Four State Area
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The Four State Area is an unofficial term used to describe a loosely defined region of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma, and northwestern Arkansas. It is so called because it is a region encompassing the corners of four U.S. states. Unlike the Four Corners region, it has no common point where all four states meet.
Another older name for the area refers to the famous "Joplin District" mineral deposits. The mining district does not include Arkansas, and the Joplin District minerlas are referred to as coming from the "Tri-State." [who can explain how "Four State" came to trump "Tri-State"?] The Everret Richie Tri-State Mineral Museum was renamed after the death of its long time curator and retired Eagle-Picher employee. http://www.joplinmuseum.org/about.htm
Its metropolitan center is Joplin, Missouri. Joplin is 7 miles from Kansas, 10 miles from Oklahoma and roughly 55 miles from Arkansas. A nascent megalopolis has developed along I-44 and US-71 between Fayetteville, Springfield and Grand Lake which is destined to define the Four State area. A night-time view from an airliner's window reveals the remarkable extent of this budding area.
The official Joplin Metropolitan Area is made up of Jasper and Newton Counties. To people in the area, the Four State Area is more important. This designation is widely used across the area. Businesses, government and the media focus on the wider area almost exclusively. The "Four State" name is understood and used as far away as Tulsa (100 SW of Joplin) as there is a strong connection and identity with this historical region maintained by residents who moved west ino the new state of Oklahoma.
The cultural and economic focus of the whole area centers on Joplin, which owes its prominence to the economic boost of the boom days of Lead-Zinc mining at the turn of the 19-20th century. The Metropolitan area increases rapidly in population each day, Joplin roughly tripling in size, from the large amount of workers commuting into town. While the masses live in the unincorporated outskirts, Joplin itself unfortunately is still struggling to overcome the economic collapse after WWII. If it does not do something quickly to recover its vitality, the area will be redefined by the economic explosion to the south in Arkansas.
South of Joplin along the US-71 corridor in Arkansas, Wal-Mart headquarters has brought a booming economy to an area once know primarily only for chicken houses and truck farming (Allen Foods, Spea Vinegar, Popeye Spinach, etc...). A huge density of poultry farms has brought scattered pockets of prosperity into southern Missouri, an area that has known little else but economic depression since the end of the hey-day of tourism centered in the once beautiful Noel, Mo (Elk River) area. The promise of get-rich-quick contracts with poultry industry giants (Tyson, et al) who legally distribute their liability to small landowners, has resulted in an enormous water-shed pollution problem downstream. The City of Tulsa obtains water from an impound called Spavinaw Lake. The poultry litter leachate from Four States is then literally piped into Tulsa's Yahola Reservoir for cleanup and consumption.
Joplin shopping centers are used by people across the area with the area mall advertising having a trade area population of over 450,000 [1].
Four States Amateur QRP Group is a nationally prominent amateur radio club for QRP (low power) ham radio operations. [2]
Other noteworthy cities and towns of the area are
Pittsburg, Kansas, home of Pittsburg State University;
Galena, Kansas, along with Picher, Oklhoma, center of the "Joplin District" lead zinc mining operations;
Miami, Oklahoma, home of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M;
Grove, Oklahoma, center of the tourist and retirement areas of Grand Lake of the Cherokees, an impoundment of the Neosho, Spring and Elk Rivers
Rogers, Arkansas, home of the first Wal-Mart (Rogers is in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville Metro area in Northwest Arkansas);
and Carthage, Missouri, historical site of the Battle of Carthage during the Civil War.
Several smaller cities/towns that are located in the Four State Area:
Columbus, Kansas, along with Coffeyville, Neodesha and other small towns, famous for bricks made from the underclays of the vast coal fields of SE Kansas and NE Oklahoma
Hornet, Missouri closest communiity to the Spooklight
Neosho, Missouri, the Flower Box City, home to beautiful Big Spring Park
Noel, Missouri, center of the early 20th century tourist destination
Pineville, Missouri, starting point for float trips down the Elk River to Ginger Blue Resort, Shady Beach, and the city of Noel.
Seneca, Missouri, home to America Tripoli and Milnot
Siloam Springs, Arkansas, home to John Brown University
Sulfur Springs, Arkansas
Wyandotte, Oklahoma, capital of the Wyandotte Nation
The area sits at the intersection of U.S. Route 71 and Interstate 44. It is 20 miles from U.S. Route 60 and 15 miles from U.S. Route 69. Historical U.S. Route 66 ran through the area.
It has been proposed to convert Route 71 into Interstate 49. Just east of the Joplin city limits MO 249 is being upgraded, through 2008, to a 2-lane limited access highway between Interstate 44 and US 171/Business Route 71 to the north. It is expected to be part of the Interstate 49 route as a bypass of Interstate 44.
Interstate 66 is in long-term plans to extend from the current ending in Virginia through to southern Kansas. Tenatitive plans have it following Interstate 44 or Route 60 from Springfield and then continuing along US 400 through Kansas. Current plans do not extend west past Kentucky.
[edit] Four State Area Eastern U.S.
There is also another "Four State" area in the Eastern U.S. consisting of the areas of Northern Virginia, the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Central Maryland, and South-Central Pennsylvania.
