Larry Wood

Wicked Joplin Larry Wood

A strange sort of pride tends to embellish infamy--like the notion that Frank and Jesse James robbed every bank in Missouri. But the citizens of Joplin need not exaggerate their community's unsavory past. Founded in the 1870s as a booming lead-mining camp, Joplin was a wide-open town from the start, and its wild reputation persisted into the mid-twentieth century. A neighboring town's newspaper aptly described Joplin as a "naughty place." Join author Larry Wood on a colorful tour of the city's raucous past.