This rendering from Dake Wells Architecture shows how the proposed Gohn Hall at Missouri State University-West Plains will look from West Main Street.
WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Thanks to a major gift commitment, Missouri State University will be able to complete its No. 1 capital priority: renovation of Gohn Hall. The gift that made the project possible came from the family who originally donated the home: longtime West Plains banker David Gohn and his sister, longtime public educator Virginia Gohn Sapp of St. Louis, Mo.
Renovation of Gohn Hall, expected to cost approximately $2.5 million, will be bid this fall, with construction to begin in the spring of 2012. The renovated facility is expected to open in time for classes in fall 2013. Once completed, the building will provide a permanent home for Missouri State University’s Academic Outreach Program, which offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs on the West Plains campus.
Missouri State University System Interim President Clif Smart made the announcement today (Sept. 14). The gift will be coupled with university monies from both the Springfield and West Plains campuses to complete the estimated $2.5 million project.
With the renovation of Gohn Hall, it will be easier than ever before for students in the West Plains area to complete a bachelor’s or master’s degree without leaving their home. They can complete the associate degree at Missouri State-West Plains and then complete the four-year program via distance learning technology in Gohn Hall.
“This facility has been needed on our campus for a long time, and I would like to thank Elizabeth Grisham, our director of development, for her work on this important initiative,” Missouri State-West Plains Chancellor Drew Bennett said. “The university has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, growth we expect to continue well into the future. This is especially true with distance learning technologies, from online classes to interactive television. Renovation of Gohn Hall will allow us to enhance those capabilities for our students.”
Bennett said the bidding process will begin immediately, with plans to award a contract in three to four months. “This project will be of the size and scope that local contractors will be able to bid on it,” he added.
Gohn and Sapp donated their family’s home at 603 W. Main St. to the Missouri State University Foundation in June 2000 in an effort to enhance the educational opportunities for area residents, as well as preserve the prominent masonry structure, Bennett said. The home was transferred, with the Board of Governors’ approval, to Missouri State-West Plains for use by the Academic Outreach Program to administer its bachelor’s and master’s degree completion programs locally.
Plans to renovate the existing structure to accommodate counseling, advisement and administrative offices for Academic Outreach, as well as construct a six-classroom addition to the building, were included in the university’s Facilities Reutilization Plan (FREUP). FREUP was included in the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative approved by the Missouri General Assembly, but it was one of the projects that ultimately was not funded.
The Gohns’ ties to education, particularly public education, are strong ones. Sapp spent 34 years as an educator and administrator in the public education system, finishing her career as an elementary school principal in the Kirkwood School District, which is recognized by the Missouri Board of Education as one of the top districts in St. Louis County and the state. Gohn served on the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) from 1982 to 1987, including two years as the board’s chairman. In addition, the family has been a strong supporter of academic programs at Missouri State-West Plains for many years, providing funding for the media room in the Garnett Library, donations to the annual auction, and a West Plains Bank and Trust Company scholarship.
“Virginia and I are gratified that after many years this project is moving forward,” Gohn said. “We are pleased that our family home will be integrated into the new building for the enhancement of higher education. More importantly, we are excited that the building project is of a scope and size that will allow local contractors and laborers to bid on it. Above all, we are pleased with the presence of the University and the positive impact for opportunities it brings to this community and the surrounding area.”
“My brother and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the West Plains campus and the continued education of future generations,” Sapp said. “We believe that our parents and grandparents would be very pleased that our family home will be incorporated into a facility where students can further their education and can obtain their bachelor’s and master’s degrees.”
The home was built in 1928 by Gohn and Sapp’s grandparents, B.F. and Eva Arnold Wood. Ownership passed to Gohn and Sapp’s parents, Dan and Dorothy Wood Gohn, then to Gohn, his wife, Billie Kay, and Sapp in 1994 upon the death of Dan Gohn.