Joplin is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Liberty County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. The population was 157 at the 2010 census.

History

Joplin was founded in 1910 by Lebanese immigrant Joseph E. Rehal, who was its first postmaster. It was a station house on the Great Northern Railway as early as 1902.

Train derailment

On September 25, 2021, at approximately 3:55 p.m.,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

passenger train 7/27, also known as the westbound ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...

'', suffered a derailment west of Joplin while en route from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Three people were killed and 50 more were injured when the eight rear cars of the ten-car train derailed.

Geography

Joplin is located on the eastern edge of Liberty County. It is bordered to the east by

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

in Hill County. U.S. Route 2 runs along the southern edge of Joplin, leading west to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, the Liberty

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 ...

, and east to Havre. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Joplin CDP has a total area of , of which , or 2.20%, are water.

Climate

Demographics

For statistical purposes, the

has defined this community as a

(CDP). 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 2000, there were 210 people, 91 households, and 66 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 105 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 99.52%

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 ...

, 0.48% from other races.

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 were 1.90% of the population. There were 91 households, out of which 22.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31, and the average family size was 2.70. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 22.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $38,281, and the median income for a family was $40,625. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $17,500 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $24,014. About 4.6% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including none of those under the age of 18 and 5.6% of those 65 or over.

Education

The former Joplin School was closed in 2005 when the consolidated

-Joplin-

public school district was formed. The school district serves students from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Joplin Schools consolidated with Inverness, MT in the early 1980s to form J-I school before it consolidated with the Chester School District. The 1974 graduating class was 18 students.

Notable people

* Joseph E. Rehal - founder of Joplin, Montana

References

{{Authority control Census-designated places in Liberty County, Montana Census-designated places in Montana