Liberal, Missouri
26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1884 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Ozark Township. It lies in ZIP code area 64762. The Survey maps it on the Liberal quadrangle. 629 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 902 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresLiberal fell from 759 to 629 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 759 | |
| 2020 | 629 | -130 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 surveys from 26 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1884 USGS Fort Scott quadrangle1:125000
- 1886 USGS Fort Scott quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Fort Scott quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1893 USGS Ft Scott quadrangle1:125000
- 1947 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Liberal quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Mulberry quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Liberal quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Mulberry quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Joplin quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Liberal quadrangle1:24000
- 1991 USGS Nevada quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
10 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Liberal between 2000 and 2015, burning about 206 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | not named |
| 7 March 2015 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120371-00627-03072015-1509 |
| 12 February 2015 | Smoking | 20 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120370-00627-02122015-1038 |
| 8 January 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120361-00627-01082015-1240 |
| 28 January 2015 | Debris and open burning | 6.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120369-00627-01282015-1138 |
| 27 January 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120368-00627-01272015-1433 |
| 23 January 2015 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120366-00627-01232015-1513 |
| 19 January 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 acres | Missouri Department of Conservation | 120365-00627-01192015-1326 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Liberal: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated Troup Mine # 1 | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Jasper Quarry and Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown - Pb.& Zn. | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ss. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
45 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Liberal in 45 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 21 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 1 death and 10 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2003 | Tornado (F4) | Liberal | 1 killed, 10 hurt, $13,000,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Tornado (F3) | Liberal | $5,000,000 | no account filed |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $15,000 | Straight line winds downed a few trees and caused the brick facade to fall off a building in Liberal. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $10,000 | A brick structure was severely damaged by thunderstorm winds in Liberal. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $10,000 | Damaging wind gusts ripped a roof off of a barn. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $5,000 | A few trees were blown down and there was damaged to a metal building. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed large tree limbs across roads on the west side of Liberal. Power outages were also reported. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $5,000 | A few power poles were knocked over from severe thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| March 2010 | Hail | Liberal | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F1) | Liberal | $5,000 | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | $1,000 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Liberal | - | Golf ball sized hail was reported in a mainly rural area. |
| September 2023 | Hail | Liberal | - | Quarter sized hail was reported. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Multiple large tree branches were reported down in a residence yard. No damage was reported. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Several trees and large limbs were blown down in Liberal. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Several medium size trees and large tree branches were blown down near Liberal. |
| April 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Several trees were uprooted in Liberal. |
| May 2016 | Hail | Liberal | - | Quarter size hail was reported on social media in Liberal. |
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Liberal | - | High water was flowing over Highway K east of Liberal. |
| February 2011 | Funnel Cloud | Liberal | - | Emergency manager reported that spotters had tracked a funnel cloud in western Barton County near the Kansas and Missouri border. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | The Emergency Manager reported multiple large trees uprooted in town. No damage was reported. |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Several trees were downed and power was knocked out in the town of Liberal for a while. |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | A Liberal Newspaper employee observed downed large tree limbs across a county road from severe thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts downed a few large trees. |
| September 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Liberal | - | A weak tornado briefly touched down in a rural area of northwest Barton County. This tornado was associated with a supercell thunderstorm that produced several brief tornado touchdowns in Crawford County Kansas. |
| March 2010 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| February 2006 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| September 2003 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
| May 1995 | Hail | Liberal | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wimmer | 2.9 miles | 16 | |
| Hannon | 4.7 miles | 16 | |
| Burgess | 5.0 miles | 26 | |
| Miller Brothers (historical) | 5.3 miles | 26 | |
| Verdella | 5.5 miles | 16 | |
| Ardath | 5.8 miles | 26 | |
| Oskaloosa | 6.8 miles | 26 | |
| Mindenmines | 7.0 miles | 22 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Liberal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q963616 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 720953. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.















