Monark Springs, Missouri

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Monark Springs
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Monark Springs
Location within the state of Missouri
Coordinates: 36°51′52″N94°17′30″W / 36.86444°N 94.29167°W / 36.86444; -94.29167 Coordinates: 36°51′52″N94°17′30″W / 36.86444°N 94.29167°W / 36.86444; -94.29167
Country United States
State Missouri
County Newton
Elevation
[1]
1,158 ft (353 m)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)

Monark Springs is a ghost town in Newton County, Missouri, United States. It is located approximately five miles east of Neosho. The site is on the north bank of Hickory Creek about 1.5 miles east of U.S. Route 60. [2] The spring associated with the town is located within the Hickory Creek floodplain approximately 500 feet to the southeast. [3]

Contents

History

Founded by Truman Elmore, the town was named after the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, resulting in the name, MoNArk Springs. [4]

In August 1956, an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred in Monark Springs during a national Church of God camp meeting that had over 400 members from other states as far west as California and east to Kentucky, attending. [5] [6] The cases continued to spread outside of the town after the meeting, with 16 reported cases cropping up in various parts of Missouri and Kansas. [7] [8] CDC officials were sent to the camp site to investigate the water in the area, in order to determine the exact source of the outbreak. [9] It was eventually discovered that a carrier of typhoid fever had unknowingly contaminated the water in the well that had been used as drinking water for the entire camp site. [10]

Related Research Articles

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Newton County, Missouri U.S. county in Missouri

Newton County is a county located in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 58,114. Its county seat is Neosho. The county was organized in 1838 and is named in honor of John Newton, a hero who fought in the Revolutionary War.

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Neosho is the most populous city in Newton County, Missouri, United States, which it serves as the county seat. With a population of 11,835 as of the 2010 census, the city is a part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region with an estimated 176,849 (2011) residents. Neosho lies on the western edge of the Ozarks.

Stella, Missouri Village in Missouri, United States

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Aroma is an unincorporated community in southern Newton County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The community is on the north bank of Hickory Creek 1.5 miles east of Monark Springs. It is on Missouri Route H 2.5 miles north of Sweetwater and 4.5 miles east of Neosho.

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Croydon typhoid outbreak of 1937

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James Duard Marshall American artist

James Duard Marshall was a painter, lithographer, museum director, and art conservator who lived most of his life in Kansas City. Duard [pronounced "doo-erd"] was a student of Thomas Hart Benton and is best known for his 30-foot mural created for the centennial of Neosho, Missouri in 1939. The civic leaders of Neosho had approached Benton to produce the mural, as Benton had been born in Neosho, but he suggested that his student Marshall do the job. That mural hangs in the Neosho-Newton County Library.

References

  1. Neosho East, MO, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1972 (1984 rev.)
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Monark Springs, Missouri
  3. James, Larry (1999). The Monark Towns and Surrounding Villages. Newton County Historical Society. p. 1–7.
  4. "TYPHOID HITS FAMILIES AT CHURCH MEET". Chicago Daily Tribune . August 26, 1956. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  5. Jean Strouse (1956). "Monark Springs Typhoid Fever". Newsweek. 48 (1–13).
  6. "TYPHOID CASES GROWING AFTER CAMP MEETING". Chicago Daily Tribune . August 31, 1956. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  7. "LINK 6 TYPHOID CASES TO CAMP; STUDY OTHERS". Chicago Daily Tribune . September 5, 1956. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  8. Avery, Peter Van (1959). Public health. H.W. Wilson. p. 65. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  9. Committee on Salmonella (1969). An evaluation of the salmonella problem. National Academy of Sciences. p. 80. Retrieved October 24, 2010.

Further reading