey Answer Man! I was hoping you could answer a question I have been wondering about. Why is it called the Plaza Towers building when it is just one building. Can you bring some illumination? — Daniel Harrington, of Springfield

Good point. It would be like submitting a question to the Answer Men.

The answer is that there is no good explanation, says Rick Welker, who for 18 years has been the general manager of the 10-story building at Glenstone Avenue and East Sunshine Road.

The building was constructed in 1969 and 1970, Welker says.

“We do not know why,” he says. “It was never designed or permitted for a second building.”

The only possible explanation is that — when first built — there was additional land to the south of the current location, he says.

When built, it was called the Jefferson Trust Building, according to News-Leader stories.

The building was purchased in 1973 by Errett Sechler, a Springfield man who developed and managed six Holiday Inns in the western United States.

Our archives here at the paper include a press release from when Sechler bought the building.

It states: “From this date forward, the Jefferson National Trust Building will be known as Plaza Towers.”

But people were already calling the building Plaza Towers before Sechler bought it, according to Welker. Sechler liked the name and kept it.

Keep those questions coming. Send them to The Answer Man at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806. These are the views of Steve Pokin, the News-Leader's columnist.