Street cars

Alfred H. Rogers started a two-mile mule car line in the 1880s then electrified it in 1893 and established the Southwest Missouri Electric Railway Company. The electric interurban system was proclaimed the finest in this part of the country. The railway provided inter-urban service, with runs every thirty minutes between Carthage and Galena, Kansas, as well as routes to all sections of Joplin.

Typical fare was one and a fourth cent per mile; the one hour and ten minute trip from Joplin to Carthage cost 25 cents. Area residents used the trolley system to get to work, to go shopping, and to go play at Lakeside Park, Castle Rock, or Schifferdecker Park on weekends and summer evenings. As private ownership of motor vehicles increased in the early 20th century, streetcar patronage died out and the company ended service in 1936. The last of the old tracks, which ran down the center of Joplin streets, was removed in 1939.