Jasper County, Missouri - Chapter 17: Founding of Joplin, 1912

Chapter 17: Founding of Joplin

The FmsT Settlers - Blytheville Postoppice - John C. Cox - First Mining at Joplin - Mr. Cox Plats Joplin - Rev. Harris Joplin - The Franklin School - Moppet and Sergeant - ^First Newspaper Mention - Town op Joplin Platted - ^Murphysburg, or West Joplin - Clark Craycropt Arrives - ^First Meal at Joplin 's Hotel - ^Murphysburg Makes Rapid Growth - Joplin-Murphysburg (Spring op 72) - Joplin as a Mining Camp - The ** Reign op Ter- ROR^' - The Man op the Hour - Union City - Early Legislation - Dissolution - ^Lone Elm - Early Newspapers - Postoppice for Union City - Joplin 's First ** Fourth op July'' - The Miners' Union - First Odd Fellows' Lodge^ - First Election - Organization op Schools - School op West Joplin - East Joplin Literary Society - ^First Church - The M. E. Church South - St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church - The African M. E. Church - Joplin AND Baxter Stage Line - Amusement Halls - Race Track - ^Value op Zinc Discovered.

The city of Joplin covers an area of seventeen and one half square miles and has grown from half a dozen families (who resided in the territory now covered by the city in 1870) to thirty-five thousand inhabitants at this writing.

The history of Joplin properly begins with the coming of Moffet & Sergeant, but before we take up the narrative of the events which followed the digging of the first shaft in the Joplin Creek valley, we will mention a few of the happenings which occurred before the advent of these gentlemen.

In 1838 John C. Cox settled on Turkey creek and homesteaded a half section of land where he began to farm. In 1841 he built a home near the present site of the old Cox homestead which is prominently located in the northeastern portion of the city on a picturesque eminence, which was called by the first settlers Wig Hill. In connection with his farm Mr. Cox also conducted a general store and built a log store building near his home. It was in this store where the first postoflSce in the western part of the county was kept.

In 1840 the people who lived in the western portion of the country of the Six Bulls petitioned the government to establish a i>08toffice at some point on Turkey creek for the accommodation of the settlers living between Spring river and School creek. The nearest i>08toffice then was Sarcoxie. After many overtures the postal authorities agreed to establish an oflSce, provided the people would bear the cost of the same, as the business would not pay the expense of its maintenance and the carrier who would have to bring the mail from Sarcoxie.

John C. Cox agreed to serve the people gratis and was, accordingly, on the 17th day of January, 1841, commissioned postmaster of the new ofl&ce, which was christened Blytheville in honor of Billy Blythe, a wealthy Cherokee Indian who resided on Shoal creek and who was noted far and wide for his integrity and fair dealing. The government al-

The Blytheville postoffice was maintained, excepting during the war, until 1872, when the name was changed to Union City and moved to Murphysburg (West Joplin).

Until the Civil war mail was brought from Sarcoxie and later from Carthage, once a week, and the arrival of the mail carrier was an event which brought to Blytheville the farmers for miles around. During these three decades Mr. Cox was the central figure around which the business and social interests of the community revolved and we present here a brief sketch of his life.

of eight years young Cox moved with his parents to Tennessee and grew to manhood on the farm. In 1828 his father was elected sheriff of Jackson county, Tennessee, and held the position for six years. During the last three years of his term Mr. Cox, then having reached his majority, served as deputy.

Mr. Cox was married in 1837 to Miss Sarah Mercer and shortly after the marriage emigrated to Missouri, locating in Jasper county and making the long journey overland in company with a party of Tennesseeans.

When Center Creek township was organized, in 1841, Mr. Cox was appointed one of the two justices of peace and filled the position for many years. In 1850, on discovering the value of the land in the Joplin Creek vaUey, Mr. Cox entered and perfected the title to a section of land and on this the first mining of the original town of Joplin was done. In 1852 Mr. Cox filled the office of county surveyor.

During the war, although a slave holder, Mr. Cox was loyal to the Union and took no part in the conflict. But it was almost impossible to live in Jasper county and be neutral during the war and in 1863, after having been burned out by one of the many raiding parties he moved to Neosho and remained there until the close of hostilities, when he returned to the old homestead. In 1870 Mr. Cox leased a tract of land to Messrs. Moffet & Sergeant for mining purposes and from the royalties on the lead taken from his ground amassed a considerable fortune.

In July, 1871, Mr. Cox platted the original town of Joplin and thus took the first steps toward making the young mining camp a permanent town. In 1875 he was elected one of the judges of the county court and made a high reputation for his honesty and fair dealing.

In 1839 the Rev. Harris Joplin, a Methodist minister, came to Jasper county from Greene county and built a cabin where now stands the Joplin Children's Home. There he entered about eighty acres of land lying on either side of the little stream which wends its way from the big Springs down to Joplin creek, which took its name because its headwaters ran through the reverend gentleman's farm (the course of Joplin creek at its head was changed by the digging of Picher's ditch). The Reverend Joplin organized at his cabin a Methodist church and conducted services here on Sundays until 1845, when he returned to Greene county, where he died in 1847, ignorant of the fact that his name and deeds would be perpetuated in the history of the great mining industry of Jasper county.

In 1870, when the mining activities of Joplin were commenced, the district extended from Pilot Grove (now Mount Hope Cemetery) on the north to the county line on the south, and from Harmony Grove on the east to where Schiflferdecker Park is now on the west. This old log building, although like most of the pioneer schools poorly furnished and without modern conveniences, housed a sturdy class of pupils, was presided over by a number of good master« and sent out into the world a number of boys and girls who have achieved success. The following are some of the boys and girls who there learned their three R's: John C. Cox, Jr., capitalist ; B. P. Cox, attorney and retired capitalist ; Mrs. Alex

Campbell (nee Josie Cox) who was, by the way, the champion speller of the school; Mrs. Dr. Blackwell (nee Sadie Cox) ; W. S. Taylor, ex-county assessor and James Turk, Villa Heights booster.

During the spring of 1870 J. Morris Young, superintendent of the Grandby Company at Oronogo, offered a reward of five hundred dollars to the miner or company of miners who should mine the most lead from any one shaft during the four months from March 4th to July 4th, inclusive. E. R. Moflfet and John B. Sergeant won the prize. With this five hundred dollars for a capital they leased a ten-acre tract of land from John C. Cox in the Joplin Creek valley and commenced mining for themselves.

Messrs. Moffet and Serjeant pitched their tent in the Joplin Creek valley in August, 1870. Their first shaft was put down about five hundred feet north of the Broadway bridge over Joplin creek and after several weeks of prospecting, during which time their money was about all expended, they struck a fine body of ore. It is told by old timers that the shot which opened up this rich pocket of lead was borrowed, their stock of powder being exhausted.

The news of the Moflfet and Sergeant strike spread over the neighborhood and soon a dozen miners were prospecting in the Joplin Creek valley and the little camp which sprang up na^nrally was called Joplin.

The Moflfet and Sergeant strike proved te be a rich one and they soon erected a smelter to smelt their lead, the melted product having a more ready sale than the raw material. The smelter was built near their first mine and not far from the site of the new Union depot.

January 1, 1871, saw about twenty prospectors in the Joplin Creek valley and by August, one year after the first strike, it was estimated that there were five hundred people in the camp, most of whom were men.

In its issue of June 22, 1871, the Carthage Banner makes this first mention of the new camp: ** There is a new town in Jasper county. Its name is Joplin and it is located fourteen miles southwest of Carthage on the farm of J. C. Cox. It has lead in unlimited quantities under it. Everybody out of employment ought to go there and dig. That is better than doing nothing and it may lead to fortune.''

This first mention of the new bonanza attracted the attention of many and in an incredibly short time Joplin was a red-hot camp, the Creek valley being literally filled with tents and small-box houses.

Seeing the richness of the mines on his farm and realizing the commercial value of a permanent town, John C. Cox decided to lay out a small town and platted on the hill, just east of the mining activities, the original town of Joplin. The plat was filed for record July 28, 1871, and lots were at once placed upon the market. The first lot was bought by Henry Blockwell, lot No. 5, block 2, northwest comer of Cox and Central avenue, on which he built a dwelling house. The lot is now owned by P. L. Crossraan and the house, which was remodeled in 1887 by Chancellor Livingston, the owner at that time, is one of the prettiest in East Joplin.

During the month of July, 1871, Patrick Murphy of Carthage organized the Murphysburg Town Company, consisting of himself, his partner, W. P. Davis, C. W. Elliott and wife of Oronogo, and William Byers. A forty-acre tract of land on the hill west of the creek was purchased and a town laid out and platted. The town west of the creek was called Murphysburg. In August Murphy & Davis commenced the erection of a store, corner of First and Main streets and there opened up a general store on the completion of their building.

The field notes and the survey of Murphysburg were completed the 1st of September and the plat filed for record on September 4, 1871. The first lot in Murphysburg was sold to H. Geldmacher, better known among the miners as '* Moneymaker" - lot No. 4 on Main street, between First and Second, on which he erected a building which he used for a bakery and lunch room.

The following story is told about the sale of the first lot in Murphysburg. The lines were run by the surveyor, E. Lloyd, during the latter part of July, but the field notes and plat were not put in form until the latter part of August. As soon as the lines were run and a blue print of the new town made, lots were placed on the market and a number of

On the 4th day of August Mr. Murphy and John S. Reynolds were at work putting up a store building at the southwest comer of Main and First, when Mr. Geldmacher, with three wagon loads of household furniture, baking utensils and confectionery stock, drove up and in broken German inquired for Mr. Murphy. Mr. Murphy asked what he wanted and on being informed by Mr. Geldmacher that he wanted to buy a lot, came down off the scaffold and showed him the blue print which had just been completed. They walked off to the south of the store a few feet and Mr. Geldmacher selected his lot and paid the price agreed upon. Returning to his teams he drove his effects to the lot and began unloading. As soon as the wagons were unloaded, Mr. Geldmacher began building a bakeoven and after it was completed mixed a batch of bread and put in a bake. In the meantime, he put up a tent and lived in this until his house was built. Lumber for a two-story structure was purchased and carpenters were set to work to build a house which was to be used as a restaurant and bakery.

Clark Craycroft ate the first meal in the new hotel and relates the following interesting story about his first trip to Joplin : In June, 1871, Mr. Craycroft was graduated from the State University at Columbia and was casting about to settle into some business or profession. A friend of his in Cooper county had inherited a farm in Jasper county near the present site of Carl Junction and was coming out to see it. He asked Mr. Craycroft to come with him on the trip. The drive overland from Cooper county to Jasper took five days and they came to the

Spring river country about the early part of August. One morning, about the middle of the month, he started out with his rifle for a hunt, hoping to scare up a deer. At that time Mr. Craycroft had never heard of Joplin. He walked along the Center Creek prairie where he came to the old Manlove ford and, taking off his shoes and stockings, waded across the creek and came out in the woods south of the stream, walking south half a mile or so. Beaching the prairie between Center and Turkey creeks, partly from curiosity and partly because he thought that he could scare up a turkey, he crossed it and came to Turkey creek. The water being shallow, he crossed and pushed on to the south, making his way up the valley now used by the Kansas City Southern Railway Company for their tracks, came into the Kansas City Bottom and there discovered Joplin, which at that time was in the Joplin Creek valley. He walked on up through the mines and met John B. Sergeant at the old shaft where he and Mr. Moffet had first struck lead. He had a pleasant

Mr. Craycroft inquired of Mr. Sergeant a place to get his dinner and was informed that Mr. ** Money-maker'' was building a bakery and restaurant up on the hill. Arriving at '* Money-maker's" place, he found that the building was not yet completed, or the furniture in place (two carpenters were then working on the building, one shingling the roof and the other making a table), and was informed that if he would wait awhile that he could be served, as one of the tables was almost completed. When the carpenter had finished the first able, he set it in place and wiped the shavings off with his carpenter apron. Mr. Craycroft drew up a chair, laid his hat on the floor, stood his rifle up against the wall and got a good square meal, the first one to be served in the eating house, which for twenty years after occupied a prominent place in Joplin history.

Mr. Craycroft 's visit to the mining camp made a lasting impression on his mind and, after having read law and been admitted to the bar, he returned to Joplin, arriving there the second time in April, 1875.

Mr. Craycroft, in relating his' experiences to the author says: **I came to Joplin in 1875 with $4.65 in my pocket. My library consisted of two books and I possessed in addition, a silk hat and a long-tailed coat. The hat I lost in Shoal creek while saving a friend from drowning. The coat I wore out, but I still have the two books and the major part of the $4.65."

Mr. Craycroft is now a retired lawyer and capitalist, having a goodly portion of the world's goods and being counted by most people as a rich man.

The Murphysburg Town Company adopted a most liberal policy in the disposal of the lots and offered such easy terms of payment that they sold rapidly, and before the close of the year there were either built, or being built, some fifty houses in the town on the west side of the creek. Among other inducements which were offered by the west side company were the following : Main street was widened, being made eighty feet wide, thus offering better opportunities for the transaction of business. Desirable lots were sold on a small payment down and long time on the balance; and perhaps the most attractive offer - ^when a lot was sold, if the purchaser would build a house the company would make him a deed to the lot next to it.

was organized and began the development of the land in Joplin Creek valley north of the Moffet & Sergeant and Murphy & Davis mines. The northern portion of the Joplin Creek valley has since been known as the Kansas City Bottom. The organizer and leading spirit of the company was John H. Taylor, who from that time to his death, was identified with the mining interests of Joplin. The Joplin Mining & Smelting Company soon acquired a large tract of land extending along the entire east side of Joplin Creek valley to Fourth jrtreet on the south, and on this land a monster addition was platted, the lots in the valley and west side of Moon Range (the crescent shaped west side of East Joplin Hill) being reserved for mining purposes and the ones on the hill for residence property.

1871 drew to a close with the two towns - Joplin and Murphysburg and the valley between them - containing approximately two thousand people, an increase of one thousand five hundred since the platting of the two burgs. Both of the towns had about the same population and the rivalry between them was intense; in fact, the rivalry led to much ill feeling and did not die out until many years after the two places had been united into one city.

In January, 1872, there were in Joplin one general store, three groceries, one furniture store, one hai:dware store, one pawn shop, one clothing store, one news stand, two liveries, one meat market, one boot and shoe store, one drug store, one dry goods store, one restaurant, one bakery, one doctor, one barber, one hack line, four saloons, smelters all in Valley Bottom.

At Murphysburg were: Four general stores, one lumberyard, one clothing store, one livery, one meat market, one boot and shoe store, one drug store, three smelters, four hotels and restaurants, one billiard and pool room, one doctor, two barbers, one blacksmith, and two saloons.

All of the capital that was required to become a prospector and if successful, a mine operator, in the early day of Joplin, was a pick, a shovel and two willing hands. The mining was almost entirely shallowdigging, and only lead was sought for, the value of zinc then being unknown. Every man who wished to prospect made application to one of the companies or land OAvners for a mining lot and signed the register which contained the contract and record of sub-leases. The mining lots were usually two hundred by two hundred. The miner sunk at his own expense his shaft, and if successful paid to the land owner or company, as the case might be, a royalty or per cent, of the mineral turned in. The royalty at first was 50 per cent, but later was reduced as the number of mines and expense of mining increased.

Among the prospectors who came to Joplin during the first year of its existence were a man and his wife, who were residents of Arkansas and were attracted here by the fabulous story of the new El Dorado. The man took a lot on the Moon Range and began sinking a shaft ; when it was down about twelve feet he rigged up a rickety windlass and his wife hoisted the dirt to the top of the shaft - a willing worker with her husband and sharing with him the excitement and hardships of the prospect. When the shaft was down about twenty feet, he struck a rich pocket of lead and in two months' time had taken out $10,000 worth of mineral. When the mine was worked out, he and his good wife returned home and with their quickly amassed little fortune purchased a fine farm.

A Hobsb Hoisteb

which weighed over 4,000 pounds and it was necessary, in order to get it out without breaking, to enlarge the shaft, put up a temporary derrick and to use a block and tackle to hoist it to the surface, which was accomplished with no little trouble, because machinery was a scarce article in those days.

The specimen was taken from the Moffet & Sergeant land, was placed on a sled and drawn to the American House (Murphysburg's first hotel, southeast corner First and Main streets) and there placed on exhibition.

In the fall of 1872 a hotel, the Bateman House, was moved from Baxter Springs to Joplin and rebuilt in East Joplin at the comer of Hill and Galena Avenue. The hotel was managed by George H. Ruddy, later of the Joplin and Keystone hotels, was a popular hostelry, and continued the leading hotel until its destruction by fire, in 1875.

The two towns made a phenomenal growth and naturally where so many people were congregated, with no local government, ** everything went. '* The miners about the camp living as they did in a constant state of excitement, and without the relining influence of the home (for in most instances the family was left behind), plunged into a continuous round of merry-making and the lawless element, unrestrained by the ofl&cers, had everything their own way. Men who lived on the excitement of frontier life flocked to the new town and gave the ** future great" a bad name ; and so the winter of 1871-2 came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

It must not be understood that all of Joplin's citizens countenanced these unlawful acts, or participated in all of the vices that existed ; for such was not the case. The great majority of the prospectors who came in 1871-2 were from southwestern Missouri and southeastern Kansas. They came from the stores, the work shops, the factories and the farms and were from among the best citizens of Missouri and Kansas, and, while they lived amidst the wild excitement of the day and in a way participated in the revelry, they were good citizens and composed the sturdy yeomanry who laid the broad foundation of a great city.

As mentioned before, most of the men who came to Joplin in its early day left the family at home, for there were but few who expected to live here longer than to make a quick fortune and then return, but there were a few men, like John B. Sergeant, Pat Murphy and William Carter, who saw far into the future and who had an unshattered confidence in the mining industry and built for a greater Joplin.

** Three Fingered Pete/' and ** Rocky Mountain Bob'' attired in regular western frontier style. Street fights were common occurrences and occasionally the excitement was heightened by a shooting scrap. It must be observed, however, that, considering the conditions that existed, there were but few murders, the lawlessness for the most part being good-natured revelry.

During the latter part of January, 1872, a little incident occurred which helped to bring the Reign of Terror to a close. A desperado, who styled himself ** Dutch Pete," the bad man from Bitter creek, was terrorizing the town of Murphysburg. J. W. Lupton, a miner, who was prospecting on the Moflfet & Sergeant land, was a trained athlete, a good shot, and, in the right cause, a good fighter. He was one of the citizens who thought that the time had come to bring the Reign of Terror to a close, and, on hearing of the depredations of the wild and woolly citizen, proposed to subjugate him. Although warned not to take a hand, he walked boldly up to the unwelcome stranger, after a desperate struggle threw him to the floor and, after tying the bully, disarmed him. The incident proclaimed Bill Lupton the man of the hour, and brought forcible to the attention of the citizens of the towns, the necessity of having a local government and ofl&cers to enforce the law.

A meeting of the good people was held and a resolution passed praying the county court to make a municipal township of southwestern Jasper county and to appoint J. W. Lupton as constable. At the February meeting of the county court Galena township was created. The township included all of Galena township, as now organized, and the west half of Joplin township which was organized later. J. W. Lupton was appointed constable and I. W. Davis, late of Baxter Springs, and D. W. Jones, justices of the peace.

It is told by old-timers that Judge Davis, at the time of his appointment as justice in Galena township, held a similar position at Baxter Springs and did not resign his Kansas commission or move his family here until after he had assumed the judicial ermine in Missouri. It used to be said in a joking way that the judge would hold court one day at Baxter and the next day at Joplin. Laying aside jokes, however, Judge Davis was a well-informed lawyer and made a good justice, and until the 'eighties figured prominently in Joplin legal and social life.

The question was now agitated of consolidating the two towns and on February 27, 1872, a mass meeting of the citizens of both towns was held at Brazelle's store to discuss the advisability of incorporating as a town. The meeting, which was largely attended, was presided over by John B. Sergeant, and Messrs. P. Murphy, Jesse Shortess, W. M. Carter, Wm. Fallis and others spoke in favor of incorporation. A committee, consisting of H. Campbell, W. M. Carter, and P. Sehnur, of Murphysburg, and Jesse Shortess and William Fallis of Joplin, were appointed to draft and circulate petitions praying the county court to incorporate the two towns under the name of Union City.

The petition was presented to the county court March 14th and that body made an order incorporating the town of Union City, which included both Joplin and Murphysburg.

The board of trustees appointed to hold until the general election in November, 1872, were Jesse Shortess, W. H. Fallis, Chas. A. Underwood, E. R. Moffet and John S. Workizer.

On the 19th of the month the board went to the county seat, took the oath of ofl&ce as trustees and organized by electing Jesse Shortess as president; C. J. G. Workizer, clerk; J. W. Lupton, marshal; I. W. Davis, police judge and P. Murphy, treasurer.

Jesse Shortess, the executive oflScer of Union City, was bom January 16, 1820, at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. He received a liberal education and was especially gifted in mathematics. After the war he was elected a member of the legislature from Benton county, Arkansas, and served with distinction for two terms, advocating and championing, during his service in that body, laws in the interest of good roads and popular education. He was by nature a peacemaker and endeavored, during his service as president of the board of trustees, to bring about a better feeling between the two towns. Mr. Shortess endeavored also to uplift the moral tone of the city. He died April 3, 1882.

The incorporation of Union City brought the Reign of Terror to an end, and during the year 1872 many improvements were made. Many men who before had hesitated at bringing their families to the ** future great,'' now felt that the camp had permanency and stability and brought their families to the new town. During the year also three new mining camps were opened up - Lone Elm, Parr Hill and Swindle Hill.

The board of trustees immediately passed a number of ordinances looking to the betterment of the town - enactments against disturbance of the peace, ** pistol-toting,'' drunkenness, etc., and a small jail was built on Broadway between the two towns. The jail was made of two by four oak timber and had two apartments or cells.

Perhaps the most unique law passed by the trustees of Union City (one, too, which showed the originality of the pioneer lawmakers and likewise carried out the idea that '* necessity is the mother of invention") was the ordinance which was designated **the Fire Patrols." The law provided that, for the purpose of protecting the town against fire, every man who operated a store or business house on Main street or Broadway should keep in front of his place of business a barrel of water and a bucket to be used in ease of fire. When a fire broke out in any house, every man got his bucket, filled it with water and rushed to the scene of the conflagration. This was called the Bucket Brigade. If the fire had not gained much headway, it was sometimes put out, but it will be readily seen that the fire-fighting apparatus was decidedly primitive. A destructive fire in East Joplin, on December 22nd, swept away a whole business block, including a large hotel.

While the organization of Union City brought the Reign of Terror to a close and helped to strengthen the confidence in the future of the mining district, it did not succeed in doing away with the rivalry and ill feeling betwen the east and west towns; many people in East Joplin clamored for a separate city government east of the creek, claiming that the east side did not have the same police protection as Murphysburg. The bitterness grew, and, feeling aggrieved, some of the merchants of East Joplin refused to pay an occupation tax and one of the saloon keepers took the matter into court, seeking to dissolve the town on the ground that it had not been legally incorporated, setting up that the petition which was presented to the county court contained the names of many who were not bona fide citizens of the town. The case was taken to Barton county on a change of venue and during the month of December, 1872, was tried and decided against the town. The incorporation of Union City was dissolved, and the old names of Joplin and Murphysburg were resumed. The last act of the corporation of Union City was to provide for the taking of the census of the town. The count showed that East Joplin had a population of 1,364 and Murphysburg 1,343, and total 2 JOT.

W. H. Fallis, the census taker, reported that there were also 1,200 outside of the city limits, but properly a part of the town, making approximately 3,500 in the Joplin district at the close of the year 1872.

Lone Elm was a thrifty part of Joplin situated on the hill and in the valley in the northern portion of the city west of Joplin creek, and was so called on account of a lone elm tree which stood by the roadside. Lone Elm, during the middle and later 'seventies, contained upward of 2,500 people, and had some twenty business houses in addition to the big Granby Furnace. It was distinctly a mining community and, being built on mining land, as time went by the houses were moved away until now only a few of the old landmarks remain and only the old Lone Elm road is left to tell the story of its once busy life.

tablished the Mining News, The first issue, a small four-page paper, appeared on March 7th and proved a popular publication and after the first month doubled in size. This paper had a great influence on the early life of Joplin. Peter Schnur, its editor and proprietor, was a good writer and in the narrative of events as they happened from week to week, told the plain truth, avoiding the sensational and printing only so much of the news of the undernstrata of society as was necessary to correctly chronicle the happenings of the day.

Editorially he advocated a better local government and always was on the side of public improvement. He set out the needs of a good school ^stem and encouraged the church in its early work. The early issues of this paper had much to do with molding public opinion.

The paper was Republican in politics but not radically partisan, for it gave credit to the good acts of officers of the opposite political faith and criticised the wrongful acts of men of its own party. The people appreciated the value of the permanency of a newspaper of the right kind and the Murphysburg Town Company, with a view of encouraging the proposition, donated a lot on the comer of Second and Joplin streets on which to build a newspaper office. Mr. Schnur built a house for his plant on the lot, the building which is still standing facing Second street and being just across the street from the city jail.

The Daily Index, as a Democratic paper, was started in East Joplin and was published for a short time, the first issue appearing September 19, 1872. The paper was ably edited and was a spicy sheet, but did not receive sufficient financial encouragement and suspended publication after a year of struggle against adverse circumstances.

On April 1, 1872, the postoffice at Blytheville was discontinued and an office created for Union City. M. W. Stafford was appointed postmaster and opened the office in Murphysburg. There was much dissatisfaction in East Joplin over this change and after the dissolution of Union City an office was established in East Joplin. J. C. Omer was appointed postmaster and opened the office for business December 18, 1872. Two separate offices were maintained until 1877, when the east-side office was abolished and the two offices combined and opened at Second and Main streets.

The National Savings Bank of Joplin opened its doors in July, 1872, with the following officers : S. B. Com, president ; John H. Taylor, vice president; Wm. Graves, cashier; John Hayes, assistant cashier.

On January 1, 1873, John H. Taylor bought the bank, doubling its capital and also forming banking connections at St. Louis, Kansas City and New York, which greatly increased its influence. In 1874 C. W, Glover became cashier of the bank.

Daring the palmy days of 1874-6 the bank's deposits ranged around the $300,000 mark, but on the decline of lead in 1877 its business began to fall off, and in 1879 Mr. Taylor decided to close the institution and, after paying all depositors and meeting other obligations surrendered its charter. The loss of the bank was a great blow to East Joplin.

July 4, 1872, was appropriately celebrated at the two Joplins by a day picnic at Grand Falls and by a liberal display of night fireworks. While Grand Falls is in Newton county, it has always been regarded as a part of Joplin, for until the building of the big dam in 1889 the Falls was Joplin 's most popular pleasure resort. Before the building of *the dam the Falls was a most beautiful place. On the right side of the miniature Niagara was a long ledge of rock which overhung the bank in the valley below and gave it the appearance of a cave. The ledge is some twenty feet above the vaUey, making a spectacular formation like tEe Palisades of the Hudson. (This romantic cave-like ledge has long since been filled with cinders from the ice plant.) Over this ledge was built a pretty house, which served the two-fold purpose of a country inn and a speaker's stand, for the balcony-like porch made an ideal stand for a speaker to address the multitude in the valley below.

The first attempt at organized labor in Joplin occurred during the fall of 1872, when eighty men organized the Miners' Union and endeavored to regulate labor conditions among the miners. The object of the union was to improve labor conditions. John Riley was elected president and John Howe secretary. The organization attempted to enforce the foUowing four rules: (I) No miner to hold more than one mining lot at a time. (II) Each miner prospecting a lot must employ at least one able-bodied man for help. (Ill) Twenty days' failure to work the ground forfeits the mine. (IV) All disputes to be settled by arbitra- ,tion.

A Miners' court was established and M. F. Agers chosen miners' magistrate. All differences were referred to him and when he did not succed in adjusting the dispute persons were chosen to arbitrate the case. The miners' magistrate corresponded to the walking delegate among the labor unions of today.

The first fraternal organization to plant itself in Joplin was the Odd Fellows, which contained then, as now, some of the best business men of the city.

It is always a great event when any fraternal society is organized, because it means that, so far as the lodge's influences extend, so much more good will be done and the community accordingly bettered.

- The influence of a great fraternity life the Odd Fellows, teaching and practicing friendship, love and truth among its members, could not help but have a refining influence on the men of the mining town, and the new city was fortunate in having among its citizenship men of the three-linked fraternity. The first meeting looking toward the formation of a lodge was held July 21, 1872, and was attended by seventeen members of the society, holding membership in almost as many different lodges of the order. Jesse Shortess presided at the meeting and J. C. Maddy acted as secretary. After discussing the matter it was decided to petition the Grand Body for a charter, and the lodge was formally instituted November 1, 1872, being christened Joplin Lodge No. 287. The institutional ceremonies were conducted by Lyman J. Burch of Carthage, D. D. G. M., assisted by John W. McAntire, of Scotland county, who had that day arrived ii^ Joplin to make it his future home.

The following were the first ofl&cers of the lodge: John Allington, noble grand; S. H. White, vice noble grand; Ira Creech, secretary pro tern ; S. W. Beach, permanent secretary ; Wm. Karbe, treasurer.

The first work done by the lodge was on November 22nd, when J. W. McAntire, J. W. Clehouse, J. A. Miller, Arnold Hogle and J. B. Thomas were initiated into the order. W. E. Johnson, who was initiated February 7, 1873, is the oldest surviving member of the lodge, having had a continuous membership in the lodge from that date. The original charter members and the four initiated, who preceded him, have either moved away or gone to the Grand Lodge On High.

The first election in Galena township which at that date included East and West Joplin resulted as follows : For president. Grant, Republican, 354; Greeley, Democrat, 287 - showing the town on a strict party vote to be Republican by sixty-five majority.

The township election was conducted along non-political lines and resulted as follows: Justice of the Peace - Clehouse, Democrat, 547; Norton, Republican, 367; Gaston, Republican, 137. Clehouse and Norton, being the two who received the highest number of votes, were de-« clared elected.

There were six candidates for constable and the votes varied from 55 to 222, the latter cast for the lucky candidate William Brown, who was declared elected.

During the campaign of 1872, Gen. John B. Henderson addressed the people of the two Joplins, speaking from a platform in front of the Southwestern Hotel.

As mentioned in our introductory article about Joplin, at the time of the coming of Moffet and Sergeant the Franklin school district erabraced all of the territory within the present limits of the city of Joplin and was officially known as District No. 1, township 27 and range 33.

During the summer of 1872 a private school was established in East Joplin and called the Union High School. The school occupied the second floor of Hutchinson Hall and was taught by J. H. Burris and Mrs. Lou Cruch. It was formally opened September 9, 1872, and liberally patronized. Captain Hubbard also started a night school in Sanders Hall and enroUed a goodly number of students. The question was now agitated of building a schoolhouse and Messrs. John H. Taylor, S. B. Com and John C. Cox offered to advance the money necessary to build an up-to-date building for that purpose in East Joplin. A special meeting of the qualified voters was called in October, bonds were voted in the sum of $6,000 and were purchased by John H. Taylor, S. B. Corn, and John C. Cox, each taking $2,000 at par. A contract was let for a fourroom brick school and the work of building was commenced at once.

Early in the fall of 1872, the Mining News in a number of editorials set forth the necessity of a school organization for the portion of the town west of the Creek and the question was agitated by the leading citizens of west-town to organize a separate district. On September 20, 1872, at a meeting of the voters of West Joplin, School District No. 4, township 27 and range 33 was formally organized, the territory embracing that portion of the mother district lying west of Joplin creek. The board of directors elected at this meeting consisted of the following named gentlemen : John B. Sergeant, M. W. Stafford, C. J. G. WorMzer.

The township treasurer refused to turn over to the new district its quota of the school funds and for this reason no school was maintained in West Joplin during the fall and winter of 1872-3.

During the fall of 1872 a literary society was formed in East Joplin and met weekly in Hutchinson's Hall. The meetings were largely attended and did much toward elevating the literary taste of the people. The officers of the society were: Jesse Shortess, president; R. A. Benedict, vice president; Henry Houston, secretary; John W. McAntire, treasurer.

The honor of organizing the first church in Joplin belongs to the Methodists. In February, 1872, Rev. M. W. F. Smith was sent to the Joplin field in the capacity of a home missionary. As mentioned be-

The reverend gentleman saw that there was great need of a church and set about to find a suitable place in which to hold a series of meetings. There were no vacant store rooms and nearly all of the residences were small, mostly two and three-room boxed houses, hastily put up to accommodate the rapidly increasing population of the place.

Hearing of the preacher and with a desire of encouraging the establishment of a church, Messrs. Bullock and Boucher offered their saloon to Rev. Smith for a Sunday service. The offer was accepted and he preached in the bar of Bullock & Boucher, his first sermon. After the first service meetings were held around at the houses of a number of religiously inclined people.

On April 14th an organization was perfected and the fiarst Methodist Episcopal church began the crusade for a better Joplin. Among the original members of the church were 0. H. Coe and wife, William Harlow and wife and Mrs. Jennie Shortness.

After the organization of the church all of the energies of the members were bent to the securing of a house of worship. Messrs. Porter & Dorsey donated a lot at the comer of Fourth and Kentucky avenue and a church home fifty by thirty feet was begun and hurriedly completed. Many of the citizens of the town (not members of the church) assisted in the work, some donating money, some lumber and others labor. The church was dedicated November 3, 1872, by the Rex. F. H. Hagerman, bishop of the diocese, the Rev. DeLamarter of Kansas City preaching the dedicatory sermon. The new church proved very popular and the Sunday school became so crowded that an afternoon school was also organized as a sort of an overflow meeting. The Sunday school in the morning was the regular school of the First Methodist Church and the afternoon meeting was a non-sectarian union Sunday school, the late W. B. McAntire was the superintendent of the union school.

When the church was first built it had neither organ nor singing books. D. K. Wenrich, the bookkeeper for Moflfet & Sergeant, was asked to take charge of the music and direct that important branch of the church worship. Learning that there were no singing books belonging to the church, Mr. Wenrich ordered a number of hymnals and organized for the church a choir which furnished music, pending the arrival of the singing books for the congregation.

A committee, consisting of Captain Libby, Dr. Fannie Williams and Mr. Wenrich, was appointed to devise ways and means by which to purchase an organ for the church and the two Sunday schools. Mr. Wenrich started out with a subscription paper and in an hour secured pledges for one hundred and seventy-five dollars, not a single person refusing. The organ (said to have been the first one brought to Joplin) was purchased of W. P. Owen, then of Neosho, but later one of Joplin 's substantial citizens.

During the latter part of 1872 the Rev. J. F. Hogan, a South Methodist minister, came to Joplin and took steps toward organizing a class of that denomination, choosing East Joplin for his field and preaching his first sermon in an unfinished store building on Broadway. After considerable labor against adverse circumstances, a class was formed and at the next meeting of the conference John D. Wood, a young man of great energy, was appointed to the Joplin charge. Below are the members of the South Church when Mr. Wood began his labors : William Quick, John AUington and wife, R. A. Sterling, John Angel and wife, Mrs. Huddleston, and Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson.

Rev. Wood was a gifted speaker and, being an untiring worker, quickly built up a large congregation. He commenced his labors in the spring of 1873 and continued with the church for two years. During his ministry a church was built in Ecwt Joplin at the corner of Hill and John streets, the structure costing $2,250. During 1874 the church sold a half interest in that building to the Presbyterians and the two denominations used it alternately until 1876, when the Presbyterians sold back their interest to the South church.

The work of inaugurating the Catholic church in Joplin was begun in 1872 by the Rev. Father Newman as attending missionary, with A. ChatteU, John Ferguson and Barney Ferguson as members.

After a short missionary career. Rev. E. Benoneine came to the Joplin parish and labored in the field until 1876, when the Rev. Father O 'Riley arrived and was assigned to this charge.

In May, 1872, the African Methodists established a church in Joplin, the Rev. John Dorsey being its first pastor. The church did not have a home during the 'seventies, but met in a rented room, or at the houses of its members until 1881, when the congregation purchased the old Methodist church at Fourth and Kentucky.

In January, 1872, Messrs. William Carter and C. A. Underwood established a transfer line between Baxter Springs, Kansas, and Joplin, doing a heavy freighting business, as then all of the merchandise from Kansas City and the north came via Baxter and was freighted overland to Joplin. A stage line owned by Botkins & Company operated a stage line between these two points and it was a typical western sight to see the bie four-horse overland stage roll into Joplin at noon each day, the boot piled high with trunks, the driver sitting on the big high front seat armed in true frontier style with his trusty '45, and the stage itself crowded to its capacity with excited fortune hunters coming to the new land of lead and excitement.

During the summer of 1872 a race track was built south of the city and nearly every day during the summer and early fall there were a numof exciting races at which much money changed hands. The track was a straight one half a mile long, extending from the northeastern entrance to the cemetery in a northeasterly direction to about the site of the Byers school.

One of the earliest marriages in the new town, if not the first, was that of Squire J. W. Clehouse and Miss Melvina Lane. Justice Clehouse, who was one of the justices of the peace, on the afternoon of August 10, 1872, placed in the hands of the constable a subpoena commanding a number of people, among them the several township officials, the members of the bar and others, to appear at the restaurant and ice cream parlor of Wagstaff & Teegles for the purpose of being witnesses in the case of Clehouse vs. Lane. The witnesses suspected that the case was not one to be tried by the grave and impartial justice, but by Dan Cupid, for whisper had it that '' wheresoever moved the fair, he was like her shadow there." In obedience to the summons, therefore, a large party gathered at the restaurant and at the appointed hour Judge Davis announced that they were there for the purpose of celebrating the marriage of Justice Clehouse to Miss Melvina Lane and, in the presence of the witnesses, pronounced the happy couple man and wife. After the wedding services the ¥ntne8ses and court officials partook of a bountiful feast which was presided over by the happy couple and to which they did ample justice.

The discovery of the value and properties of zinc blende, or "jack" as it is commonly called among the miners, was made by a German chemist in 1848. In 1858 Messrs. Mattis & Hagler of LaSalle, Illinois, erected a small experimental zinc furnace and successfully reduced a quantity of blends from the Mineral Point, Wisconsin, mines. The coming on of the war shortly after the perfection of that smelting process stopped for a time the further development of this important industry. After the war, however, the manufacture of zinc products was resumed.

In 1866 George H. Hesslemyer, late of Germany but then a resident of St. Louis, interested a number of his countrjrmen (among them F. W. Meister and A. W. Flohr) in a project to reduce and experiment with the blend in the dump piles of the Potosi lead mines, in Washington county, this state. A small three-retort furnace was built and successful experiments made. To Mr. Hesslemyer, therefore, belongs the credit of starting the mining and smelting of zinc in the great state of Missouri.

In November, 1866, Henry Weyman, then a young man recently graduated from a German university, came to America at the solicitation of Mr. Meister and took a position with the Potosi Zinc Works as chemist and assistant superintendent. Mr. Weyman reported to his employers at St. Louis that the cost of hauling coal to Potosi ate up the profits of the manufactured article and, at his suggestion, the plant was closed at

Potosi and rebuilt at Old Carondelet, in South St. Louis, where fuel was cheap. Zinc spelter was first used in making brass, alloy and zinc plate and, at the time of building the first plant, sold for twelve cents a pound.

Mr. Weyman continued for a time to reside at Potosi and shipi)ed the zinc blend from that point to St. Louis. Rev. Geo. H. Williamson, of the Bethany Presbyterian church of Joplin, then a resident of Potosi, superintended the cleaning of the first car of ore shipped to the new furnace. The Coyle Brothers, later of Joplin, were Mr. Weyman 's teamsters.

Mr. Hesslemyer now organized a new company, the Missouri Zinc Company, and as its agent visited Granby in 1872 for the purpose of securing zinc silicate. The miners, not knowing its value, threw it out on the dump piles as waste material, and the German ore buyer had no trouble in securing two carloads of the jack to be used in his experiments. On learning that the zinc had a value, Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, president and general manager of the Granby Company telegraphed to give no more of the black jack away. The first price paid for jack at Granby was two dollars a ton.

In Joplin and at Orongo, ''jack,'' the same as at Granby, was at first thrown out on the dump piles and no attention was paid to it; in fact, the miners thought less of it than they did of tiff, because it was not so pretty and could not even be used for ornamental purposes, but in 1872 two eminent mineralogists came to the Joplin field and told the miners and land owners that the supposed worthless ''jack" was the highest grade of zinc blend. These two men were D. Bowman and Professor Swallow. Mr. Bowman came to Union City for the purpose of writing up the mining district for the Globe Democrat and Professor Swallow, who at that time was state geologist, was traveling through southwestern Missouri making notes relative to the geological formation and stratas of rock in Jasper and Newton counties and was compiling the data for his book, "The Bocks and Minerals of Missouri."

Mr. Bowman, by the way, made a most complimentary write-up of southwestern Missouri and was so well pleased with Joplin that he decided to cast his lot with the young town. On the completion of his newspaper report he took up his residence in Joplin and for ten years was prominently identified with the mining industry of Jasper county.

Messrs. Bowman and Swallow told the Joplin miners that the zinc industry would in time be of greater importance than the mining of lead and urged that more attention be given to its mining. At the suggestion of Mr. Bowman, Dorsey & Porter, Moffet & Sergeant and Murphy & Davis shipped to Mattis & Hagler at LaSalle, Illinois, two carloads of zinc blend and they, realizing its value, at once sent an agent into the field to purchase the "jack." The first batch of zinc shipped from Joplin brought five dollars a ton. A continuation of the zinc story will be made in our notes of 1873, at which time permanent buyers came into the field and the zinc industry became a permanency.