March 7, 1872

The Mining News became the first Joplin newspaper published. Annual subscription rates were set at $2.


March 23, 1873

Joplin was officially incorporated under a charter from the state legislature of Missouri as a city of the fourth class.


May 7, 1873

The Joplin City Council established the first police department.


September 17, 1877

A. J. Blackwell builds the $15,000 Joplin Opera House at Second and Main Streets.


November 15, 1882

John B. Sergeant was granted a franchise to build a streetcar line in the city. The Joplin Street Car Company was organized with a capital of $20,000.


December 14, 1883

Joplin’s new high school was formally opened at Eighth & Joplin Streets. The first class of 13 students graduated in May 1888.


March 14, 1888

First National Bank opened for business at 411 Main Street.


January 26, 1891

The Club Theatre formally opened with a performance by Frederick Ward in “King Henry VIII.” William Howard Taft spoke there during his first campaign for president. William Jennings Bryan and Speaker of the House “Uncle Joe” Cannon politicked from the stage. Boxing heavy weight champions John L. Sullivan and “Gentleman Jim” Corbett delighted local audiences. Actors Sarah Bernhardt, John Drew and Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore were just a few who performed live on stage at the Club.


January 19, 1900

The Children’s Home, a Joplin orphanage, was created.


October 4, 1900

St. John’s Hospital was formally dedicated at the corner of 22nd and Connor Streets.


February 1, 1902

Langston Hughes , one of America’s premier poets and one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Joplin.


April 12, 1908

The Connor Hotel officially opened at Fourth & Main Streets.


October 16, 1909

Joplin Electric, Light and Power, Consolidated Light, Power and Ice, Joplin Power and Water and the Galena Light and Power companies consolidated and formed Empire District Electric Company.


June 9, 1910

Actor Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was born in Joplin. Cummings later starred in two popular syndicated television shows.


June 13, 1911

The Joplin Jasper County Courthouse at Seventh & Virginia streets was destroyed by fire.


March 12, 1912

Joplin Coca-Cola Bottling Company was incorporated with four employees and two horse-drawn wagons.


August 8, 1912

The Connor Hotel roof garden opened. Before the Connor’s demise in 1978, thousands of area residents participated in events that occurred on the famous ninth floor.


October 1, 1914

Forty-two miners were rescued after being trapped 230 feet underground when 10 acres of ground caved in at mining property near Prosperity.


October 30, 1915

Charles Schifferdecker, one of Joplin’s wealthiest and most generous citizens, died at the age of 64.


July 4, 1918

Boxing Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey knocked out Bob Devere in the first round of a match in Joplin.


May 3, 1919

Thousands of Joplin and area residents witnessed the return of the “Heroes of the Argonne” (WW I veterans) in a downtown celebration.


January 24, 1920

The movie “Alice in Wonderland” is shown to 1,200 students in the Joplin school district. It was the first motion picture shown in the schools.


August 10, 1922

The Joplin school board voted to require a scripture reading as an opening exercise in every school room.


June 4, 1924

Dennis Weaver was born in Joplin. Weaver later starred in numerous television series and motion pictures.


May 28, 1925

Dedication ceremonies were held for the new Freeman Hospital at 2008 Sergeant.


October 18, 1925

Memorial Hall was dedicated before a crowd of 2,000 people. The 4,000 seat, $250,000 structure was dedicated to veterans of war.


November 11, 1927

The Joplin Municipal Airport, first located on west Seventh Street, was dedicated. Joplin’s first flying field included 160 acres between Seventh and Thirteenth Streets.


October 28, 1928

Four of professional golf’s elite, Sir Walter Hagen, Johnny Farrell, Horton Smith and Ed Dudley played a match at Oak Hill in front of 500 spectators on a cold windy day.


November 27, 1928

The Joplin Fire Department offered its annual Thanksgiving dinner for the less fortunate of the city.


April 18, 1929

Joplin founding father John C. Cox died at the age of 84.


April 12, 1931

Commercial airline service began in Joplin. Tuxhorn Airline’s first passenger plane arrived at Joplin Municipal Airport escorted by 30 Army and commercial planes.


May 17, 1931

The Tri-State Mineral Museum opened in Schifferdecker Park in a former $12,000 concession stand from Electric Park (1909-1914)


April 13, 1933

Members of the Bonnie and Clyde gang fire on and kill Joplin detective Harry McGinnis and Newton County Constable J. W. Harryman at 3347 Oak Ridge Drive.


April 27, 1933

Flight pioneer Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne, fly in to the Joplin Airport.


September 28, 1934

The first football game at Junge Field is played as a capacity crowd of 3,500 witness a Joplin High School victory of 30-0.


October 16, 1938

Eleanor Roosevelt delivered a lecture on “Peace” at Joplin’s Memorial Hall. She was the first First Lady to visit Joplin.


February 15, 1940

Fourteen original costumes from the award winning motion picture “Gone With The Wind” are displayed at the Paramount Theatre.


August 30, 1941

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held at Camp Crowder in Neosho. The first troops arrived on December 2, 1941. Joplin played an integral role in providing food and entertainment for soldiers stationed at Camp Crowder during World War II.


May 18, 1943

Flooding strikes the area, leaving hundreds of people homeless, threatening Joplin’s water supply and washing out many of the roads and railroads. National guardsmen are called in to maintain order and assist with rescue operations.


June 3, 1945

Three time United States Open golf champion Hale Irwin was born at St. John’s Hospital.


November 27, 1946

Jazz musicians Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie performed at the Holiday Inn nightclub (32nd & Main) on the eve of Thanksgiving.


April 17, 1948

The Tri-State Drive-In opened and was equipped to handle 650 cars. It was the third drive-in theater in Missouri.


June 9, 1949

Gene Autry, America’s No. 1 singing cowboy, performed at the Children’s Home, and later gave two performances at Memorial Hall.


October 14, 1949

Adolf Hitler’s $35,000 Mercedes Benz limousine arrived in Joplin.


June 25, 1950

Joplin acquired its second drive-in, named the Crest Drive-in.


October 7, 1950

Alben Barkley, vice-president under Harry S. Truman, delivered a speech at Memorial Hall.


July 27, 1952

Hollywood comes to Joplin with the world premier showing of “On Moonlight Bay” at the Paramount Theatre. Joplin-born composer Percy Wenrich wrote the title song for the movie.


October 21, 1952

California Senator Richard M. Nixon gave a speech at Memorial Hall. Nixon came to Joplin campaign as the Vice Presidential candidate of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.


December 13, 1953

The Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri (KOAM) television station aired its first broadcast.


May 8, 1958

Ronald W. Reagan spoke at Memorial Hall at the annual banquet for the Joplin Chamber of Commerce.


October 22, 1960

Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy spoke to 15,000 area residents at the Joplin Municipal Airport, while campaigning for the United States presidency.


September 15, 1963

Oak Hill Hospital dedicated a new 43-bed facility at 34th Street and Indiana. With the opening of the new hospital, Joplin General Hospital at 521 W. Fourth Street, closed.


May 7, 1965

A special election authorized 20-year bonds to finance a new college.


February 3, 1966

Groundbreaking ceremonies began on the George A. Spiva Library building. The library was the first building on the new campus of Missouri Southern State College.


August 9, 1972

The 32 store Northpark Mall opened on North Range Line.


December 2, 1972

Missouri Southern State College won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II National Championship game at Junge Field.


March 24, 1973

The City of Joplin celebrated its 100th birthday by unveiling a new mural painted by noted artist Thomas Hart Benton.


May 11, 1973

President Richard M. Nixon declared Jasper and Newton counties a disaster area after a tornado destroyed $12,800,000 of property, killed three people and injured more than 100.


April 2, 1974

Joplin’s second Wal-Mart store opened at Eighth and Maiden Lane. Founder Sam Walton was on hand to cut the ribbon.


September 6, 1975

The 6,866 seat, Fred G. Hughes Stadium was christened at Missouri Southern State College. Hughes Stadium became the only college or university in Missouri with artificial turf.


November 12, 1978

While being prepared for demolition, the Connor Hotel at Fourth & Main Streets unexpectedly collapsed. Three workmen were trapped for more than three days. Only one survived after being trapped for 82 hours.


March 5, 1987

A new wing at Northpark Mall, including Famous-Barr, opened for business.