Considered a “father” of Joplin, and one of its earliest settlers, John Cox, a North Carolina native, made his way to Missouri and settled near Turkey Creek around 1838. He never left and the rest is history. Below is Cox and his wife, Sarah Ann Mercer.
John Cox and wife, Sarah Mercer.
In the wake of Joplin’s tornado, homes were destroyed and the possessions within them literally scattered to the wind. While much that was lost, furniture or clothes, can be replaced in one way or another, photographs cannot. They are our way of capturing a moment in time be it a special event or simply the image of a loved one. If lost, there is no way to recapture with a camera that passing moment.
One such photographic horror story concerned the photographs of Murwin Mosler, who photographed Joplin and her people over a span of decades from the 1930s to the 1960s. Mosler’s life work, organized into a collection, was lost when the tornado destroyed his daughter’s home.
Some are not willing to let these lost photographs remained lost as numerous facebook sites, such as Joplin’s Found Photos, sprung up to attempt to reunite owners with their memories. In turn, a website, Joplin Rescued Photos, collects these links and offers to be a central location for the effort to save photographs and return them home. Joplin is not alone, either, as Operation Photo Rescue is on its way to the city sometime soon. Operation Photo Rescue consists of volunteers who will scan in damaged photographs, then digitally repair them and send the restored images to the owners for free.
While the days have passed since the storm and the clean up well under way, keep an eye open to a bent piece of paper lodged beneath a branch, it might well be someone’s memory and with the help of the people above, it might even find its way home.
Almost a year ago, we brought you the history of the Club Theater which once stood at the intersection of 4th and Joplin Street. Recent research has uncovered what we believe may be the only surviving exterior side view, or Joplin Street view of the Club Theater. Of course, we have to share! The image appears to be an architectural drawing for the building, which was constructed in 1891. Note the drawing appears to be the work of a Kansas City firm.
The Joplin Street view or side exterior view of the Club Theater
Most images of the theater that do exist show the building either looking at it from the entrance presented above on the right side of the drawing, or of its Fourth Street exterior. Below is an example of the former.
Photograph of the Club Theater taken some time before 1902.
By all appearances, it seems there was no real deviation at first glance from the drawing to the building. As noted in our prior post, the last remnant of the Club Theater vanished after a fire in 2003.
Source: Historic Joplin Collection
