page_title: Joplin, Missouri
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: Joplin, Missouri / Notable people
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Downtown Joplin, MO
context_page_description: Joplin, officially known as the City of Joplin, is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County - even though it is not the county seat, and it is the 12th most-populous city in the state. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 50,150. The city covers an area of 35.69 square miles on the outer edge of the Ozark Mountains. Joplin is the main hub of the three-county Joplin-Miami, Missouri-Oklahoma Metro area, which is home to 210,077 people making it the 5th largest metropolitan area in Missouri. In May 2011, the city was ravaged by a violent EF5 tornado.
context_section_description: Tony Alamo, religious evangelist and polygamist
  John Whitby Allen, photographer and model railroading pioneer
  John Beal, actor
  Emily Newell Blair, writer, suffragist, national Democratic Party political leader, a founder of the League of Women Voters and feminist
  Betty Brewer, actress
  Norma Lee Clark, author, private secretary to Woody Allen
  Billy Cook, spree killer
  Robert Cummings, actor, star of films and television's The Bob Cummings Show
  Pauline Donnan, opera singer
  Christofer Drew, musician
  Scott Elbert, Major League Baseball pitcher
  Jane Grant, co-founder of The New Yorker magazine
  Langston Hughes, poet and writer, for whom Langston Hughes Broadway in Joplin is named
  Hale Irwin, golfer, three-time U.S. Open champion
  H. Dale Jackson, Baptist minister and ethicist, lived in Joplin with his wife when they were newly married in 1949
  Jack Jewsbury, former player and captain of the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer
  Tito Landrum, baseball player
  Jamie McMurray, NASCAR driver
  Charles McPherson, jazz musician
  Elva Miller, singer
  Victor J. Miller, 33rd Mayor of St. Louis
  Lisa Myers, broadcast journalist
  J. Eddie Peck, actor, was raised in Joplin, graduated from Parkwood High School
  Charles Plumb, cartoonist of the syndicated Ella Cinders comic strip
  Carl Pomerance, mathematician
  Darrell Porter, baseball player, World Series champion and 4-time All-Star
  Mel Purcell, tennis player
  Pattiann Rogers, poet
  Wayne Shanklin, music producer and songwriter
  Frank Shellenback, baseball pitcher in Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame
  Pauline Starke, silent-film actress
  Gabby Street, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; adopted Joplin as his hometown
  William Tobin, journalist
  Dennis Weaver, actor, star of films and television's Gunsmoke and McCloud
  Percy Wenrich, composer
  Grant Wistrom, former NFL defensive end, Super Bowl champion with St. Louis Rams
caption: Scottish Rite Cathedral in Joplin, 2010
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