JOPLIN

city, Jasper and Newton counties, in the Ozark region of southwestern Missouri, U.S. It lies adjacent to Webb City, near the Kansas and Oklahoma borders. It was founded in 1871 by John Cox, who named it after his friend the Reverend Harris Joplin, a Methodist missionary who, along with Cox, had come from Tennessee in about 1840. The discovery of lead and zinc ores in the area in 1849 brought prosperity, and in 1873 Joplin merged with Murphysburg. When the mining boom collapsed in the 1930s, other industries were developed. Large tailing piles in the vicinity are virtually the only remnants of the once-thriving mining industry. Now a shipping and trade centre for the area's farm products, Joplin also has diversified manufactures, including chemicals, electric power units, and hydraulic pumps. The city is the seat of Missouri Southern State College (1937) and Ozark Christian College (1942). The Joplin school system received national recognition for the Joplin reading plan, an innovative program for the teaching of reading that was instituted in 1953 and that was designed to improve reading skills in the elementary grades. The Mineral Museum (1931) displays models of mining processes, fossils, artifacts, and a pictorial history of Joplin. The George Washington Carver National Monument, immediately southeast, preserves the birthplace of the eminent black agricultural scientist. Inc. town, 1871; city, 1873. Pop. (1991 est.) city, 41,287; Joplin MSA, 135,985.