Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Joplin, MO

Joplin was created on March 23, 1873, when two rival mining towns, Joplin City and Murphysburg, permanently merged - it took its name from the Reverend Harris G. Joplin, who had settled on the banks of the local creek around 1840.

Joplin grew up on lead mining, but zinc - locally called 'jack' - became its most important mineral, earning Joplin the motto 'The City that Jack Built' and a reputation as the lead- and zinc-mining capital of the world.

Mining was so extensive that the main part of Joplin is nearly 75% undermined, with old mine shafts more than 100 feet deep beneath the city.

On May 22, 2011, a violent EF5 tornado tore through Joplin, killing 161 people, destroying nearly 7,000 homes and about one-third of the city - one of the deadliest and costliest tornadoes in American history.

Joplin had a population of 51,762 at the 2020 census, making it Missouri's 12th most-populous city, though its daytime population swells to about 240,000 as it serves as the commercial and medical hub of the four-state region.

Joplin had 21,664 households at the 2020 census.

Historic U.S. Route 66 ran through Joplin, and the city is working to revitalize its Main Street downtown district along the old Mother Road.

In 1933, outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow hid out in Joplin for several weeks; after a deadly shootout with police they fled and left behind a camera, whose film - developed by the Joplin Globe - produced the most famous photographs of the pair.

Joplin is home to Missouri Southern State University, founded in 1937 as Joplin Junior College with just 114 students and 9 faculty members, and now enrolling over 4,000 students on a 373-acre campus.

Kansas City University opened a College of Osteopathic Medicine campus in Joplin, built on the site of the temporary hospital that served the city after Mercy Hospital was destroyed in the 2011 tornado.