The Connor: Joplin’s Gilded Gathering Place 1908
In the winter of 1908, the heart of Joplin pulsed with a kind of opulence rarely seen in small mining towns. At the corner of Fourth and Main, the newly opened Connor Hotel stood like a palace—nine stories of Beaux-Arts splendor, built at a staggering cost of $723,000 (equivalent to over $23 million today ). It was a hotel beyond its means, a statement of ambition in a city still dusted with chat piles and mining grit. At the time, Joplin’s population hovered around 26,000 , a boomtown swollen by the promise of lead and zinc. The Tri-State Mining District spanning parts of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma was responsible for half the world’s lead and 10% of its zinc during peak production. Joplin was the business district for this industrial engine, and the Connor was its crown jewel. The Arrival On Christmas Eve, the hotel’s grand dining room shimmered beneath stained-glass skylights and chandeli...