Joplin Fairview Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can carry it to you. Out in Jack County, there's a burial ground that holds two names and a whole lot of history in one. It's called Joplin Fairview Cemetery, and right there in that name you've got a story worth unfolding.

The cemetery takes the first part of its name from the nearby community of Joplin. The second part comes from Fairview, which was the name of the community's school. And for good measure, Fairview Baptist Church was also located near this very site.

Two names, one place, all of it rooted in the same patch of Jack County ground. Now the earliest marked burial here goes back to 1881, when Jessie T. Gillis was laid to rest.

That's the oldest grave with a marker to prove it. Then, in 1899, the man the community itself was named for was brought here. Johnny Joplin, buried at this site.

The founder, so to speak, coming home to the ground that carried his name. For decades the cemetery kept its quiet vigil. Then came 1947, and a change that could have left this place without a caretaker.

The Joplin School District consolidated with the Jacksboro School District that year, and when the school building was sold, something thoughtful happened with those funds. They weren't folded into some distant account and forgotten. They were given to a newly formed Joplin Cemetery Association, which took on stewardship of the burial ground and holds it to this day.

That's the kind of story this place tells without sayin' a word. A school closes, a community shifts, but the people who cared about Joplin made sure the ground where Johnny Joplin and Jessie T. Gillis and all the rest were buried would never be left to fend for itself.

Today, Joplin Fairview Cemetery stands as a reminder of an early Jack County community. The school is gone. The district consolidated.

But the cemetery association keeps the gate, and the names on those stones keep the memory.

What the marker says

THE CEMETERY AT THIS SITE IS NAMED FOR THE NEARBY COMMUNITY OF JOPLIN, AND FOR THAT COMMUNITY'S SCHOOL, WHICH WAS KNOWN AS FAIRVIEW. FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH WAS ALSO LOCATED NEAR THIS SITE. THE EARLIEST MARKED BURIAL IS THE 1881 GRAVE OF JESSIE T. GILLIS. JOHNNY JOPLIN, FOR THE WHOM THE COMMUNITY OF JOPLIN WAS NAMED, WAS BURIED AT THE SITE IN 1899. WHEN THE JOPLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATED WITH THE JACKSBORO SCHOOL DISTRICT IN 1947, FUNDS FROM THE SALE OF THE SCHOOL BUIDING WERE GIVEN TO THE NEWLY FORMED JOPLIN CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, WHICH RETAINS STEWARDSHIP OF THE BURIAL GROUND. TODAY, JOPLIN FAIRVIEW CEMETERY SERVES AS A REMINDER OF AN EARLY JACK COUNTY COMMUNITY.