Jasper County is located in the southwest portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 122,761. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

, and its largest city is Joplin. The county was organized in 1841 and named for William Jasper, a hero of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Jasper County is included in the Joplin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Jasper County Sheriff's Office has legal jurisdiction throughout the county.

History

Osage Nation

Before European contact, the area that today makes up Jasper County was the domain of the Osage Native Americans, who called themselves the "Children of the Middle Waters" (''Ni-U-Kon-Ska''). A Siouan language tribe, they had migrated west and south centuries before from the Ohio Valley. They were powerful and dominated a large territory encompassed the land between the

and Osage rivers to the north, the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

to the east, and the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

to the south. To the west were the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

, where they hunted buffalo. By the late 17th century, the Osage were calling themselves ''Wah-Zha-Zhe.'' The earliest record of European-Osage contact is a 1673 map by French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and explorer

Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette, Society of Jesus, S.J. (; June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. M ...

. He noted the people he encountered as the ''Ouchage,'' his way of pronouncing the sound of the name with French spelling conventions. A few years after the Marquette expedition, French explorers discovered a Little Osage village and called it ''Ouazhigi.'' French transliterations of the tribe's name settled on a spelling of ''Osage,'' which was later adopted by English-speaking European Americans. In 1682 Robert de La Salle canoed down the length of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming and naming the entire Mississippi basin as “''La Louisiane''” in honor of King Louis XIV. In 1699 Louisiana was designated as an administrative district of

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

. The European colonists and nationals (France, England and Spain) considered this to be French territory. The French divided the Louisiana district into upper and lower parts, with the Arkansas River as the dividing line. After France and Spain's defeat by Great Britain in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

in 1763, France ceded Louisiana to Spain and most of the rest of New France, on the east side of the Mississippi River, to the British. They exchanged Cuba with Spain and took over east Florida. For a few decades, the Spanish District of New Madrid, containing present-day Jasper County, was the southernmost of the five Spanish districts comprising Upper Louisiana. France regained control of Louisiana through the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800, but in 1803, following defeat of his troops in an effort to retake the colony of Saint Domingue in the Caribbean, Napoleon Bonaparte I decided to sell his North American territory to the United States in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase. The Osage began treaty-making with the United States in 1808 with the first cession of lands in Missouri in the ( Osage Treaty). The Osage moved from their homelands on the Osage River in 1808 to the Jasper County area of southwest Missouri. In 1825, the Osages ceded their traditional lands across present-day Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma (then known as Indian Territory). They were first moved onto a southeastern Kansas reservation in the Cherokee Strip, on which the city of

Independence, Kansas Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,548. It was named in commemoration of the ...

developed. In 1872 they were forced to move again, south to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

Missouri Territory

The

Upper Louisiana The Illinois Country ( ; ; ), also referred to as Upper Louisiana ( ; ), was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s that later fell under Spanish and British control before becoming what is now part of the Midwestern United States. Whi ...

Territory, including the Jasper County area, was renamed as the

Missouri Territory The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821. In 1819, the Territory of Arkansas was created from a portion of its southern area. In 1821, a southe ...

on June 4, 1812, to avoid confusion with the state of Louisiana. This had joined the Union in 1812. The new New Madrid District became New Madrid County, Missouri Territory. Old Lawrence County was established in 1815 from New Madrid County west of the St. Francis River and north of Arkansas County. It originally consisted of all of present-day southwestern Missouri and part of northwestern Arkansas. Three years later (1818), Lawrence County was combined with part of Cape Girardeau County and renamed as Wayne County. By 1819,

Arkansas Territory The Arkansas Territory was a organized incorporated territory of the United States, territory of the United States from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the ...

had been created; Wayne County lost some of its area but still consisted of most of southern Missouri: from present-day Wayne County west to the Kansas State Line and bordered on the south by the Arkansas State Line. In 1820, all of Missouri Territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Missouri. In 1831, with increased population in the region, Crawford County was carved from the original Wayne. This new division covered all of the southern part of Missouri and included Jasper County in its boundaries. This alignment was also short-lived; in 1833 Greene County was organized from Crawford County, and extended from the

Niangua River The Niangua River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Osage River in the Ozarks region of southern and central Missouri in the United St ...

west to the Kansas State Line. On January 5, 1835, a big piece was cut out of Greene County and organized as Barry County. In 1838 Barry County was divided into four parts called Barry, Dade, Newton and Jasper counties. At this time Jasper was not a full-fledged county but was attached to Newton County and it would remain so until 1841.

County organization

On January 29, 1841, the Missouri Legislature enacted a bill authorizing formation of Jasper County; it was named in honor of Sergeant William Jasper, a hero in the American Revolutionary War. The Jasper County Court initially divided the area into three townships: North Fork, Center Creek and Marion. Later it was organized as 15 townships, which continue as unincorporated jurisdictions. The county court, as a temporary seat of justice, was established on February 25, 1841, in the home of George Hornback. It was a 12×16-foot log cabin, one and a half miles northwest of Carthage on Spring River. The officers of the court were Charles S. Yancey, judge, and Elwood B. James, clerk. Mount Vernon attorney Robert W. Crawford was appointed circuit attorney ''pro tem''. John P. Osborn, the first sheriff, gave public notice that the county court of Jasper County would meet in the home of George Hornback until the permanent seat of justice was established. The first session of the court was two days; the proceedings covered four pages of record. A permanent county seat was chosen in March 1842 and designated by the name of Carthage. The courthouse, a one-story single-room wooden structure with a large door in the south, was completed on June 29, 1842. It was located on the north side of the present public square in Carthage. This courthouse was later replaced by a larger two-story brick-and-stone structure that was completed in 1854; it also had facilities in the building for the county jail. At the second term of the court held in October of the same year, attorneys Robert W. Crawford and John R. Chenault were cited for contempt and fined the sum of ten dollars for "fighting in the presence and view of said court during the said sitting." At the March 1861 Secession Convention held in Jefferson City, Chenault represented Jasper County while Crawford represented Lawrence County. Possibly for their own self-preservation, and to buy time to make preparations in Southwest Missouri for the war, the two former adversaries voted in favor of keeping Missouri in the Union. Missouri was the only state whose secession convention resulted in voting to stay in the Union. Cave Spring School 1838

At the outset of the war Chenault, by then a circuit court judge, moved with his family to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Following the Battle of Carthage, on July 12, 1861, Crawford was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the 13th Missouri Cavalry Regiment and 5th Missouri Infantry, both of the 8th Division, Missouri State Guard. They were part of the Confederate States Army (CSA), although Missouri remained with the Union. After leading the 13th Cavalry Regiment into numerous battles, in a command that included two of his sons in first lieutenant and quartermaster ranks, Crawford moved his noncombatant family to

for safety. He served as a recruiter for the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

in Missouri, a post he was nominated for by Waldo P. Johnson, formerly a United States Senator from Missouri in a letter to Missouri governor-in-exile Claiborne Fox Jackson dated October 24, 1862. By the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in 1861, there were several small ''river mill settlements,'' some ''mining camps'', and about ''nine or ten towns'' (seven platted) in Jasper County, Missouri. The county seat of

Carthage, Missouri Carthage is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 15,522 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jasper County and is nicknamed "America's Maple Leaf City." History Jasper County was formed in 1841. ...

had an estimated population of between four and five hundred at that time. The newer brick courthouse was used as a hospital during the American Civil War and was destroyed by fire during fighting in October 1863. By the end of the war, Carthage had been evacuated and completely destroyed, and much of Jasper County laid in ruins. Other than military tribunals, no courts were held in Jasper County between May 11, 1861, and October 10, 1865. By order of the Governor in 1865, the courthouse was relocated to the pioneer schoolhouse at Cave Springs (near present-day La Russell, Missouri), with John C. Price of Mount Vernon appointed as the circuit court judge. Price later (before?) served as treasurer of the United States under President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvan ...

. The county court operated in other temporary locations within the county until the current Jasper County Courthouse was constructed on Carthage square in the mid-1890s. The county adopted an official flag in 2001, which was unveiled during the county's 160th birthday celebration. The flag depicts the county courthouse surrounded by 15 stars, representing Jasper County's 15 townships. The center blue and red stars memorialize the struggle in Jasper County during the Civil War years, including the Battle of Carthage in 1861 and second battle in 1863.

Towns established prior to the Civil War

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. On Sunday, May 22, 2011, Jasper County was struck in Joplin with a catastrophic EF5 multiple-vortex tornado . The

2011 Joplin tornado The Joplin tornado, also referred to as simply the Joplin EF5, was a large, deadly and devastating Enhanced Fujita scale, EF5 tornado that struck the city of Joplin, Missouri, United States during the evening hours of Sunday, May 22, 2011, causi ...

ranked as the seventh deadliest in America's history.

Adjacent counties

* Barton County (north) * Dade County (northeast) * Lawrence County (east) * Newton County (south) * Cherokee County, Kansas (west) *

Crawford County, Kansas Crawford County is a county located in Southeast Kansas. Its county seat is Girard, and its most populous city is Pittsburg. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 38,972. The county was named in honor of Samuel Crawford, the ...

(northwest)

Major highways

* ** ** * ** * * * * * * *

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 117,404 people, 45,639 households, and 30,202 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 50,668 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.24%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.93%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.51% Native American, 0.99% Asian, 0.25%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 3.89% from other races, and 3.18% from two or more races. Approximately 6.84% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 45,639 households, out of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.05 In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.17% under the age of 19, 7.4% from 20 to 24, 25.11% from 25 to 44, 22.24% from 45 to 64, and 12.14% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,323, and the median income for a family was $37,611. Males had a median income of $28,573 versus $20,386 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,227. About 10.40% of families and 14.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.20% of those under age 18 and 10.30% of those age 65 or over.

2020 Census

Education

Unified K-12 school districts covering parts of the county, no matter how small, including those which have offices and/or schools in other counties, include:
Text list
/ref> * Carl Junction R-I School District * Carthage R-IX School District * Diamond R-IV School District * Golden City R-III School District * Jasper County R-V School District * Joplin School District * Sarcoxie R-II School District * Webb City R-VII School District There is also a single elementary school district, Avilla R-XIII School District.

Public schools

*Avilla R-XIII School District – Avilla **Avilla Elementary/Middle School (K-08) *Carl Junction R-I School District – Carl Junction **Carl Junction Primary School (K-01) **Carl Junction Primary School (02-03) **Carl Junction Intermediate School (04-06) **Carl Junction Junior High School (07-08) **Carl Junction High School (09-12) *Carthage R-IX School District –

**Columbian Elementary School (PK-04) **Fairview Elementary School (PK-04) **Mark Twain Elementary School (PK-04) **Pleasant Valley Elementary School (PK-04) **Steadley Elementary School (PK-04) **Carthage Middle School (05-06) **Carthage Junior High School (07-08) ** Carthage High School (09-12) *Jasper R-V School District –

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

**Jasper County Elementary School (K-06) **Jasper High School (07-12) *Joplin R-VIII School District – Joplin **Memorial Education Center (PK) **Cecil Floyd Elementary School (K-05) **Columbia Elementary School (K-05) **Soaring Heights Elementary School (K-05) **Eastmorland Elementary School (PK-05) **Irving Elementary School (K-05) **Jefferson Elementary School (K-05) **Kelsey Norman Elementary School (K-05) **McKinley Elementary School (K-05) **Royal Heights Elementary School (K-05) **Stapleton Elementary School (K-05) **West Central Elementary School (K-05) **East Middle School (06-08) **North Middle School (06-08) **South Middle School (06-08) **

Joplin High School Joplin High School is a public high school located in Joplin, Missouri, United States, founded in 1885. The school serves students in grades 9 through 12 and is the only traditional high school in the Joplin School District. History In 1885, Jop ...

(09-12) *Sarcoxie R-II School District – Sarcoxie **Wildwood Elementary School (PK-05) **Sarcoxie High School (06-12) *Webb City R-VII School District – Webb City **Franklin Early Childhood Center (PK) **Madge T. James Kindergarten Center (PK-K) **Bess Truman Primary Center (K-01) **Webster Primary Center (01-02) **Carterville Elementary School (PK-04) **Eugene Field Elementary School (03-04) **Harry S. Truman Elementary School (02-04) **Mark Twain Elementary School (03-04) **Webb City Middle School (05-06) **Webb City Junior High School (07-08) ** Webb City High School (09-12)

Private schools

*Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School – Joplin (K-12) – Nonsectarian (Special Education) *Joplin Area Catholic Schools – Joplin (PK-12) –

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

**St. Mary's Elementary School (PK-05) **St. Peter's Middle School (06-08) **McAuley Catholic High School (09-12) *Martin Luther School – Joplin (PK-08) –

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

*College Heights Christian School – Joplin (PK-12) –

Nondenominational Christian Non-denominational Christianity (or nondenominational Christianity) consists of churches, and individual Christians, which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligni ...

*St. Ann’s Catholic School –

(PK-06) –

Post-secondary

Missouri Southern State University Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,087 students in Fall 2023. History Missouri Souther ...

- Joplin. A public, four-year university. * Ozark Christian College - Joplin. A private, four-year college associated with the independent Christian churches and churches of Christ.

Public libraries

*Carthage Public Library *Joplin Public Library *Sarcoxie Public Library *Webb City Public Library

Communities

Cities

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...

* Asbury * Carl Junction * Carterville *

(county seat) * Duenweg *

* Joplin (small portion in Newton County; largest city) * La Russell * Neck City * Oronogo * Purcell * Reeds * Sarcoxie * Waco * Webb City

Villages

* Airport Drive * Avilla *

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

* Carytown * Duquesne *

Fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of '' fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word , meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London financial m ...

Unincorporated communities

* Belleville * Bowers Mill * Dudenville * Galesburg * Kendricktown *

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

* Lone Elm * Maple Grove * Maxville * Medoc * Parshley * Preston *

Prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notions ...

* Scotland, Missouri, Scotland * Tuckahoe, Missouri, Tuckahoe

Former community

*Oakland Park, Missouri, Oakland Park

Townships

* Duval Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Duval * Galena Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Galena * Jackson Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Jackson * Jasper Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper * Joplin Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Joplin * Lincoln Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Lincoln * Madison Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Madison * Marion Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Marion * McDonald Township, Jasper County, Missouri, McDonald * Mineral Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Mineral * Preston Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Preston * Sarcoxie Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Sarcoxie * Sheridan Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Sheridan * Twin Groves Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Twin Groves * Union Township, Jasper County, Missouri, Union

Politics

Local

The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party completely controls politics at the local level in Jasper County. Republicans hold every elected position in the county. In 2016, Hillary Clinton received 21.9% of the vote in Jasper County, lower than any Democratic party (United States), Democratic presidential candidate in the county's history.

State

Jasper County is divided into four districts in the Missouri House of Representatives, all of which are held by Republicans. *District 127 — Ann Kelley (R-Lamar, Missouri, Lamar) Consists the Northeast part of the county. *District 161 — Bill White (R- Joplin) Consists of the city of Joplin. *District 162 — Charlie Davis (R- Carl Junction) Consists of the Western art of County. *District 163 — Cody Smith (R-

) Consists of the Eastern part of the county. All of Jasper County is a part of Missouri's 32nd District in the Missouri Senate and is represented by Jill Carter (R- Joplin).

Federal

All of Jasper County is included in MO-07, Missouri's 7th Congressional District and is represented by Billy Long (R-Springfield, Missouri, Springfield) in the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives.

References

External links

Jasper County clerk discovers historic documents from 1841

from large digital online collection from various public and public domain archival sources. Photos of historical homes, towns, scenes, streets and neighborhoods in Jasper County, Missouri

from University of Missouri Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books
Jasper County Mississippi Historical Pages, by Keith Eddins Wilkerson
(accessed September 28, 2016). Information about extinct communities, the early growth of towns, etc. {{coord, 37.20, -94.34, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MO_source:UScensus1990 Jasper County, Missouri, 1841 establishments in Missouri Populated places established in 1841 Joplin, Missouri, metropolitan area