Joplin History Guide re-released and expanded

The Joplin (Missouri) Convention and Visitors Bureau expanded and re-released its Joplin History Guide — the first update to that free publication in 15 years.

According to the Joplin Globe newspaper:

The guide is is not entirely new but is an enlarged version of one that was printed for the convention bureau in 2003.

“It’s more comprehensive. It’s updated for the times,” Patrick Tuttle, bureau director, said Wednesday.

“The CVB is funding it and putting it together but we had input from the historical community to give us guidance and content,” Tuttle said.

One of the big updates includes the now-infamous Joplin Tornado of 2011, which killed 161 people, injured more than 1,100 and caused more than $2.8 billion in damage.

The guide, which contains than 50 pages, has chapters of Sites & Structures; People; Residential; Buildings & Sites; Joplin’s National Register of Historic Places; Listings and Districts; Architectural Interests; and A Brief Account of the 2011 Tornado.

The guide also notes these connections to Joplin:

  • Actor Dennis Weaver
  • St. Louis Cardinals player/manager Gabby Street
  • Actor John Beal
  • Jazz saxophonist Charles McPherson
  • An apartment where Bonnie & Clyde stayed
  • The now-gone Connor Hotel in downtown
  • Scottish Rite Cathedral
  • St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church
  • Schifferdecker Park and Golf Course

The Joplin History Guide can be picked up at these locations:

  • Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau office at City Hall, 602 S. Main St.
  • Joplin Public Library, 1901 E. 20th St.
  • Joplin History and Mineral Museum, 504 S. Schifferdecker Ave.

The bureau ran out of the 2003 guides years ago and resorted to making photocopies of them. According to the Globe, the new guide cost the bureau $3,000 for the design and $12,300 for printing.

(Front cover of the Joplin History Guide via Facebook)

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