It was once a thriving marble and limestone mining town that contributed to the Missouri Capitol Building.

Phoenix is located between Walnut Grove and Ashgrove in Green County. According to the White River Historical Society in a quarterly publication, seen here, dead children, along with some injured, were pulled from the river and taken by train to Branson, Mo. The tornado killed 11 people, including nine children. In March 1920, a tornado devastated the town south of Hollister on the east bank of Turkey Creek. Today only the ruins of a post office, the foundations of destroyed houses and the inlays of old streets remain.ĭrop a pin locating the ghost town of Melva, Missouri in southern Taney County The people of Southwest Missouri know all too well how destructive tornadoes can be – and the remains of Melva are a testament to that. The Jolly Mill has survived all these years and is now on the National Registry of Historic Places. The small village was mentioned marginally during the Civil War and was said to have been the scene of some war-related battles. One story describes a rival editor of the Neosho Times newspaper stopping at Jollification, and local well-wishers shared their accounts of a Newton County attorney indulging in distilled spirits, bar fights and calling his cronies to a “treme.”ĭrop the pin to locate the ghost town of Jollification, which now houses Jolly Mill Park.Įventually parts of Jollification were burned. The Isbell family and possibly the enslaved people owned by the family built a distillery.Ĭensus and real estate records show that a wide variety of people lived in and around Jollification. Jollification was established about 18 miles east of Neosho, about 40 acres of land that the Isbell family bought according to these sources here and here. This also applies to the ghost towns of southwest Missouri. One thing is for sure, no matter the legend, many have their own version of the story to tell. The Four State area has all sorts of local lore about Spooklight, Hoffman’s Mansion, Devil’s Promenade Bridge, and Ozark’s Blue Man.

Even more so when the beginning of such mysteries can be dated over a century ago. A common problem regarding local legends, lore, and tales is the lack of solid evidence of their existence and much hearsay about the origins of the stories.

Phoenix missouri ghost town