Dedicated October 18, 1925 · Joplin, Missouri
Built to honor. Worth saving.
For a century, this hall has carried Joplin’s music, memories, service, and resolve. Its next chapter is ours to write.
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Why it was built
Joplin built it for
those who served.
After World War I, Robert S. Thurman American Legion Post 13 and its Women’s Auxiliary helped lead the campaign for a permanent memorial and civic gathering place. Joplin voters approved construction bonds by roughly three to one in 1923.
Designed by August and Alfred Michaelis in the Classical Revival style, the $250,000 hall was dedicated in 1925 before a crowd of about 2,000.
Walk through the full historyWhat these walls have held
A memorial.
A stage. A lifeline.
Memorial Hall’s meaning has never fit into a single category. It remembers local service members, anchors civic traditions, and holds generations of shared experience.
A living memorial
Its grounds honor Joplin’s dead from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, extending the hall’s original World War I purpose.
The Four-State stage
Sousa, Marian Anderson, the Harlem Globetrotters, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Robert Plant, and thousands more came through its doors.
There when needed
After the 2011 tornado, the hall served Joplin as an emergency triage, alternate-care, and morgue facility.
The archive remembers
One hall.
Thousands of nights.
Programs, handbills, and ticket stubs preserve the everyday evidence of a place that belonged to the whole region.
Closed to public gatherings since 2020
Where things stand · July 2026
Closed.
Not forgotten.
Corrosion contributed to a partial collapse of the west auditorium roof in June 2020. Engineers also documented settlement, masonry cracking, water intrusion, and aging systems. The auditorium remains closed; the building is used mainly for municipal offices and storage.
Demolition is no longer the city’s active direction. The City Council has backed a Friends of Joplin Memorial Hall rehabilitation framework—but no construction is underway, and the financing conditions have not yet been met.
The rehabilitation proposal
Honor the past.
Reopen the future.
Concept rendering · SFS Architecture
The Friends-led proposal would preserve Memorial Hall as an approximately 2,200-seat multi-use auditorium. It would repair the structure, replace failing systems, modernize the stage and backstage areas, preserve every war memorial, and retain an emergency-response role.
- $16.74M
- Current proposed rehabilitation budget, including contingency
- ≈ 2,200
- Planned seats in a restored multi-use auditorium
- $2M
- Separate community campaign goal for bridge, startup, and operations
What still has to happen
A local vote
Voters must approve raising Joplin’s lodging tax from 4% to 6%. As of July 30, 2026, a ballot date had not been formally finalized.
A community campaign
The Friends proposal calls for $2 million in private support, alongside preservation and New Markets tax credits.
Final financing
The city’s proposed $7 million bond issue remains conditional on the tax increase, fundraising, final plans, and construction financing.
Your part in the next chapter
Built by a community.
Saved by one, too.
A gift today helps establish the community organization working to give Memorial Hall a durable future. Continue to Givebutter to make your contribution.
Your memory belongs in this history.
Help preserve Joplin Memorial Hall through the stories, photographs, ticket stubs, programs, and details only the community can provide.