Neosho

The federal fish hatchery the plaque gives one line is the oldest one still operating in the country. Established in 1888, it was sited at Neosho for spring water and the railroad, on land bought from Lemuel and Mary Hearrell for $2,472, with Hearrell Spring added for $1. By 1890 it raised seven species. More than 130 species have been produced since, and its work now centers on paddlefish, lake sturgeon, endangered pallid sturgeon, native mussels and rainbow trout for Lake Taneycomo. In 1989 staff found the endangered Ozark cavefish living in one of its springs.

What the plaque says

Neosho Neosho is named from the Osage Indian word, Ni-u-zhu (Main River). Settled about 1833 near 3 large springs, Neosho became the seat of Newton County, 1839. Upon the Ozark tableland prairies of the area, an "Eden of Fertility," settlers from many states and countries made their homes. In this well-favored county, rich also in minerals, is Granby (8 miles east), southwest Missouri's oldest lead and zinc mining town. Discovery of lead in early 1850's brought thousands of miners and speculators here in a "Granby Stampede." Granby lead was used for Confederate bullets before the furnaces were wrecked in 1862. Newtonia, 12 miles to the east on Oliver's Prairie, is the county's first settled area, 1829. This town was devastated by Civil War engage- ments of 1862 and 1864. Nearby is the Hugh Shannon Homestead, 1829, a restoration of one of first pioneer homes in southwest Missouri. Near Diamond, 12 miles north on Diamond Grove Prairie, is the birthplace of Negro scientist George Washington Carver (ca.1861-1943).The site is a national monument. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1953 Neosho (Continued from other side) Neosho became the Confederate capital of Missouri when deposed Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson and the "rebel legislature" met here Oct. 1861. Although an act ratifying the Constitution of the Confederate States and an Ordinance of Secession were passed, the State Convention, which had deposed Gov. C. F. Jackson, kept Missouri in the Union. Approach of the Federals brought removal of the legislature to nearby Cassville, Barry Co., and adjournment, Nov. 1861. Later Marshall, Texas, served as Confederate capital of Missouri. Throughout the war, skirmishes, raids, and guerrilla warfare swept the area inflicting a reign of terror upon the people. Union troops were driven from Neosho by General Joseph O. Shelby's Confederates, 1863. Near Neosho, an area where fruit crops predominate, lived the Swiss Herman Jaeger (1844-1896) who developed a grape resistant to "grape louse" from the wild Ozark vines. Neosho is the birthplace of artist Thomas Hart Benton. In town are a county museum collection and a Federal fish hatchery. Nearby is Camp Crowder, and 15 miles west is Seneca, center of a tripoli mining area. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1953

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George Washington Carver National Monument — 9.8 mi
  The Moses Carver farm west of Diamond where George Washington Carver was born enslaved, the first national monument to an African American, told largely through Carver's own memory of the place.
• Battle of Carthage State Historic Site — 23 mi
  Carter Spring, where Franz Sigel's Union troops camped before the Battle of Carthage of July 5, 1861 and the State Guard camped after it, eleven days before Bull Run.
• Boots Court — 23 mi
  A 1939 Streamline Moderne motor court at the Carthage corner where Route 66 met the Jefferson Highway, rescued after decades of decline and renting all 13 rooms again, radios and no televisions.
• Brush Creek Bridge (Rainbow Bridge) — 25 mi
  The last of three Marsh rainbow arch bridges on Kansas's short stretch of Route 66, built in 1923 and kept standing in 1992 when the road association refused to let it go.

More markers nearby

• McDonald County — 17 mi
• Joplin — 18 mi
• Wyandot Tribe — 20 mi
• Baxter Springs Massacre — 23 mi