The City
That Helped America Learn to Fly
A grass field near Schifferdecker Park. A World War I pilot with a dream. A local airplane manufacturer. And a series of firsts that put Joplin on the map of aviation history decades before most people knew such a map existed.
Most cities have one connection to early aviation history. A famous flight. A notable visitor. A museum exhibit.
Joplin has a list.
By the early 1910s, barely a decade after the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk in December 1903, Joplin already had a grass landing field at Electric Park — later known as Schifferdecker Park — where flight exhibitions drew crowds and sparked imaginations.
In 1919, Thomas Webber, a World War I pilot, opened the Joplin Aviation School. That same year, the Hiland-O'Brien Airplane Company set up shop at 3rd and Kentucky and began manufacturing Curtiss airplanes — making Joplin home to the nearest airplane manufacturer between here and Chicago. In the mid-1920s, at the urging of J.J. Hiland, a 160-acre site west of 7th and Schifferdecker was developed into a proper airport, opening in 1927. Five years later, the city purchased 400 acres for a new facility — the site of today's Joplin Regional Airport.
The famous names passed through, too. In April 1933, Charles Lindbergh and his wife landed in Joplin. In October 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy spoke at the Joplin Airport on the campaign trail that would carry him to the presidency.
And then there are the stories that most people have never heard:
Joplin was the site of the first airplane ever brought down by gunfire — and consequently the first aerial search and rescue operation in history.
A Joplin native, Bob Cummings — yes, the actor — became the holder of Flight Instructor Certificate No. 1, the first certified flight instructor in the entire United States.
From a grass field to Lindbergh.
From a local airplane factory to America's first flight instructor. From the first plane ever shot down to a young senator making a speech on a tarmac.
Joplin's aviation history isn't a footnote. It's a chapter that most of the country hasn't read yet.
The Freedom of Flight Museum at the Joplin Regional Airport keeps this history alive — and the stories inside will surprise you.
A Leadership Joplin Class 2026 Project
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Various Joplin, MO photographs provided by 1281 Photography and Waypoint UAV.