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Joplin

Joplin is a city located in parts of southern Jasper County and northern Newton County in the southwestern corner of Missouri. As of the 2000 census, the city has a total population of 45,504. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County (though it is not the county seat). It is the home of NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray and was the birthplace of Langston Hughes (for whom a street in the city is named). It has also been home to Jackass' Preston Lacy.

Joplin is the center of what's known as the Four State Area: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.

History
Lead was discovered in the Joplin Creek Valley before the Civil War, but it was only after the war that any real development occurred. By 1873 numerous mining camps had sprung up in the valley and resident John C. Cox filed a plan for a city on the east side of the valley.

Cox named his village Joplin City after the spring and creek nearby. The namesake comes from the Reverend Harris G. Joplin who founded the first Methodist congregation in the area in mid-century. Carthage resident Patrick Murphy filed a plan for a city on the opposite side of the valley and named it Murphysburg. The cities eventually merged into Union City, but this merger was found illegal and the two cities split. They merged again, this time permanently, a short time later as the City of Joplin.