Joplin, city, Jasper and Newton counties, southwestern Missouri, near the Ozark Mountains; incorporated 1873. It is the transportation and commercial center of a diversified farming region. Manufactures include chemicals, explosives, hydraulic pumps, building materials, bearings, and electrical and electronic equipment. Missouri Southern State College (1965) and Ozark Christian College (1942) are here. Tri-State Mineral Museum (1931) and a historical museum are in the city. One of the Missouri murals of Thomas Hart Benton is in Joplin. The community, laid out in 1871, is named for Harris G. Joplin, a Methodist minister who had settled here about 1839. From the 1870s to the 1930s it was a lead and zinc mining center. Population 39,023 (1980); 40,961 (1990); 45,504 (2000).
