Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Neosho, MO

Neosho is the county seat and most populous city of Newton County in far southwest Missouri, on the western edge of the Ozarks and part of the Joplin metropolitan area.

The name Neosho comes from the Osage words Ne-u-zhu, generally translated as clear, cold water, a reference to the freshwater springs that drew Native American inhabitants to the site for thousands of years.

European-American settlers attracted by those same springs founded the community of Neosho in 1833, and the town was incorporated in 1847 and again in 1878.

Neosho is nicknamed the City of Springs and the Gateway to the Ozarks, and since 1957 it has also been known as the Flower Box City for its citywide planters.

Neosho had 12,590 residents at the 2020 census and about 4,700 households, and the Census Bureau estimated it had grown past 14,000 people by 2025.

Since 1888 Neosho has been home to the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, the oldest continuously operating federal fish hatchery in the United States, which raises rainbow trout for Lake Taneycomo and works to recover the endangered pallid sturgeon.

Big Spring, historically called Clark Spring, is Neosho's largest spring; it flows from cavernous openings at the base of a limestone bluff through the city's main park, Big Spring Park, near the historic downtown.

In 1861 Neosho briefly served as the Confederate capital of Missouri during the opening months of the Civil War.

Crowder College, established in 1963, occupies part of the grounds of former Camp Crowder, a vast World War II Army training camp south of the city.

Neosho covers about 15.75 square miles and its historic downtown square, laid out in 1839 when Newton County was formed, is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.