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In 1871, John C. Cox, a Tennessean who had settled in the area in the late 1830s, laid Gout a seventeen-acre town site on a rise east of Joplin Creek. He christened his new town “Joplin City,” memorializing the Rev. Harris G. Joplin, a Methodist missionary who had also ssettled in the area in the 1830s. The same year, Patrick Murphy, Elliot Moffet, and W. P. Davis acquired forty acres on the west side of Joplin Creek and laid out Murphysburg. Both of the settlements grew rapidly and in 1872 merged to create Union City, a name which was short-lived since in 1873 the state legislature re-defined the municipal boundaries of Union City and chartered the reconstituted settlement as Joplin.

JOPLIN IS BORN MARCH 23, 1873! 

Information from “A History of Jasper County and its People” chapter XVIII, published in 1912 by Joel Thomas Livingston.

January, 1873, found the two towns without a local government, save the constable and justice of the peace, and both East and West Joplin immediately took steps towards establishing a municipality. 

At a special meeting of the county court, held January 11, 1873, two towns were organized-Joplin, including the territory east of the creek, and Murphysburg, that portion which was west of the little stream that divided the two towns. 

The board of trustees of Joplin (East Town) comprised the following members: John Allington, J. A. Thompson, J. W. Clehouse, Lee Taylor and P. A. Luster. John Allington was elected president of the board, and G. D. Jackson was appointed clerk, D. P. Ballard, attorney and F. L. Thompson, treasurer. 

The trustees of Murphysburg were E. R. Moffet, D. M. Breazeale, J. C. Gaston, J. H. McCoy and John S. Workizer. G. D. Orner was appointed attorney, J. W. Lupton, marshal, M. W. Stafford, treasurer and C. J. G. Workizer, clerk.

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JOPLIN’S BIRTHDAY 

Hon. John H. Taylor and T. M. Dorsey presented the draft to the general assembly then in session and C. C. Alien of Carthage, state senator from the district, lent valuable aid in securing its passage. The bill became a law March 23, 1873, and from that date Joplin legally dates its birth. 

At the date of its incorporation Joplin had approximately four thousand inhabitants. To give an idea of its continued growth, we mention that during January and February four more smelters had been built, making seventeen lead furnaces then running at full blast both day and night. Up to that time no streets had been graded, or sidewalks built, and the general contour of the town was as nature had made it. In fact, like ancient Rome, Joplin sat upon its seven hills; but here the similarity ends, for there was no great Appian way or massive palaces of marble and bronze-only the well-beaten roads which necessity had made and a thousand or more small box-houses and tents.

UNION MOVEMENT STARTED 

During the meantime, however, a movement was launched to secure a special charter from the legislature and incorporate the two towns as one, many of the people feeling that as in “union there is strength,” so, as the interests of the two towns were similar, better results could be obtained if all worked in harmony for the same ends. Accordingly a mass meeting was called to talk over the matter of incorporation and a united and better Joplin. 

Pat Murphy, the father of Murphysburg, suggested that the united city should be called Joplin, thus yielding gracefully to the east side the sentiment of a name. The following committee was appointed to draft a proposed charter: 

East Joplin-J. A. C. Thompson, John Allington, Lee Taylor, P. A. Luster, J. W. Clehouse and John H. Taylor. Murphysburg-E. R. Moffet, J. H. McCoy, J. C. Gaston, J. S. Workizer, D. I. Breazeale and P. Murphy. The committee employed Judge I. W. Davis put in form their ideas relative to the government of the city and he drafted the law which gave Joplin its corporate power. 

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Save the East Joplin school building, a brick store on Broadway and the unfinished Cumberland Presbyterian church, all of the buildings were of wood. It will be seen, therefore, that the officers who were to assume the reins of government had a mighty task. They must bring order out of chaos and give to the good citizens protection; they must grade the streets, beautify the town and devise ways and means for the accomplishment of these great objects. 

The first officers of the new Joplin were appointed by the governor and he very appropriately named E. R. Moffet, one of the men who sunk the first shaft, as mayor. J. A. C. Thompson, Lee Taylor, J. H. McCoy and J. C. Gaston was named as councilmen. The other officers were: J. W. Lupton, marshal; I. W. Davis, police judge; G. D. Orner, city attorney; Philo Thompson, treasurer and T. A. McClelland, city assessor. These officers held until October 14th (the second Tuesday), when the first general election occurred. 

THE SPIRIT OF JOPLIN

The following article, published in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 14th, very correctly presents the condition in Joplin as they existed at the time of the incorporation:

The memorial which has been prepared for presentation to the Legislature, to secure the incorporation of the towns of Murphysburg and Joplin, illustrates better than anything else the rapid development of the lead-mining district of which these towns are the center. Murphysburg and Joplin are two thriving hamlets situated in the southwestern part of Jasper county. They are divided only by a narrow gulch, the valley of a mineral washing stream, and for all practical purposes are one town. Jealousy over the name, and a struggle for priority of location, have, however, divided them, and to some extent injured their prosperity. By an overwhelming vote, these differences have now been buried, and as soon as the Legislature responds favorably to the petition for incorporation-which we hope will be at an early day there will be one city with a single and harmonious government. Within the Joplin mining district, which is less than two miles square, there has, in a short space of fifteen months, grown up a settlement of more than five thousand permanent inhabitants, besides a large transient population. The reason of the rapid growth of the towns appears from the fact that, while the entire amount of pig lead received in St. Louis for the year 1872, from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and all Missouri, except Joplin, was about $19,000,000, the yield of Joplin alone was $6,000,000, or nearly one-third of the entire receipts. In addition to this, new mines are being opened, old ones worked deeper, and richer and more extensive deposits of the ore are being found. It is therefore reasonably expected that the products of these mines for the year 1873 will reach from $16,000,000, to $18,000,000, which will be a yield of at least one-half of the lead shipped to St. Louis, the great lead market of the United States, from four of the largest lead-producing States in the Union. Outside of this famous “Joplin district,” and within a radius of five miles, taking the two towns as the center, there are not less than ten mines whose lead is now being taken in paying quantities. 

This exhibit is not only interesting as an indication of what has already been accomplished, but is of incalculable worth as an example to other localities where the natural advantages are equally as great, but which lack the pluck and the industry that have been the conspicuous characteristics of the Joplinites. The latter have worked under more than ordinary disadvantages. The tract is shut in from the railroads and from the productive gardens by a wide belt of gloomy, sterile land. The people have lacked capital all along, and they lack it now. They need it to open the yet untouched mineral land; they need money to bring in more steam engines for pumping purposes, to enable poor miners, who have rich prospects, to work their claims to an advantage below the water line; they should have and at once, a white-lead factory in the midst of the mines to consume the lead produced to save the enormous sum annually paid for transportation; they need ready funds to erect dwellings for labors, and to carry out a dozen other enterprises, for the lack of which the city suffers. But while they have lacked the capital they have possessed abundant nerve, and this has pulled them through. It is reasonable to expect that within a few years Joplin will be one of the wealthiest communities in Missouri. 

A score of other counties in this State need to be Joplinized. There is lead elsewhere, there is coal ready to be mined, there are acres upon acres of iron waiting to be coaxed from its half-hiding places, and the exhaustless deposits of rare ores which would richly repay development. 

E. R. Moffet, the first mayor of Joplin, at the date of his induction into the executive chair was in the prime of life. He was a man of vigorous action and thought and naturally acted quickly. Having seen the city grow from its infancy, he was greatly attached to its people and its industries. He strove to execute the law in such a manner that the town would be morally uplifted, and, at the same time appreciating the conditions which surround the mining industry, tempered justice with mercy. During his administration the foundation was laid for a number of public improvements, among them the organization of a fire department, the establishment of a system of street improvements and the devising a plan for raising public funds, which was perhaps at this time After passing ordinances relative to disturbances of the peace and general welfare of the city, the first great task was to provide for its finances.

MAIN STREET IN WEST JOPLIN GRAVELED 

The first street in Joplin to be worked was Main street in West Joplin, During the summer of 1873 the property owners petitioned the city council to grade and gravel Main street. The work was paid for by popular subscriptions, Messrs. P. Murphy and E. D. Porter each gave one hundred dollars toward the enterprise.

JOPLIN AND GALENA TOWNSHIPS 

In May, 1873, the county court redistricted the county into municipal townships and the city of Joplin was divided, East Joplin being in Dubuque, later Joplin township, and West Joplin in Galena township. The dividing line between the two townships was the alley east of Main street in West Joplin. This arrangement caused great excitement in West Joplin, for the reason that at least one-third of the population of that place was in the east side township. To settle the controversy the county court visited Joplin and, after viewing the situation and seeing the conditions, changed the boundary line to Joplin creek. 

MINING AND SMELTING 

During 1873 seventeen lead smelters were operated, three of them being neutral smelters purchasing the lead in the open market. The following were the principal smelters: Moffet & Sergeant, Joplin Creek valley. 

Davis & Murphy, A and Joplin; then a well defined valley and on either side a branch, which after a good rain swelled to the dignity of a creek. 

J. M. & S. Co.’s smelters, Kansas City Bottom; just east of the big hill where now is the residence of Chris Guergerich. Corn & Thompson, neutral smelter; furnace and railway at East Joplin. Hannibal L. & Z. Co., at the head of the Pitcher ditch. Dorsey & Porter, at foot of Swindle hill. Granby smelter, Lone Elm. 

The Pitcher Furnace between Swindle hill and Parr hill. The Lone Elm Mining Co., smelter; now the White Lead Works. West Joplin L. & Z. Co.; afterward the zinc works. In the fall of 1873 there was a slight decline in the ore market, due to the panic and general business depression, and lead took a slump from five to seven cents per pound. This was a great blow to the miners and, with the high cost of living, royalty and pump rent, many miners threatened to quit. 

The Pitchers were the first to relieve the situation and, with the far sighted and liberal business policy which has characterized them in their dealing with the miners from the first, they reduced the royalty on their land and pumped the water from the mines free. The other companies quickly followed suit and in an incredibly short time mining conditions were normal and the work of developing the district went merrily on.

ZINC 

Early in the spring of 1873 C. F. Mugge, zinc buyer of LaSalle, Illinois, visited Joplin and urged the miners to pay more attention to the mining of “jack” and to save that which was being thrown out on the dump piles. He bought a small quantity of zinc at $5.00 per ton, but the price paid was a small inducement to the miners and little attention was paid to it until the fall of the year when Chris Guenerich, representing Matthiessen & Hegeler, and John Immel, agent for the Illinois Zinc Company, appeared in the field and a sharp competition for the blende was begun. Mr. Guenerich raised the price of zinc for first-class ore to nine dollars per ton and immediately the jack in the dump piles, which before had “looked like thirty cents,” figuratively speaking, now was much sought for and it may properly be said with the coming of Messrs. Guenerich & Immel the zinc industry of Jasper county came into prominence.

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OPENING OF EAST JOPLIN SCHOOLS 

The new schoolhouse was completed in the middle of January, 1873. and was formally opened and dedicated January 21st by appropriate exercises. G. D. Jackson acted as chairman of the meeting and after invocation by Rev. Gutton, agent of the Congregational Home Missionary Society, remarks were made by U. B. Webster (county superintendent) J. A. C. Thompson, John H. Taylor, John C. Cox, D. P. Ballard and Professor Dickey, of the Carthage schools, who made the address of the evening. S. B. Ormsby, who had been selected by the board to be principal of the school, read an original poem depicting the life and activities of the mining town. A supper which was served by the ladies of East Joplin, for the purpose of purchasing desks for the school, netted $102.50.

THE BANK OF JOPLIN 

In May, 1873, Messrs. Moffet & Sergeant and W. F. Botkins, a banker at Baxter Springs, organized the Bank of Joplin, E. R. Moffet was chosen as president and W. F. Botkins, cashier. Ralph Muir, the iceman, was the first depositor. This bank continued in business until the early ‘eighties, when the Miners’ Bank absorbed the holdings of this institution. 

The establishment of the Bank of Joplin gave to the west side better facilities for the transaction of business and at this particular time played a most important part, for it saved Joplin from the financial disaster which swept the country generally in the panic of 1873. The Bank of Joplin accepted at par the script which the city had issued and also established a sort of a credit due bill which served as a medium of exchange. To illustrate: When the money went out of sight the companies were forced to give due bills in part payment for the ore; these due bills were accepted as cash at the bank, and on these credits, drafts were sold, checks honored and the business of the community carried on. 

Another simple medium of facilitating trade was as follows: The miners had the lead and at this time the ore had a fixed value, five cents per pound. Every merchant had a lead box in his store and accepted small quantities of lead ore in payment for groceries, clothing and other necessaries. To illustrate: Mr. Jones, a miner, wanted to buy half a dollar’s worth of sugar; he brought ten pounds of mineral to the store and thus paid for it. The grocer dumped this, with other mineral, into his ore box, and when he had 1,000 pounds or more sold it to one of the smelters and received in payment a check on the bank which he deposited and took credit for; and thus it happened that while all over the state and country fortunes were swept away, Joplin grew and prospered. 

THE FIRST CITY ELECTION 

On Tuesday, October 14, 1873, the first election for officers under the new charter took place, and, although non-political, was hotly contested, some thirty candidates being in the field for the several offices to be filled. In the early days of the city, and until 1889, the political parties did not make nominations. There was an open field and the people voted for their personal friends, or for the man who, in their judgment, was best fitted for the place. 

The contest for mayor was very close and resulted in the election of Lee Taylor. Mr. Taylor was a mining superintendent and exceedingly popular with the people of East Joplin. Mr. Moffet was also much loved by the people of the west side. East Joplin voted almost solidly for Taylor and West Joplin almost solidly for Moffet. Lone Elm decided the fate of the day by casting a few more votes for Taylor than Moffet, and thus according to him the honor of being the first elected mayor of Joplin. Mr. Taylor made a vigorous executive and gave much of his time to the city. During the troublesome times of the Lupton riot, he stood firm, and, emulating the general he followed during the Civil war, stood like a stone-wall and held back the angry mob. Business conditions arose during the latter part of his administration which demanded his full time and he resigned before the close of the term. Councilman J. H. McCoy, of the Second ward, filled out the unexpired term. 

Lee Taylor

E.R Moffet

J. W. McAntire, the city attorney, was elected by the largest majority of any of the candidates, defeating four aspirants for the place. An incident is told relative to this campaign which shows how the miners of the early day, and for that matter those of the present, always help the young men of the legal profession who are struggling to rise. When J. W. McAntire first came to Joplin he took desk-room with D. P. Ballard and attended to the little odds and ends of the law business which came to the office. When East Joplin was organized as a town in January, 1873, many of the friends of J. W. McAntire, then just admitted to the bar and a promising young lawyer, suggested his name for attorney of the new town and Mr. Ballard, in whose office Mr. McAntire had his desk, volunteered to present Mr. McAntire’s name to the town board. With that modesty which had always characterized Mr. McAntire, he kept in the background and as the politicians say “put himself in the hands of his friends.” When the board met Mr. Ballard suggested Mr. McAntire’s name, but when one of the board called attention to Mr. McAntire’s youth and inexperience, in place of setting forth the energy and studiousness of his protege, he arose and said it was true that Mr. McAntire had no experience and was as yet an “untried neophyte” and that if the board thought, in their wisdom, that an older head was more to be desired, he would take the appointment. 

The next day when Mr. McAntire learned how his friend had taken from him the plum, he moved his office to another building and began the practice of law on his own hook and depended entirely on his own resources. When the story went round among the boys John McAntire’s stock rose and likewise his law practice, and so at the election of 1873 the citizens, by an overwhelming vote, expressed their confidence in the young attorney. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, to which Mr. McAntire belonged, also voted for him almost to a man.

CHURCHES IN 1873

On Sunday, February 2, 1873, Rev. Gutton, of the Congregational Church Extension Society, preached in Joplin and began laying the foundation for a Congregational church. Mr. Gutton labored in and around Joplin the greater part of the year, preaching at the homes of members of his congregation or in public halls when they could be secured. A church organization was not effected, however, until 1876, a mention of which will be made in the chapter on the Middle ‘Seventies. 

The First Presbyterian church of Joplin was organized in East Joplin in December, 1873. The officiating minister was the Rev. Benjamin F. Powelson. The organization was effected in a little hall located on Mineral street. There were eleven corporate members of whom we are able at this writing to name the following: John H. Taylor, Mr. J. W. and Mrs. Della Gordon, Mr. H. A. and Mrs. M. A. Clippenger, Mrs. A. V. Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Adkins.

Mrs. A. V. Allen is the only charter member now alive, and has been a most faithful worker in the church. For twenty-five consecutive years, save one, she was the president of the Ladies Society and during the thirty-eight years of the church’s existence has been a regular attendant at its services

John H. Taylor did much for the church in a financial way, and when the clouds hung dark over the little congregation always found a way to tide them over the rough seas of financial disaster. 

The minister placed in charge of the new church was ‘Squire Glascock. He was commissioned by the Board of Home Missions and occupied the place for about three years. 

About the time of the organization of the Presbyterian Society the people of the Methodist Church South built a house of worship in East Joplin at the corner of John and Hill streets. Not being able to pay for it, Mr. Taylor bought a half interest and presented it to the Presbyterian church. The two denominations occupied the building jointly, holding services alternate Sundays until 1876. 

The church building, which was used jointly by the South Methodists and Presbyterians, was a very pretty little church and stood on the northern slope of the East Joplin hill on John street. It was furnished with pews and appropriate church furniture. After the Cumberland Presbyterian church disposed of its edifice to the West Joplin school district, most of the members of that denomination joined the first church and affiliated with them.