# Joplin, MO, an Entertainment Center? Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 19, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522 "2002-11-19T14:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/1 "2002-11-19T14:00:25Z")
In [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_009.html) about Billy Tipton, a female Jazz musician who lived as a man, Cecil says: > [@](#): > > Initially they > were based in Oklahoma City, but by 1940 they had moved to Joplin, Missouri, then an entertainment center. I lived in Joplin, Missouri for seven years, and I never learned anything to suggest that the city was ever anything more than an Ozark mining & manufacturing town. I heard talk around town that Scott Joplin visited the city a few times, as people were willing to pay to see the novelty of a guy named Joplin playing in a town named Joplin. (And FTR, the town was not named for Scott. It was named for a minister, Harris T. Joplin, who organized the first Methodist congregation in Southwest Missouri.) Does anybody know any more about this? Was Joplin THE destination for with-it musicians back in The Day? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/2 "2002-12-04T07:13:25Z")
Apparently nobody knows the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/3 "2002-12-04T14:47:14Z")
Me neither, but while Googling “billy tipton joplin” I turned up Cecil’s column word-for-word on this website. Is that legal? [http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/19/24/news\_and\_views/straight\_dope.html](http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/19/24/news_and_views/straight_dope.html) ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/4 "2002-12-04T16:56:02Z")
Of course it is. Cecil’s column is syndicated, and runs as a regular feature in the online Shepherd Express. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/5 "2002-12-04T18:03:42Z")
Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/6 "2002-12-04T18:57:01Z")
When I first saw the thread I did a Google search on Joplin, Missouri, and found various sites mentioning that it was a mining boomtown at some point. Perhaps at that point it was also an “entertainment center” but I didn’t find any confirmation of that fact. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joplin-mo-an-entertainment-center-huh/137522/7 "2002-12-04T19:08:36Z")
OK, I’m _from_ Joplin, & the truth is, Joplin isn’t what it used to be. I don’t think Joplin was ever a _huge_ entertainment center, & it may not even been as much one as OKC, but it did once have more of that sort of thing. Of course, now it’s a bit like that British joke: “What do young people do for fun around here?” “Move to the city.” (Is that a Monkees reference? Have I now done 2 Monkees refs in 2 days? How weird. Oh, maybe it’s from somewhere else…)