I have a family member staying in one of the many addiction treatment centers in Pittsburg, Kansas…read more The center is fairly new but very large and on a main street in town . We do not live in this town and my family member went hours away just to attend this facility of his own free will . He was given very few instructions other than to show up and be sober on a certain date and time . Once he got to the facility he realized he needed some simple things like a washcloth and a few other items. I was given an address so that I could mail those items and I did. 2 weeks later, my family member still has not received them even though when I track the package it indicates that it was absolutely left at the post office per the additional 30 some dollars that I paid to have it arrive there priority mail. Why was it not left at the addiction treatment center? I get strange and vague answers . They obviously have a mailing address. They obviously have utilities turned on there and they receive bills there as well as packages from time to time . But we were specifically told that a staff member would go down to the post office and pick up any packages they had waiting. I was not given a PO box. I was given a street address on Michigan street. I called to clarify all of this and I put more things together in a box and mailed them off again with overnight mailing fees. At this point this is getting to be an exorbitant situation financially. And wouldn't you know that this next item did not arrive either! I spent the additional money so that it would arrive there before Christmas because obviously if you have a family member in a treatment center, their morale around the holidays or New Year's Eve is going to be kind of tricky. The package says it was delivered at 11:04 this past Saturday and as I type this my family member still does not have the package. Believe it or not I sent out a third one because again, it's my only Outlet to try to reach this family member and I love them! I did not want them feeling discouraged on new years which was this past Tuesday and Wednesday . I put another package in the mail Monday with an overnight fee and it says it arrived tuesday. Wednesday was New Year's Day so there was no mail service and today? It says it was delivered and yet there is nothing. My family member is so livid that they want to walk out of the addiction treatment center and they are so demoralized but I'm afraid they might actually just do that! This is not just a small community but it's specifically a small community with an extremely high percentage of opioid and alcohol addicted residents in addition to people like my family member who came from out of town for treatment in one of the many fenderly or state-funded facilities . How is it possible that these people trying to get healthy cannot receive essential mail to keep their morale up and to reinforce that they have loved ones at home?? I can understand that the US Postal Service doesn't put any emotional importance or weight on what I just described, but how is it that such a large privately owned facility and the Postal Service have not connected to try to resolve this problem , which clearly goes outside the bounds of this facility because there are similar complaints to mine going back as much as 7 years!!

The people working at USPS in Pittsburg KS were AMAZING! Soooo satisfied with the service here…read more They were pleasant and charismatic- and they had smiles that were simply contagious. They should absolutely be given raises, or at least commended for their bubbly and fun energies!!! I never use yelp - that should speak for itself. Brittney Buel

Late on a Friday with cranes lifting something to or from the roof, the Jasper County Courthouse in…read moreCarthage still manages to dominate the entire square just by existing. Even with the grounds fenced off, the street level view is more than enough because this place is massive and unapologetically ornate. Completed in 1895, it was designed by architect Max A Orlopp Jr in a Richardsonian Romanesque style, all rough-faced Carthage limestone, heavy arches and that towering clock tower that looks like it was meant to be seen from miles away. Jasper County was formed in 1841 and named for Sergeant William Jasper, a Revolutionary War hero, and Carthage has always been the county seat. The city itself takes its name from the ancient North African city of Carthage, part of that nineteenth century trend of giving frontier towns grand classical names. Even with construction equipment rumbling around, the courthouse still feels like the kind of building you stop for, whether you planned to or not. The carved stonework, the turrets, the arches, the sheer scale of the thing all hit you at street level without having the need to wander the lawn. It's one of those courthouses that looks less like a government building and more like a fortress crossed with a cathedral, and even on a disrupted Friday evening, it's easy to see why people consider it to be one of Missouri's most impressive county courthouses. [Review 856 of 2026 - 562 in Missouri - 26037 overall]

This is an AMAZING "old school" Courthouse with lovely ornate block work…read more Inside are a few offices and a treasure trove of historic artifacts; a harbor mine, bell, photos, geodes and Route 66 memorabilia. I read in several books that this particular courthouse is one of the most photographed in the USA, understandably so since it is so lovely.

The city of Joplin is a nice sized town for a small town community!…read moreIt is near the borders of Kansas and Oklahoma! I remember Joplin being a pit stop for my family driving from Kansas City to Coffeyville!!! Joplin's history is the famous Route 66 and the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde!! There were zinc and lead mining back in the day as well! Fast forward to May 22, 2011, Joplin had a devastating EF-5 Tornado that went thru their town. They made headlines on their coming together and rebuilding their community. For a small town, it has many restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, shopping, hardware stores, churches, and much more. It's a short drive to Springfield for another option! I've enjoyed my visit! The people are very friendly. The town is beautiful.

At the beginning of the race I was Joplin for position. But now I'm just glad to still be in the…read morerace. A very long time ago I had a very good friend in Joplin. He arranged for me to play my first concert in the city and it seems like the whole town showed up. Afterwards I spent part of the night canoodling with a beautiful spectacular girl who I still think about to this day. It was one of those magical nights and I have never forgotten it. Not long after my visit my friend passed away. It's very confusing and complicated but it was ruled a suicide. It was pretty grisly and horrible. I still have good friends that live here but there is a shadow over the town and my heart ever since. Then a couple of months later a devastating tornado wiped out a huge portion of the town and caused many casualties. There will always be a special place in my heart for Joplin and someday I look forward to my return.

I guess this place is okay if you really liked the show "Andy Griffith." Not really much to see or…read moredo except take in the nostalgic views of areas past... But nothing crazy, it's not like people are walking around dressed in early 1900's cloths. In fact most the "stores" aren't even accessible. Peeping in the windows they are full of stuff you'd see in your garage "storage." I'd say the main focus here is the hanger style dinner "which was closed" the post office "full of junk" and the giant barn across the street that we didn't go look at... I'm sure these things are fascinating to someone from a different country or a big city who never seen these thing's, but any "Midwestern" person would not be amused.

This was great! Was much like an open air museum. I think there are actually people living here…read moretoo, some houses looked like it anyway. Since it was a sunday morning even the church was going strong in this small town. Don't forget to check out the daycare center. ;-)

I looked into hosting a party at the Phelp's House, and was very excited about it, but ended up…read morehaving to cancel due to the house manager, Tommie Baldwin, being very rude and not honoring certain things in the contract. When I first reached out about renting the house I specifically asked when the final headcount was needed (rent is based on your number of guests), Tommie told me we pay rent the day of and it's based off RSVPs. Originally, I was planning for around 50, but found my list had grown by the time I took a tour. The day of the tour there was 4 in our group, all of us are planning the party together and so obviously some of the others had questions/comments as we went along. As we were touring it became very obvious that Tommie was very particular about some things, which is fine, but also not very professional. At one point she realized the person that had rented the night before forgot to change a thermostat by three degrees, and said "hmm, I'll have to think about how much of their deposit to keep" right in front of us all! So, there doesn't seem to be a schedule or table she goes by when determining if a deposit should be returned, it seems to be based off her mood at the time. We had inquired about using certain chairs that the contract lists as available to all renters, and we were met with "Why? Why do you want those when there are plenty of these others" in an incredibly rude tone. I asked if parking was allowed at the church next door, she responded with "That is a school, not a church!" with more attitude than was necessary. For the record, the building says "church", so...yep. We went ahead and signed a contract and left a deposit check before leaving after the tour. One of the other people with me asked if we would be given a copy of the signed contract, and her response was "Why would I do that? You have a copy of the blank one, it would be a waste of my time to copy every contract. We then asked if we could take a picture of it, and she said we could of the front and signature pages, so we went ahead and took pictures of the whole thing. That should have been our sign to say never mind, but we were very excited about the space. The very next day I was contacted by Tommie saying she was uncomfortable going forward with the contract unless my answers to her questions were satisfactory. I was confused because our party is nothing out of the ordinary. She was upset our guest list had almost tripled since I had first inquired about the place, even though I had previously addressed that in an email. She was also upset to find out it would be a joint birthday party, why that mattered I'm not sure. The number of people being celebrated shouldn't matter when rent is based off the number of guests. She then accused us of trying to throw a wedding disguised as a birthday party to avoid paying for the wedding packages all because we had asked if we could use the gold chairs and brown chairs mentioned in the contract. I was floored. The contract clearly lists those items as available for use to anyone who rents. According to Tommie those chairs are reserved for weddings only and are not to leave the third floor, but like I said, that's not how the contract reads, so she tried to modify an already signed contract by saying we weren't allowed to use them, even though it would have been our responsibility to return them to where we got them. I informed her she should probably have the wording in the contract changed because there were several inconsistencies. Following the phone call Tommie told me she would hold our check for a week before depositing it in case we decided on a different venue, which is exactly what we did. I emailed her back asking when I could pick the check up, and after a few snarky responses she said she would let me know the next day when she would be available. The next day comes around and the only thing I had received from her was another snarky email. She ignored a follow up from me asking what time I could get the check; she also ignored a phone call and voicemail from me. She waited until 4:40pm to text me saying she'd left the check on the porch and sent a picture of the location. There was no "can you pick up during these times?", no "are you okay with me leaving the check on the porch?"; it was incredibly unprofessional. I tried finding a way to contact someone else from the Carthage Historical Preservation (the group that owns the house), but unfortunately all ways of communication lead back to Tommie. The whole experience was incredibly disappointing. The house itself is amazing and I definitely recommend taking a tour if you're into history and historical houses, but definitely tread lightly with the house manager if you are looking to have an event there, know that she is not a fan of people actually reading the contract and expecting her to honor it, there is no other contact person, and document everything.

Such a very cool & unique house. Great for small get togethers such as a small wedding reception…read more This is actually where my wedding reception was held. If you rent the upstairs ballroom it was more money so we opted just for the main floor plus the wedding party got to use the 2nd floor to change. Definitely a cool place if nothing else to take a tour of and learn some of the history.

Somber memorial in a park…read more The Memorial was erected in honor of of the citizens who perished during the tragic tornado that ripped through Joplin MO on the evening of May 22, 2011. The category EF-5 rated multiple-vortex twister devastated Joplin and killed 158 people. All their names were inscribed alphabetically by last name on the plaque. It was the deadliest U.S. tornado since 1947 causing billions in damages. The tornado was a mile-wide wall of black swirling wind... I couldn't even imagine. It's so sad. There were 1,150 injuries caused by the tornado as well. Next to the memorial is a fountain enclosed by a white fence. It was a little tricky to find it but near the children's park parking lot you have to go down a small slope and you will see the small memorial. It wasn't immediately visible to the eye as we were driving to look for it. Review #1950