Who we are .. and how we got here

The Joplin Lions Club began its trek through history in the early fall of 1921. The newly chartered Springfield Lions Club came down to Carthage and Joplin on the train to begin organizing these two clubs. It was announced under international orders at a meeting of the Joplin organization at noon at the Hotel Connor on October 21, 1921 by organizer Cornelius Conner, who had  been working in Joplin for nearly a month, that Joplin would receive its charter in November making it the 5th Lions Club in Missouri. On the evening of November 2nd at the Elks Ballroom, President W.L. Chambers received the charter for the Joplin Lions Club from Melvin Jones, General Secretary of the International Association of Lions Clubs. It was that reported that 125 members from the Lions Clubs of Springfield, Carthage and Miami, OK gathered for the supper and charter ceremonies.

The current clubhouse was actually Joplin Wall Street Fire Station #2 until  its acquisition by the South Joplin  Lions Club in 1982. The original fireman's brass pole that survived all the club mergers and property management was donated for installation in the new Fire Station #4 which was destroyed in the 2011 tornado. The design of the new station was based on old #2.