Jasper

Formed January 29, 1841 (73^rd county)

Jasper County (122,750), Carthage (15,573), Joplin (51,765)

The outstanding stone Romanesque facility was constructed in 1894.  It is located on the square at Main, 3^rd, Grant, and 4^th streets.  Missouri State Highway 96 is two blocks to the north of the site.  Maximilian A. Orlopp, Jr. designed this classic courthouse.  The stone for this courthouse came from the same quarry as the Vernon County courthouse.  Towers and a clock top the facility.  Inside are confederate and geological displays and photographs.  Joplin has an augmenting courthouse since 1971.  The county was formed on January 29, 1841 from Native American Territory as the 73^rd county with Carthage as the only county seat.  There were 1842 and 1854 versions of the courthouse earlier.  The county is named for American Revolutionary War hero William Jasper.  The county seat is named for the ancient African city. 

Jasper County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Three Circuit Court Judges, Three County Court Judges and a court clerk serve Jasper County (judicial.) Jasper County is in southwest Missouri.  Springfield, Missouri is east and Kansas City, Missouri is north of the county.  Kansas is on its western border.  The county center is 2.7 miles Northwest of Carthage.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Barton, Dade, Lawrence, and Newton counties and Kansas. 

The area of the county is 640 square miles.  It is 44 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 9 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 191.8 persons per square mile making it 12 out of 115 in the state.  Jasper County has 77.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 44 goes east to southwest in the county from Lawrence County to Newton County.  Interstate 49 enters from the north, Barton County, joins Interstate 44 and heads west, splits and travels south into Newton County.  United States Highway 71 travels north to south from Barton County to Newton County.  The county is an overall rectangle.  Carthage is located in the southern third of the county.  Joplin is in the southwest corner of the county and extends into Newton County.  Carthage is the county seat and Joplin is the largest city.  Carthage is 12.7% of the county population while Joplin is 42.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Joplin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Joplin