Joplin's neighborhoods are place to build relationships

Stephen Grindle looks out into the North Heights neighborhood of Joplin from his screened-in porch. The neighborhood is widely known as a porch community. Globe | Laurie Sisk

Blendville. Roanoke. Royal Heights. Oak Pointe. East Town. Murphysburg.

Those are only a few of the neighborhoods in Joplin. We hear the names. But do we know how many neighborhoods there really are in our town? How much do we know about the neighborhood in which we live? How many of our neighbors do we know?

"In a city the size of Joplin, a small city, people don't typically think about neighborhoods. They just think, 'Oh, we are Joplin.' And yes, we are Joplin. But there also are many different pockets within Joplin," said Jill Sullivan, director of the Post Library at the Joplin Public Library. The Post Library has kept compiled records of Joplin's buildings, homes and neighborhoods for historical purposes.

Stephen Grindle, a resident of the North Heights neighborhood who has a background in neighborhood services for government and nonprofit organizations, also is interested in fostering neighborhood relationships. He has used maps, subdivision names and surveys to identify 85 to 90 neighborhoods in Joplin.

"About 85 of these include residential properties. About five to 10 of the 'neighborhoods' are large swaths of uninhabited land or primarily industrial in nature. Each of the residential neighborhoods have a population from 100 to 1,500 people," Grindle said.

Sullivan and Grindle are among a number of local residents, organizations, churches and others who have taken up the banner for strengthening the sense of community that contributes to our feeling of well-being in the place where live.

Grindle said there is importance in knowing the identity of our neighborhood.

"Knowing the name and boundaries of the place where you live is the first step in feeling a sense of rootedness and care for that place," he said. "Much like finding out the name of a new acquaintance, there is something about knowing your neighborhood's name that builds a sense of connection, pride, respect and ownership for that place."

In the same way that one can pass up giving to help a stranger, it also is easy to ignore our neighborhoods if we do not know the people.

"There is something that happens when individuals are united by a common link," Grindle said. "Much like being on the same sports team or a part of the same faith community, you all have something in common — a place you call home. Not many people think of their neighborhood as a place to build connections, but 75 years ago, that was one of the primary places people found community."

Joplin has many ideas to explore as well as places and people to learn about as we visit weekly via this column.

If you have a recommendation of someone who is a valued member of your neighborhood or a neighborhood event or information you would like to pass along,

Welcome, neighbor!