Historic Murphysburg
John C. & Sarah Cox Homestead
The 1866 brick home and surviving family landscape of Joplin City founder John Chandler Cox, including the Cox family cemetery.
At a Glance
- Address
- 615 E Persimmon Street, Joplin, Missouri 64801
- Year Built
- 1866 brick residence; earlier log homestead
- Architectural Style
- Early brick vernacular residence and agricultural landscape
- Current Use
- Private residence and family homestead
- Public Access
- Private residence
- Preservation Status
- Standing
- District / Designation
- Cox Homestead; identified cultural landscape in the Joplin Historic Preservation Plan
Please enjoy this place from public rights-of-way and respect current residents.
Story
The Cox Homestead preserves an exceptional link to Joplin’s settlement years. John Chandler Cox arrived in the area with his family in 1838 and established a farm near Joplin Creek. An earlier log residence stood on the property before Cox constructed the surviving brick house in 1866. The landscape still includes open ground and the Cox family cemetery, retaining evidence of the site’s nineteenth-century agricultural character.
Lead had been discovered in the Joplin Creek valley before the Civil War, including on Cox’s land. After the war, mining intensified. Cox leased acreage to miners, including Elliot Moffet and John B. Sergeant, whose 1870 discovery shaft helped trigger Joplin’s great mining boom.
In 1871, Cox laid out Joplin City on the east side of the valley. Across the creek, Patrick Murphy promoted Murphysburg. The rival settlements briefly joined as Union City, separated when that merger proved illegal, and then permanently incorporated together as Joplin on March 23, 1873. Because of his town plat and early civic role, Cox is remembered as the “Father of Joplin City.” The homestead remains in private ownership; please respect the property and do not enter without permission.