19-03-2025
Joplin City Council hears details of city's Irish immigrants
Stories of three Irish immigrants who stand out in the history of Joplin's early days led off a Monday night meeting of the Joplin City Council.
Chad Stebbins, retired Missouri Southern State University department chair and author, told about the men who settled here as a place where pioneers and capitalists came to enrich themselves in a lead and zinc bonanza.
His remarks, along with those of community historian Brad Belk, were made to recognize Joplin's 152nd birthday on March 23.
Belk detailed some of the past observances for the city's founding.
'Thousands of people flocked to Joplin in the latter part of the 19th century seeking their fortunes in the mining fields,' Stebbins said. 'They came from all over the United States but also from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden and Eastern Europe. The immigrants from Ireland had the greatest impact on the new city.'
Daniel Sheehan
One whose story has been captured in Joplin's historical annals is that of Sgt. Daniel Sheehan, a Joplin police officer who local residents called 'Dad.' He was born in 1830 in Killarney, in County Kerry in southwest Ireland.
'We don't know when exactly he came to Joplin, but he did serve the city for eight years as a night watchman and a police officer. He broke up fights, he handled rowdy prisoners. He arrested men who were beating their wives and women who were involved in prostitution,' Stebbins said. 'He arrested those who drove their buggies too fast on Main Street. And, on one occasion ... he even had to shoot a rabid dog that was attacking a family.'
Sheehan was shot and killed July 19, 1885, the first of Joplin's law officers to to die in the line of duty. He was shot as he and two other officers worked to arrest a man who was wanted for selling liquor without a license.
'The man was arrested and jailed. But at 2 o'clock the next morning, an angry mob used a battering ram and broke open the front door of the jail. The man was taken to Second and Main streets and lynched from a tree,' Stebbins said.
Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy, who would come to be regarded as the 'father of Joplin,' was born in 1839 in Ireland and first settled in Pennsylvania. He made his way to Carthage in 1866 and opened a store on the north side of the square, Stebbins said.
After the discovery of lead on Joplin Creek, Murphy opened another store on the Carthage square and also made plans to establish his own town along with a business partner, W.P. Davis, called Murphysburg, west of Joplin Creek. At the same time, settler John C. Cox was laying out the town of Joplin to be located east of Joplin Creek.
'There was an intense rivalry' between the two towns, Stebbins said.
For a number of years, Murphysburg overshadowed its rival community, Joplin, according to the Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri. In 1872, Murphysburg was the larger and wealthier town, containing several stores, a smelting works built by Murphy and Davis and others, and the only newspaper in the county. But a year later, the two towns were incorporated as Joplin.
Murphy had built an elaborate home at what now is the southwest corner of Fourth Street and Wall Avenue. He opened a bank, which he called the Banking House of Patrick Murphy, about a block away. He later changed the name to Miner's Bank of Joplin. He had owned numerous businesses and made many investments over his life.
'When he died in 1900, the community mourned and businesses closed for the day. A procession stretched from his home at Fourth Street to Fairview Cemetery,' where he was buried, Stebbins said. Later, his remains were moved to Mount Hope Cemetery, a new cemetery in the early 1900s intended to become the final resting place of affluent Joplin and Webb City residents.
Thomas Connor
A third influential Irish immigrant has been known as Thomas Connor, but his actual surname was O'Connor, Stebbins said.
In 1871, Connor came to Joplin, where he later opened a saloon on Broadway in what is now East Town. He was drawn into mine ownership after he and his wife took drives on Sundays to view the mines established in the Joplin area, Stebbins said. He started buying up land and ended up with 6,000 acres extending into the Galena, Kansas, area. He would lease land to miners. His earnings from that endeavor reached $10,000 a week from mining royalties.
He soon bought the Joplin Hotel, which was located then at Fourth and Main streets. City leaders appealed to him to tear down the Joplin Hotel, which they considered old, and build another. He did so, but died before he got to see the hotel finished.
