Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Granby, MO

Granby is a city in Newton County, Missouri, that bills itself as the 'Oldest Mining Town in the Southwest,' and it is part of the Joplin metropolitan area.

Granby traces its origin to 1850, when William Foster recognized galena lead ore in rocks dug along Gum Spring Branch on settler Madison Vickery's property, and the two men opened the first mine shaft there.

The discovery triggered the 'Granby Stampede' two years later, a mine rush that rapidly populated the town.

The community took its name from Granby, Massachusetts.

In 1857, Peter F. Blow and F. B. Kennett formed the Granby Mining and Smelting Company, and by 1859 Granby was a boom town of more than 8,000 people, making it one of the most important lead-producing centers in the country.

During the Civil War, Granby's smelter was held at various times by both Union and Confederate troops until the Confederates finally blew up the furnaces to keep them out of Union hands.

Lead, zinc, galena, and calamine mining remained Granby's chief industry for nearly a century, until the ore ran out in the early 1950s and the mining company dissolved and shut down the mines.

The population of Granby was 2,048 at the 2020 census, living in 771 households — a fraction of its 8,000-person mining-boom peak.

The Granby Historical Society, formed in 1984, maintains the Granby Museum on Main Street, and the city celebrates its heritage with the Old Mining Town Days festival every summer.