Same here; grew up in Joplin before escaping to move to California in 1988.
It was wild growing up in that area with the chat piles hundreds of feet tall towering over these little towns.
When I was in high school the drinking age across the state border in Kansas was 18 so every weekend we'd all go over to the night clubs in Galena.
For folks interested in such things, Joplin has a Mineral Museum in Schifferdecker Park that has tons of info and exhibits on the mining that went on in this area. Has some pretty impressive (and massive) mineral samples, too. It's worth checking out if you're ever in the area.
It was wild growing up in that area with the chat piles hundreds of feet tall towering over these little towns.
When I was in high school the drinking age across the state border in Kansas was 18 so every weekend we'd all go over to the night clubs in Galena.
For folks interested in such things, Joplin has a Mineral Museum in Schifferdecker Park that has tons of info and exhibits on the mining that went on in this area. Has some pretty impressive (and massive) mineral samples, too. It's worth checking out if you're ever in the area.