Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jasper and Newton Counties – even though it is not the county seat of either county (Carthage is the seat of Jasper County while Neosho is the seat of Newton County). With a population of 51,762 as of the 2020 census, Joplin is the 13th most-populous city in the state. The city covers an area of 35.69 square miles (92.41 km2) on the outer edge of the Ozark Mountains. Joplin is the main hub of the three-county Joplin-Miami, Missouri-Oklahoma Metro area, which is home to 210,077 people making it the 5th largest metropolitan area in Missouri. In May 2011, a violent EF5 tornado killed more than 150 people and destroyed one-third of the city.

History

19th century

Lead was discovered in the Joplin Creek Valley before the Civil War, but only after the war did significant development take place. By 1871, numerous mining camps sprang up in the valley and resident John C. Cox filed a plan for a city on the east side of the valley. Cox named his village Joplin City after the spring and creek nearby, which had been named for the Reverend Harris G. Joplin, who settled upon its banks circa 1840.

Carthage resident Patrick Murphy filed a plan for a city on the opposite side of the valley and named it Murphysburg. As the nearest sheriff was in Carthage, frontier lawlessness abounded in Joplin. The historic period was referred to as the "Reign of Terror". The cities eventually merged into Union City, but when the merger was found illegal, the cities split. Murphy suggested that a combined city be named Joplin. The cities merged again on March 23, 1873, this time permanently, as the City of Joplin.

While Joplin was first settled for lead mining, zinc, often referred to as "jack", was the most important mineral resource. As railroads were built (which ones?) to connect Joplin to major markets in other cities, it was on the verge of dramatic growth. By the start of the 20th century, the city was becoming a regional metropolis. Construction centered around Main Street, with many bars, hotels, and fine homes nearby. Joplin's three-story "House of Lords" was its most famous saloon, with a bar and restaurant on the first floor, gambling on the second, and a brothel on the third. Trolley and rail lines made Joplin the hub of southwest Missouri. As the center of the "Tri-state district", it soon became the lead- and zinc-mining capital of the world.

As a result of extensive surface and deep mining, Joplin is dotted with open-pit mines and mineshafts. Mining left many tailings piles (small hills of ground rock), which are considered unsightly locally. The main part of Joplin is nearly 75% undermined, with some mine shafts well over 100 ft (30 m) deep. These shafts have occasionally caved in, creating sinkholes.

20th century

Joplin began to add cultural amenities; in 1902, residents passed a tax to create a public library, and gained matching funds that enabled them to build the Carnegie Library. It was seen as the symbol of a thriving city. In 1930, the grand commercial Electric Theater was built, one of the many movie palaces of the time. It was later purchased and renamed the Fox by Fox Theatres corporation. With the Depression and post-World War II suburban development, moviegoing declined at such large venues.

On April 15, 1903, Joplin police officers, including Theodore Leslie, 36, were searching nearby rail yards for a Black man who had allegedly stolen pistols from a hardware store when Leslie noticed a man in one of the rail cars. Shots were fired, and Leslie, a father of four, was mortally wounded. Hundreds of men launched a search using bloodhounds. On April 16, a Black man with a weapon, Thomas Gilyard, was arrested, and while he told one of the men involved in the arrest that he had been in the box car, he said several others had been there and that one of them fired the fatal shot.
Joplin City Attorney Perl Decker pleaded with the growing mob to break up, according to newspaper and other historical accounts, as did Mayor Thomas Cunningham, but the crowd soon stormed the jail and took Gilyard from his cell. He was lynched soon afterward.

In 1933 during the Great Depression, the notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde spent some weeks in Joplin, where they robbed several area businesses. Tipped off by a neighbor, the Joplin Police Department attempted to apprehend the pair. Bonnie and Clyde escaped after killing Newton County Constable John Wesley Harryman and Joplin Police Detective Harry McGinnis; however, they were forced to leave most of their possessions behind, including a camera. The Joplin Globe developed and printed the film, which showed now-legendary photos of Bonnie holding Clyde at mock gunpoint, and of Bonnie with her foot on a car fender, posed with a pistol in her hand and cigar in her mouth. The Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation nominated the house where the couple stayed, at 34th Street and Oak Ridge Drive, for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 2009.

After World War II, most of the mines were closed, and population growth leveled off. The main road through Joplin running east and west was designated as part of U.S. Route 66, which became famous as more Americans took to newly constructed highways. The roads provided improved access between cities, but they also drew off population to newer housing and eventually retail centers.

In the 1960s and 1970s, nearly 40 acres (16 ha) of the city's downtown were razed in an attempt at urban renewal, as population and businesses had moved to a suburban fringe along newly constructed highways. The Keystone Hotel and Worth Block (former home of the House of Lords) were notable historic structures that were demolished. Christman's Department Store stands (converted into loft apartments), as does the Joplin Union Depot, since railroad restructuring and the decline in passenger traffic led to its closure. Other notable historic structures in Joplin include the Carnegie Library, Fred and Red's Diner, the Frisco Depot, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, and the Crystal Cave (filled in and used for a parking lot). The Newman Mercantile Store has been adapted for use as City Hall. The Fox Theatre has been adapted for use as the Central Christian Center.

On May 5, 1971, Joplin was struck by a severe tornado, resulting in one death and 50 injuries, along with major damage to many houses and businesses.

On November 11, 1978, Joplin's once-stately Connor Hotel, which was slated for implosion to make way for a new public library, collapsed suddenly and prematurely. Two demolition workers were killed instantly. A third, Alfred Sommers, was trapped for four days, yet survived.

21st century
The city had three hospitals at one time.  Oak Hill Hospital, which was located at 34th & Indiana.  Joplin General Hospital was founded by Dr. Kilbane and was later moved and renamed Oak Hill Hospital. Freeman Hospital merged with Oak Hill Hospital to become the Freeman-Oak Hill Hospital Health System.  The city has two major hospitals now, which serve the Four States region, Freeman-Oak Hill Hospital Health System and Mercy Hospital Joplin, the latter replacing St. John's Regional Medical Center which was destroyed in the May 22, 2011, tornado. Freeman Hospital East, the former Oak Hill Hospital, and Landmark Hospital serve more specialized community health needs. The city's park system has nearly  and includes a golf course, three swimming pools,  of walking/biking trails, the world's largest remaining globally unique Chert Glades and the Shoal Creek Nature Center located in Wildcat Park. A waterfall, Grand Falls, the highest continuously flowing in the state, is on Shoal Creek on the southern end of the city.

Numerous buildings in Joplin have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their historic and architectural significance. The city has undertaken Agenda 21; a major project to revitalize its Main Street downtown district, which lies on the historic Route 66. It has refurbished building facades, sidewalks, and added old-styled lamp posts, flower baskets, and benches to highlight the historic center of the city.  A gasoline-powered citywide trolley system evokes images of the city's vibrant past.

Numerous trucking lines such as CFI are headquartered in town, as the city is situated near the geographic and population centers of the nation. Eagle-Picher Industries, Tamko Building Products, AT&T Communications, and Schaeffler Group are noted employers in Joplin, and Leggett & Platt (a Fortune 500) is located in nearby Carthage. The city is served by the Joplin Regional Airport located north of town near Webb City.

Since the 2011 tornado, the city continued to expand eastward toward I-44. Large-scale development occurred along Range Line Road, particularly around Northpark Mall. Numerous other smaller cities are in close proximity to the city include Carl Junction, Webb City, Duenweg, Duquesne, Airport Drive, Oronogo, Carterville, Redings Mill, Shoal Creek Drive, Leawood, and Saginaw.

Due to its location near two major highways and its few event and sports facilities, Joplin attracts travelers and is a destination for conferences and group events. Joplin offers nearly 500 hotel rooms, the majority located within a 1/4-mile area of Range Line Road and I-44. It has the  John Q. Hammons Convention and Trade Center, which serves as the primary event facility for conventions, associations, and large events.

Each June, Joplin hosts the Boomtown Run, a half marathon, 5K, and children's run. The event attracts runners from across the country, and features USTA certified courses which start and end in the historic downtown area. Celebrity runners featured at the prerace banquet have included Bart Yasso, Sarah Reinerston, Suzy Favor-Hamilton, and Jeff Galloway. In 2011, due to the devastating EF5 tornado that struck Joplin on May 22, just three weeks before the run, the event was transformed in the Boomtown Run Day of Service. About 270 individuals registered for the race after the tornado struck, knowing their proceeds would benefit tornado recovery. On June 11, about 270 registered runners and volunteers turned out to help clean debris and sort donations, contributing more than 1,200 hours of service. On August 7, 2012, the Village of Silver Creek and the City of Joplin voted to have Silver Creek annexed into Joplin City limits.

2011 tornado

On May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado touched down near the western edge of the city among large, newer homes, about 5:21 pm CDT (22:34 UTC) and tracked eastward across the city and across Interstate 44 into rural portions of Newton County. Its track was reported to have been about  in width and  long. About 2,400 houses, 1,000 cars, and businesses were flattened or blown away in Joplin, particularly in the section between 13th and 32nd Streets across the southern part of the city. The tornado narrowly missed the downtown area.

St. John's Regional Medical Center was damaged, and demolished in 2012. The Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team  temporarily replaced the demolished St. John's Regional Medical Center with a mobile hospital until the permanent hospital was rebuilt. The local high school, Joplin High School, was totally destroyed, as well. A total of 161 people died from tornado-related injuries as of the end of July 2011. Communications were lost and power was knocked out to many areas. An official statement from the National Weather Service has categorized the tornado as an EF5. On Sunday, May 29, President Barack Obama, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate visited and toured Joplin to see what the damage looked like and attended a memorial service for the deceased. Later that day, the city held a moment of silence at 5:41 pm, to mark the time the tornado struck. The area was declared a federal disaster area.

In July 2011, the City of Joplin entered into a contractual agreement with a master developer company, hired to assist in nearly $3 Billion in reconstruction efforts. Priority construction projects included residential districts and senior and assisted-living facilities; 7,500 residential dwellings in the city were damaged or destroyed by storm. The city council began receiving government funds for additional recovery projects intended to spur expansion and economic growth included the construction of a new and expanded public library and a senior center, among other city amenities of trails, sidewalks, transportation, and park enhancements. A variety of additional major projects were to follow, greatly enhancing and expanding all aspects of the community's development.  City Manager Mark Rohr said, "This effort is the greatest opportunity the city has ever seen." Among other resources and support from governmental agencies, the Economic Development Administration provided $20 million to construct a new Joplin Library and a two-year funding agreement to hire a disaster recovery coordinator to help coordinate the city's nearly $850 million in immediate restoration and recovery efforts.

In the summer of 2012, the United States Housing and Urban Development Department awarded a $45 million community development block grant for reconstruction efforts and in 2013 awarded another $113 million. In May 2013, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources awarded Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center $500,000 to help with the restoration of the urban forest, which was passed through to the City of Joplin as a subgrant; 1,500 large-calibre trees were planted in the tornado zone and along an urban stream, Joplin Creek.

In May 2016, a summit was held under the name of "Joplin Disaster Recovery Summit". The summit's purpose was to tackle several issues and ensure that the recovery plans take place.

As of March 2018 the only project finished that was proposed in the recovery effort besides the hospital and schools was the new public library. Wallace-Bajjali was sued by a city they formerly contracted with and skipped town without fulfilling the contract made to refurbish Joplin.

Mercy Park was created at the site of the former hospital.

Tourism

After the May 22, 2011 tornado came through a number of unofficial murals and monuments popped up across the city showcasing the community's spirit to rebuild the city and come back stronger than before. These popups also showcased the beginning of an arts renaissance in Joplin which still can be seen throughout the city today. One of many monuments which popped up was the Rainbow Tree, which was found on 20th Street between Indiana Avenue and Illinois Avenue. The Rainbow Tree, not to be confused with the since-fallen Spirit Tree, was a tree which was destroyed in the May 22, 2011 tornado that the community decorated with bird houses, bird feeders, colored paint, and a sign saying "Help Us Feed The Birds"; as of November 2022, it had been cut down and removed. After the tornado butterflies became a major part of the artistic works in the city due to the stories of children seeing butterfly entities carrying people through the sky shortly after the tornado which spread across the community of Joplin. One of the first works in Joplin to incorporate Butterflies was the "Butterfly Effect: Dreams Take Flight" Mural which is located on the Northwest corner of 15th and Main Street. The piece was painted by Dave Loewenstein with the support of a 20 community member design team and more than 300 community volunteers.

On March 15, 2018, the City of Joplin conducted an independent tourism study which covered the purpose of the study, evaluation process, competitive market summary, recommendations, and implementations. In the overview, the City states its strategic priorities for tourism which were improve the visitor experience, increase the number of visitors, capture visitor spending, and emphasize results-driven tourism marketing. The purpose of the study was to provide direction for Joplin to help define the focus for future tourism efforts. In the study the city mentions the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the tourism market in the region as well as recommendations to increase tourism in the city. One of the recommendations in the study was to develop a conference center with an incorporated or adjacent hotel which could accommodate groups up to 2,500 and include multi-use exhibit space, breakout rooms and the newest technology. Another recommendation was to enhance downtown by encouraging hotel development in downtown, supporting and promoting development of empire market and food culture, supporting development of an Arts & Entertainment complex, supporting efforts of Connect2Culture and the broader art community relating facilities and programs downtown, hosting a variety of special events downtown, promoting downtown as a location for dining, shopping and culture, and continuing Main Street and downtown core improvements. It is recommended that the first step for the CVB Board is to discuss and decide which of the recommendations they see as priorities and take these to City Council for their recommendation. Additionally, the CVB should start collecting visitor data, undertake Identity and Branding study (with the city as lead or in partnership with the city), work on increasing lodging tax, ear-marked for conference center use the Tourism Study as a roadmap for future decision-making.

In September 2019, Joplin unveiled the Rotary Sculpture Garden in Mercy Park which is home to 9 new sculptures with more on the way. The project was a joint effort of Joplin Rotary Club and Joplin Daybreak Rotary Club and all the Sculptures were donated. One by Sharon and Lance Beshore, one by Barbara and Jim Hicklin, and seven by Harry M. Cornell Jr., an art collector and chairman emeritus of Leggett & Platt Inc. On February 7, 2019, the Joplin Rotary Club donated over $9,800 which funded signage at the entrance of the walking paths in Mercy Park. The sculpture garden represents a $200,000 investment by community members who looked for the works of art, bought them, and donated them for permanent display.

Joplin's local heritage, including its mining heritage, is celebrated by the Joplin History and Mineral Museum in Schifferdecker Park.  The museum contains wings dedicated to (a) local history, and (b) the minerals of the world, particularly those found during the era of lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri and the Tri-State Region.  An outdoor display near the museum features used mining equipment used for production in the Joplin region, including pieces of heavy machinery.

The Ghost Light or Spooklight, a mysterious orb spotted by locals and tourists, is also located in the region around Joplin.

Geography
Joplin is the center of what is regionally known as the Four State Area: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.  Joplin is located north of I-44, its passage to the west into Oklahoma. In recent years, the residential development of Joplin has spread north to Webb City. The historic now-decommissioned U.S. Route 66 passes through Joplin, as 7th Street.

The city is drained by Joplin, Turkey, Silver and Shoal creeks.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which  is land and  is water.

Neighborhoods
Roanoke, Arbor Hills, Blendville, Gateway Drive, Iron Gates, Eastmorland, Midway, Murphysburg, North Heights, Oak Pointe, Royal Heights, Silver Creek, Sunnyvale, Sunset Ridge, Westberry Square, and Cedar Ridge are among the many neighborhoods in Joplin.

Climate
Joplin has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), as defined by the Köppen climate classification system, with cool, dry winters and hot, humid summers; the severe weather season from April through June is the wettest time of year. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from  in January to  in July. On average,  52.7 days of + highs, 4.5 days of + highs, 12.5 days where the high fails to rise above freezing, and 1.1 nights of sub- occur per year. It has an average annual precipitation of , including an average  of snow. Extremes in temperature range from  on February 13, 1905 up to  on July 14, 1954; the last  or below and the last + reading occurred on February 3 and August 2, 2011, respectively.

The city is located in Tornado Alley. Notable severe weather events in the past half-century include an F3 tornado in 1971; a tornado in 1973; an EF1 tornado on May 8, 2009; a blizzard on February 1, 2011; and an EF5 tornado on May 22, 2011.

Demographics

2020 census
The 2020 United States census counted 51,762 people, 21,012 households, and 11,973 families in Joplin. The population density was . There were 23,851 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 79.76% (41,283) white, 3.21% (1,659) black or African-American, 2.13% (1,104) Native American, 1.91% (989) Asian, 0.57% (297) Pacific Islander, 2.47% (1,280) from other races, and 9.95% (5,150) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 6.4% (3,252) of the population.

Of the 21,012 households, 24.9% had children under the age of 18; 40.7% were married couples living together; 28.5% had a female householder with no husband present. Of all households, 33.7% were individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 3.0.

21.7% of the population was under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.6 years. For every 100 females, the population had 96.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 93.6 males.

The 2016-2020 5-year American Community Survey estimates show that the median household income was $45,091 (with a margin of error of +/- $2,832) and the median family income $57,169 (+/- $3,957). Males had a median income of $31,663 (+/- $2,205) versus $23,397 (+/- $1,957) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $26,899 (+/- $1,189). Approximately, 13.9% of families and 18.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.2% of those under the age of 18 and 11.7% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the 2010 census, 50,150 people, 20,860 households, and 12,212 families resided in the city. The population density was . The 23,322 housing units averaged 678.9 per square mile (262.1/km). The racial makeup of the city is 87.6% White, 3.3% African American, 1.8% Native American, 1.6% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.7 from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 4.5% of the population.

Of the 20,860 households, 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.5% were not families; 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city, the population was distributed as 24.21% under the age of 19, 9.4% from 20 to 24, 25.12% from 25 to 44, 22.16% from 45 to 64, and 13.18% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.4 males.

2000 census
As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $30,555, and for a family was $38,888. Males had a median income of $28,569 versus $20,665 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,738. About 10.5% of families and 14.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.8% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Top employers
According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Government
Local government for the City of Joplin is provided through a nine-member city council, whose members are elected by voters citywide, with four seats being assigned to designated geographic zones of the city. City council members include the city's mayor, who is responsible for serving as meeting chair and official spokesman for the city council; and the mayor pro tem, who is responsible for performing the mayor's duties in absence. Both positions are elected every two years by their fellow council members.

Following the June 2020 city elections, the city council members include:
 Doug Lawson [General] (Mayor)
 Keenan Cortez [General] (Mayor Pro Tem)
 Christina Williams [General]
 Kate Spencer [General]
 Josh DeTar [General]
 Gary Shaw [Zone I]
 Chuck Copple [Zone II]
 Phil Stinnett [Zone III]
 Mark Farnham [Zone IV]

Law enforcement services are provided by the Joplin Police Department. On the state-level, the city is represented in the Missouri House of Representatives by Republican Lane Roberts of the 161st District, although a small portion of the city lies within the 162nd District represented by Republican Bob Bromley and in the Missouri Senate by Republican Jill Carter. The city also lies within Missouri's 7th congressional district, currently represented by Eric Burlison (R-Springfield).

Education

Primary and secondary education
Joplin is home to 10 public elementary schools in the Joplin R-VIII School District: Cecil Floyd, Eastmorland, Irving, Jefferson, Kelsey Norman, McKinley, Royal Heights, Soaring Heights, Stapleton, and Dover Hill. It has three public middle schools, East, North, and South, and one high school, Joplin High School. The first high school was founded in 1885 and was located at the intersection of West 4th Street and Byers Ave. The JHS student population was nearly 2,200 children in the 2008–2009 school year. A school bond issue for $57.4 million was passed in April 2007, allowing the district to build two new middle schools (East and South Middle Schools) to replace the old Memorial and South Middle schools, and to give a major renovation and double the size of North Middle School. Joplin also has many private schools, such as College Heights Christian School, Martin Luther School, Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School, Christ's Community Discovery School, and more. St. Mary's Catholic Elementary School, St. Peter's Middle School, and McAuley Catholic High School are private Catholic schools established in 1885.

Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled (MSSD) is a state operated program serving Missouri students with severe disabilities in the greater Joplin area at College View State School.

Colleges and universities
The Joplin College of Physicians and Surgeons operated from 1880 to 1884. Today, Joplin is home to Missouri Southern State University, founded in 1937 as a junior college and expanded in the following decades. The one Bible college is Ozark Christian College. Messenger College also operated in Joplin until 2012 when the Pentecostal Church of God moved the campus to Euless, Texas that year.

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences announced in March 2015 its intention to establish a campus in Joplin with a large osteopathic medicine program, to be located in Mercy Hospital-Joplin's former long-term temporary location near the site of the destroyed St. John's Regional Medical Center.
In 2017, KCU took in their first class at the Farber-McIntire Campus. The campus is nearly 20,000 square feet and includes a large lecture hall, learning studio and lab dedicated to osteopathic manipulative medicine courses. KCU-Joplin also shares a partnership with Freeman Health Systems and Mercy Hospital Joplin.

Joplin is also home to technical schools including Franklin Technology Center, and WTI.

Library
Joplin is served by the Joplin Public Library. In 2013, the Economic Development Administration awarded the city $20 million to relocate the dated library to a new facility along 20th Street, in the heart of the tornado area.  In June 2017, the new, state-of-the-art  library opened to the public. Costing nearly $20,000,000, the new facility has meeting and event rooms and spaces, an outdoor plaza and courtyard, children's, teen and adult book collection areas, and maker-spaces and equipment for creative arts and business innovators.

Transportation
Joplin is served by the mainline of the Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroad, as well as by branchlines of the BNSF Railway and Missouri and Northern Arkansas Railroad (MNA). The city was once a beehive of railroad activity; however, many of the original railroad lines serving Joplin, such as the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, were abandoned after the demise of the mining and industrial enterprises. The Missouri and North Arkansas had connected Joplin with Helena, Arkansas. Passenger trains have not served the city since the 1960s. The Joplin Union Depot is still intact along the KCS mainline, and efforts are underway to restore it. Despite the decline in some rail lines in and around Joplin during the past five decades, many of the original lines still remain. Aside from the former Frisco Railroad route from Joplin to Webb City and the Carthage to Wichita, Kansas, lines that have since been converted into bike/hike trails, most of the original routes still remain in place under the control of the BNSF, KCS, and M&NA railroad companies.

Interstate 44 connects Joplin with Springfield and St. Louis to the east and Tulsa and Oklahoma City to the west. U.S. Route 71 runs east of the city, connecting Joplin to Kansas City to the north and Fort Smith, Arkansas, to the south. The segment from Kansas City to Joplin was designated Interstate 49 on December 12, 2012.

Range Line Road is the primary north and south commercial district with traffic approaching 25,000 vehicles daily. In 2022 the Range Line Road bridge over Kansas City Southern Railroad line was replaced and made taller and wider to accommodate growth.

Previously, Interstate 66 was proposed along the current Interstate 44 alignment from St. Louis and extending along the U.S. 400 alignment to Wichita, Kansas, but, despite lobbying by both Missouri and Kansas, the project has been cancelled due to resistance farther east and west along the proposed extended alignment.

Joplin once boasted an extensive trolley and inter-urban rail system. Today, part of the city is served by the Sunshine Lamp Trolley, which commenced service in July 2007, and expanded to three routes in 2009.

In addition, the Joplin Regional Airport provides daily roundtrip flights to Denver international airport and Chicago-O'Hare International Airport operated by United Express as United Airlines.

Intercity bus service to the city is provided by Greyhound Lines and Jefferson Lines.

Notable people

 Tony Alamo, religious evangelist and polygamist
 John Whitby Allen, photographer and model railroading pioneer
 John Beal, actor
 Emily Newell Blair, writer, suffragist, national Democratic Party political leader, a founder of the League of Women Voters and feminist
 Betty Brewer, actress
 Norma Lee Clark, author, private secretary to Woody Allen
 Billy Cook, spree killer
 Robert Cummings, actor, star of films and television's The Bob Cummings Show
 Pauline Donnan, opera singer
 Christofer Drew, musician
 Scott Elbert, Major League Baseball pitcher
 Glen Glenn, singer
 Jane Grant, co-founder of The New Yorker magazine
 Langston Hughes, poet and writer, for whom Langston Hughes Broadway in Joplin is named
 Hale Irwin, golfer, three-time U.S. Open champion
 H. Dale Jackson, Baptist minister and ethicist, lived in Joplin with his wife when they were newly married in 1949
 Jack Jewsbury, former player and captain of the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer
 Tito Landrum, baseball player
 Jamie McMurray, NASCAR driver
 Charles McPherson, jazz musician
 Elva Miller, singer
 Victor J. Miller, 33rd Mayor of St. Louis
 Lisa Myers, broadcast journalist
 Gary Nodler, Missouri State Senator
 J. Eddie Peck, actor, was raised in Joplin, graduated from Parkwood High School
 Charles Plumb, cartoonist of the syndicated Ella Cinders comic strip
 Carl Pomerance, mathematician
 Darrell Porter, baseball player, World Series champion and 4-time All-Star
 Vance Powell, Grammy winning record producer.
 Mel Purcell, tennis player
 Ron Richard, Missouri Senate President Pro Tempore, State House Speaker, and Mayor of Joplin
 Lane Roberts, Missouri State Representative and Chief of the Joplin Police Department
 Pattiann Rogers, poet
 Wayne Shanklin, music producer and songwriter
 Frank Shellenback, baseball pitcher in Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame
 Pauline Starke, silent-film actress
 Gabby Street, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; adopted Joplin as his hometown
 William Tobin, journalist
 Dennis Weaver, actor, star of films and television's Gunsmoke and McCloud
 Travis Webb, racing driver
 Percy Wenrich, composer
 Bill White, Missouri State Senator and State Representative
 Grant Wistrom, former NFL defensive end, Super Bowl champion with St. Louis Rams
 Grace Steele Woodward, writer and historian

References

Further reading
 Bogle, Lori "Desegregation in a Border State: The Example of Joplin, Missouri." Missouri Historical Review 85 (July 1991): 422-440. online

External links

 City of Joplin
 Historic Joplin – website on Joplin history.
 Historic maps of Joplin in the Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection at the University of Missouri

Cities in Jasper County, Missouri
Cities in Newton County, Missouri
Cities in Missouri
Joplin, Missouri, metropolitan area
Populated places established in 1873
1873 establishments in Missouri

Joplin, Missouri


Michael Katzban (September 11, 1876 – July 3, 1962) was a core molder and insurance salesman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Background
Katzban was born in Lemont, in Cook County, Illinois, on September 11, 1876. He came to Milwaukee in 1886, attended public and parochial schools, and learned the trade of core molder, which he continued to practice. He joined the Molders Union around 1898, and held various offices in it.

Legislative service and political activity
He was elected to the Assembly's Fourteenth Milwaukee County district (the 14th Ward of the City of Milwaukee in 1910 to succeed Democrat Joseph Domachowski (who was not a candidate for re-election). Katzban earned 1,328 votes, to 1,184 for former Democratic Assemblyman John Szymarek and 440 for Republican Leo Kelpinski. He was assigned to the standing committees on city living conditions and on vocational education.

In 1912, after a redistricting, he ran for the Assembly in the newly-redrawn Eighth Milwaukee County district, losing to Democrat Jacob J. Litza, Jr., with 1298 votes for Litza, 1065 for Katzban, and 424 for Republican Charles Strasberger.

He served as a deputy sheriff in Milwaukee County in 1912, and in 1915-1916.

He ran once more for the Assembly from the Eighth District in 1930, coming in second with 1,912 votes to 3,041 for Republican Ben Wiczynski and 1641 for Democratic incumbent Mary O. Kryszak.

In 1945, he was elected to the executive committee of the Milwaukee County Socialist Party. In 1950, he was appointed as a Socialist member of the City of Milwaukee's Election Commission, and served a six-year term. In 1954, he was elected to the Party's state executive committee.

Personal life
At the time of his death in 1962, he had been an insurance salesman for twenty years. He left behind a widow, Rose, and a son, John Katzban, who was village manager for the Village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

References

1876 births
1962 deaths
Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Moldmakers
Politicians from Milwaukee
People from Lemont, Illinois
Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin

Michael Katzban


Dark Towers is a 1981 educational production by the BBC in the Look and Read series. The series remains highly popular in primary schools to this day. Parts of the film were shot at Sutton Court, Somerset.

The show involves two main characters; Tracy and Edward. They go about their mission to stop a group, led by Miss Hawk, from stealing the treasures of Dark Towers.

Cast

 Juliet Waley as Tracey Brown
 Gary Russell as Lord Edward Dark
 David Collings as Lord Dark / The Friendly Ghost
 Christopher Biggins as Benger
 Harry Jones as Bunce
 Juliet Hammond (credited as Juliet Hammond-Hill) as Miss Hawk
 Peter Mayhew as The Tall Knight

Episodes

Part One (Dark Towers in Danger!): A loner named Tracey Brown and her dog Towser venture into a garden where Tracey meets Lord Edward Dark, who agrees to help her look for Towser. Tracey's search leads her into Dark Towers where she meets Edward's father, Lord Dark. Tracey eventually finds Towser barking at a picture on the wall. The picture comes to life and cries out that the house is in danger, and that the girl (Tracey) will save the house, but Edward and his father do not hear the voice.

Part Two (The Man in the Picture):  Tracey and Edward encounter two men, Benger and Bunce, and soon become suspicious of the two. When they follow Towser to the Red Bedroom, they meet the Friendly Ghost, who is the man in the picture that spoke.

Part Three (The Old Legend): The Friendly Ghost tells Tracey and Edward the legend of Dark Towers, of the Tall Knight, his treasure, and gives them this warning: "Beware of Two B's Buzzing Together. Beware of the Bird with the brown feather".

Part Four (The Clue in the Book): After the Friendly Ghost disappears, a woman named Miss Hawk walks into the Red Bedroom, and offers to help Tracey and Edward look for the treasure. Tracey and Edward find a clue which tells them to "Go where old wheels go round".

Part Five (The Old Coach House): Following the clue, Tracey searches the Old Coach House where she discovers Benger and Bunce are crooks, and overhears their plans.

Part Six (The Tall Knight's Folly): Tracey is literally framed by Benger and Bunce (they stuffed a little gold picture into her pocket at the end of the previous episode), and she is sent away by Lord Dark. Edward finds a torn piece of paper in the Old Coach House. He seeks help from the Friendly Ghost, and learns that Benger and Bunce were the "two B's" the ghost warned him about. Reading the clue, Edward and the Ghost come to the conclusion that the next clue ("think of a knight so tall, haunting the end of a wall") is at the Tall Knight's Folly at the end of the old wall. Edward goes there, and meets the Tall Knight who demands to know "Who comes to the Tall Knight's Folly?".

Part Seven (The Dark Tree): Edward asks the Tall Knight for his help, but he says he can't help unless Tracey and Towser are there, because the old legend involves a boy, a girl, and a dog, and he vanishes. Luckily, Tracey and Towser are still hanging around, and they meet up with Edward after Towser drags her to the folly. The Tall Knight appears again, and instructs them to "go to the old library, and a gold key you will see, inside the inside of the Dark tree".  While trying to crack the Tall Knight's riddle, Edward realises that he meant the Dark Family Tree, and they find the final clue, which falls out of the spine of the book. The clue reads: "The knight's treasure will rest inside the inside of a studded chest".

Part Eight (Beware of the Bird!): Edward asks his father if they have a studded chest, and he says there is one in the Old Tower. Miss Hawk overhears. Edward looks at the picture of the Friendly Ghost, and the ghost repeats his warning: "Beware of the bird with the brown feather", adding, "the hawk who hunts treasure". Edward now knows Miss Hawk is the bird with the brown feather, and rushes off to find Tracey. They head up to the Old Tower, opening the chest with the key that came with the last clue. It's empty. Benger and Bunce suddenly arrive with Miss Hawk. Bunce puts Tracey in the back of his and Benger's van, and drives off, but the Tall Knight comes to Tracey's rescue. (A similar plot later is also in Part Eight of the later Look and Read story Badger Girl, also by Andrew Davies, where the protagonists are taken away in a van)

Part Nine (Who Can Help?):  Bunce abandons his van and runs back to Dark Towers. Meanwhile, Miss Hawk has her own ghostly encounter in the Red Bedroom where she is keeping Edward, who now knows Miss Hawk wants the Golden Book of the Tall Knight for herself. The Friendly Ghost appears, and Miss Hawk runs from the Red Bedroom screaming. The baddies all discover the Golden Book of the Tall Knight hidden inside the lid of the studded chest, and the Friendly Ghost tries to summon the Tall Knight.

Part Ten (The Last Laugh): Tracey arrives back at Dark Towers as darkness falls, meaning that the Tall Knight will soon appear. She convinces Lord Dark she is innocent, and he calls the police. Miss Hawk snatches the Golden Book of the Tall Knight and splits as all of Dark Towers plunges into darkness. Benger and Bunce go after her. As Tracey, Towser, Edward, and Lord Dark emerge from Dark Towers, the Tall Knight arrives, and scares the bad guys witless. As Benger, Bunce, and Miss Hawk are arrested, and the darkness lifts, Tracey gives Lord Dark the Golden Book of the Tall Knight. The Tall Knight has vanished, but throughout the house are strange sounds like laughter. The ghosts of Dark Towers are having the last laugh.

External links
Information on Dark Towers

1981 British television series debuts
1981 British television series endings
1980s British children's television series
BBC children's television shows
British television shows for schools
Look and Read
Television shows written by Andrew Davies
English-language television shows
Reading and literacy television series

Dark Towers


Maranchon Wind Farm is located in Maranchón, Guadalajara, Spain. The "Maranchon Complex", as it is called, actually consists of seven smaller wind parks with a total capacity of 208 MW, and it was the largest in Europe for some time. It is owned by Iberdrola and was dedicated in May 2006.

See also

 Wind power in Spain

Wind farms in Spain
Energy in Castilla–La Mancha

Maranchon Wind Farm


A silent partner is one who shares in the profits and losses of a business, but is not involved in its management.

Silent partner or Silent Partners may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment
 Silent Partner, a 2005 film starring Tara Reid and Nick Moran
 The Silent Partner (1917 film), a silent film drama produced by Jesse Lasky
 The Silent Partner (1923 film), a silent film drama produced by Famous Players–Lasky
 The Silent Partner (1931 film), a silent film drama directed by Roy Mack
 The Silent Partner (1939 film), an Italian drama film
 The Silent Partner (1978 film), a Canadian crime film starring Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer
 The Silent Partner (soundtrack), the soundtrack for the 1978 film
 Silent Partner (1944 film), an American thriller film
 Silent Partner (2001 film), an Australian film
 "The Silent Partners", a Season 4 episode of The Venture Bros. American animated TV series
 "Silent Partners", a 1984 song by Laura Branigan from Self Control (album)
 "Silent Partners", a 1984 song by David Frizzell and Shelly West
 Silent Partners, a 2016 music album by Havoc and The Alchemist

Other uses
 Silent Partner, a memoir by Dina Matos, former First Lady of New Jersey
 Silent partner (climbing), a piece of climbing equipment
 The Silent Partner (novel), a historical-fiction novel by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

Silent partner


Fāṭima bint Muḥammad (, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam. Fatima's sons were Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia Imams, respectively. Fatima has been compared to Mary, mother of Jesus, especially in Shia Islam. Muhammad is said to have regarded her as the best of women and the dearest person to him. She is often viewed as an ultimate archetype for Muslim women and an example of compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering. It is through Fatima that Muhammad's family line has survived to this date. Her name and her epithets remain popular choices for Muslim girls.

When Muhammad died in 632, Fatima and her husband Ali refused to acknowledge the authority of the first caliph, Abu Bakr. The couple and their supporters held that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad, possibly referring to his announcement at the Ghadir Khumm. Controversy surrounds Fatima's death within six months of Muhammad's. Sunni Islam holds that Fatima died from grief. In Shia Islam, however, Fatima's (miscarriage and) death are said to have been the direct result of her injuries during a raid on her house to subdue Ali, ordered by Abu Bakr. It is believed that Fatima's dying wish was that the caliph should not attend her funeral. She was buried secretly at night and her exact burial place remains uncertain.

Name and titles

Her most common epithet is al-Zahra (), which encodes her piety and regularity in prayer. This epithet is believed by the Shia to be a reference to her primordial creation from light that continues to radiate throughout the creation. The Shia Ibn Babawahy () writes that, whenever Fatima prayed, her light shone for the inhabitants of the heavens as starlight shines for the inhabitants of the earth. Other titles of her in Shia are al-Ṣiddiqa (), al-Tahira (), al-Mubaraka (), and al-Mansura (). Another Shia title is al-Muḥadditha, in view of the reports that angels spoke to Fatima on multiple occasions, similar to Mary, mother of Jesus.

Fatima is also recognized as Sayyidat Nisa' al-Janna () and Sayyidat Nisa' al-Alamin () in Shia and Sunni collections of hadith, including the canonical Sunni Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

Fatima
The name Fatima is from the Arabic root f-t-m () and signifies the Shia belief that she, her progeny, and her adherents () have been spared from hellfire. Alternatively, the word Fatima is associated in Shia sources with Fatir (, a name of God) as the earthly symbol of the divine creative power.

s
A  or honorific title of Fatima in Islam is Umm Abiha (), suggesting that Fatima was exceptionally nurturing towards her father. Umm al-Aima () is a  of Fatima in Twelver sources, as eleven of the Twelve Imams descended from her.

Early life

Fatima was born in Mecca to Khadija, the first of Muhammad's wives. The mainstream Sunni view is that Khadija gave birth to Fatima in 605 CE, at age fifty, five years before the first Quranic revelations. This implies that Fatima was over eighteen at the time of her marriage, which would have been unusual in Arabia. Twelver sources, however, report that Fatima was born in about 612 or 615 CE, when Khadija would have been slightly older. The report of the Sunni Ibn Sa'd in his Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra suggests that Fatima was born when Muhammad was about thirty-five years old.

The Sunni view is that Fatima had three sisters, named Zaynab, Umm Kulthum, and Ruqayyah, who did not survive Muhammad. Alternatively, a number of Shia sources state that Zainab, Ruqayyah, and Umm Kulthum were adopted by Muhammad after the death of their mother, Hala, a sister of Khadija. According to Abbas, most Shia Muslims hold that Fatima was Muhammad's only biological daughter, whereas Fedele limits this belief to the Twelver Shia. Hyder reports that this belief is prevalent among the Shia in South Asia. Fatima also had three brothers, all of whom died in childhood.

Fatima grew up in Mecca while Muhammad and his few followers suffered the ill-treatment of disbelievers. On one occasion, she rushed to help Muhammad when filth was thrown over him at the instigation of Abu Jahl, Muhammad's enemy and a polytheist. Fatima lost her mother, Khadija, in childhood. When Khadija died, it is said that Gabriel descended upon Muhammad with a message to console Fatima.

Marriage

Fatima married Muhammad's cousin, Ali, in Medina around 1 or 2 AH (623-5 CE), possibly after the Battle of Badr. There is Sunni and Shia evidence that some of the companions, including Abu Bakr and Umar, had earlier asked for Fatima's hand in marriage but were turned down by Muhammad, who said he was waiting for the moment fixed by destiny. It is also said that Ali was reticent to ask Muhammad to marry Fatima on account of his poverty. When Muhammad put forward Ali's proposal to Fatima, she remained silent, which was understood as a tacit agreement. On the basis of this report, woman's consent in marriage has always been necessary in Islamic law. Muhammad also suggested that Ali sell his shield to pay the bridal gift ().

Muhammad performed the wedding ceremony, and they prepared an austere wedding feast with gifts from other Muslims. Shia sources have recorded that Fatima donated her wedding gown on her wedding night. Later, the couple moved into a house next to Muhammad's quarters in Medina. Their marriage lasted about ten years until Fatima's death. Fatima's age at the time of her marriage is uncertain, reported between nine and twenty-one. Ali is said to have been about twenty two.

As with the majority of Muslims, the couple lived in severe poverty in the early years of Islam. In particular, both had to do hard physical work to get by. Shia sources elaborate that Ali worked at various jobs while Fatima was responsible for domestic chores. It has also been related that Muhammad taught the couple a  to help ease the burden of their poverty: The Tasbih of Fatima consists of the phrases  (),  (), and  (). Their financial circumstances later improved after more lands fell to Muslims in the Battle of Khaybar. Fatima was at some point given a maidservant, named Fidda.

Following the Battle of Uhud, Fatima tended to the wounds of her father and regularly visited the graves to pray for those killed in the battle. Later, Fatima rejected Abu Sufyan's pleas to mediate between him and Muhammad. Fatima also accompanied Muhammad in the Conquest of Mecca.

Significance
Among others, the Sunni al-Suyuti () ascribes to Muhammad that, "God ordered me to marry Fatima to Ali." According to Veccia Vaglieri and Klemm, Muhammad also told Fatima that he had married her to the best member of his family. There is another version of this hadith in the canonical Sunni collection Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, in which Muhammad lauds Ali as the first in Islam, the most knowledgeable, and the most patient of the Muslim community. Nasr writes that the union of Fatima and Ali holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims, as it is seen as the marriage between the "greatest saintly figures" surrounding Muhammad.

Ali did not marry again while Fatima was alive. However, al-Miswar ibn Makhrama, a companion who was nine when Muhammad died, appears to be the sole narrator of an alleged marriage proposal of Ali to Abu Jahl's daughter in Sunni sources. While polygyny is permitted in Islam, Muhammad reportedly banned this marriage from the pulpit, saying that there can be no joining of the daughter of the prophet and the daughter of the enemy of God (Abu Jahl). He is also said to have praised his other son-in-law, possibly Uthman or Abu al-As. Soufi notes that the reference to the third caliph Uthman might reflect the Sunni orthodoxy, in which Uthman is considered superior to his successor Ali.

Buehler suggests that such Sunni traditions that place Ali in a negative light should be treated with caution as they mirror the political agenda of the time. In Shia sources, by contrast, Fatima is reported to have had a happy marital life, which continued until her death in 11 AH. In particular, Ali is reported to have said, "Whenever I looked at her [Fatima], all my worries and sadness disappeared".

Appearance
The Sunni al-Hakim al-Nishapuri () and al-Khwarazmi (), and the Shia al-Qadi al-Nu'man () and al-Tabari al-Shia (eleventh century), have likened Fatima to the full moon, the sun hidden by clouds, or the sun that has come out of the clouds. The first expression is a common metaphor for beauty in Arabic and Persian. The Shia al-Majlesi () explains that the second expression is a reference to Fatima's chastity, while the third expression refers to her primordial light.

Soufi details that Fatima's manners closely resembled Muhammad's. Her gait was also similar to the prophet's, according to Veccia Vaglieri, who also argues that Fatima must have enjoyed good health on the account of bearing multiple children, her arduous house chores, and her journeys to Mecca. Her sources are silent about the appearance of Fatima, which leads her to the conclusion, "Fatima was certainly not a beautiful woman". In contrast, the Sunni al-Khwarazmi relates from the prophet that, "If beauty () were a person, it would be Fatima; indeed she is greater," while some Shia authors have likened her to a human .

Events after Muhammad's death

Fatima was severely bereaved after Muhammad's death in A.H.11/632 C.E. Several elegies to Muhammad, attributed to Fatima, have survived and are collected in a  of poetry. At the same time, Fatima also actively contested the succession of Abu Bakr and maintained that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad. Fatima died within six months of her father and her death at a young age is subject of intense controversy with allegations against Abu Bakr and his ally Umar, as detailed below.

Inheritance

Fadak was a village located to the north of Medina, at a distance of two days travel. As part of a peace treaty with a Jewish tribe, half of the agricultural land of Fadak was considered  and belonged to the prophet, in line with verse 59:6 of the Quran. There is some evidence that Muhammad gifted his share of Fadak to Fatima when verse 17:26 was revealed, and her agents managed the property when Muhammad was alive. This is the Shia view. Among Sunnis, al-Suyuti () and al-Dhahabi () are of this view, while al-Jurjani () and Ibn Kathir () are uncertain if the verse was revealed to Muhammad in Medina. The revenue of Fadak largely supported needy travelers, the poor, military expeditions, and Muhammad's family, who were forbidden from receiving general alms.

Following Muhammad's death in 632 and early in his caliphate, Abu Bakr is said to have seized Fadak from Fatima by evicting her agents, possibly as a show of authority to Muhammad's clan (Banu Hashim) who had not yet pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. This is the Shia view. Among Sunnis, the charge of usurpation appears, for instance, in the works of Ibn Hajar al-Haythami () and Ibn Sa'd ().

Among others, the Sunni al-Baladhuri () reports that Fatima objected to Abu Bakr, saying that Fadak was a gift from her father. Her husband Ali and a maid at Muhammad's house, named Umm Aiman, are reported to have offered their testimonies in support of Fatima. By some accounts, Fatima also brought her two sons as witnesses. Abu Bakr, however, did not find their testimonies sufficient to establish the ownership of Fatima, requiring two men or one man and two women as witnesses per Islamic law. Khetia adds that Fatima might have expected her closeness with Muhammad to strengthen her case. In the same vein, Shias argue the truthful Fatima would have not claimed something which was not hers. In another account, Abu Bakr agreed to return Fadak to Fatima but was dissuaded by his ally Umar, who tore up the deed written by Abu Bakr.

Probably after Abu Bakr rejected Fatima's claim, she demanded her inheritance from the estate of her father. Abu Bakr rejected this too, claiming that Muhammad had disinherited his family. More specifically, he maintained that Muhammad had personally told him that prophets do not leave inheritance, and what they leave behind is public property that should be administered by the caliph. Abu Bakr was initially the sole witness to this statement, referred to as the hadith of Muhammad's inheritance.

In his al-Tabaqat al-kubra, the Sunni traditionist Ibn Sa'd () furnishes the hadith of inheritance with two chains of transmission which include numerous prominent companions of Muhammad, such as Umar, Uthman, and Zubayr. In particular, he includes in these chains some notable Hashimites, such as Ali and Ibn Abbas, who are both known to have vehemently disputed this claim of Abu Bakr in other sources.

On the other hand, Soufi holds that Abu Bakr is generally regarded as the only credible narrator of this hadith in Sunni sources, adding that similar reports attributed to other companions have been rejected by Sunnis. Along these lines, Sajjadi writes that all (credible) versions of this hadith are narrated from Abu Bakr, his ally Umar, his daughter Aisha, and Malik ibn Aus Al-Hadathan, though some primary sources have disputed whether the last one was a companion of Muhammad. Nevertheless, Soufi notes that Abu Bakr's testimony is strong enough for Sunnis to make an exception to the Quranic rules of inheritance. Twelvers, however, reject the authenticity of the hadith of inheritance based on their own traditions, pointing also to the contradictions of this hadith with the Quran.

Sermon of Fadak
In protest, Fatima is said to have delivered a speech at the Prophet's Mosque, known as the Sermon of Fadak, Among other sources, this sermon appears in Balaghat al-nisa', a collection of eloquent speeches by Muslim women, though the attribution of this speech to Fatima is rejected by Sunnis. Fatima is said to have upheld Ali in her speech as the rightful successor to Muhammad. She is also reported to have chastised Abu Bakr for denying her inheritance and accused him of (hadith) fabrication, saying that Muhammad could have not contradicted the Quran. To support her claim, she is believed to have quoted verse 27:16 of the Quran in which Solomon inherits from his father David and verse 19:6 in which Zechariah prays for a son who would inherit from him and from the House of Jacob. As reported in Balaghat, Fatima also quoted verses 8:75 and 33:6 about the rights of every Muslim to inheritance.

Views
Abu Bakr terminated the status of purity of Muhammad's kin by forcing them to rely on general alms which the prophet had forbidden for them in his lifetime. At the same time, Abu Bakr allowed the prophet's widows to inherit his quarters in Medina. In particular, he granted his daughter Aisha some properties in the Aliya part of Medina and in Bahrain. By maintaining their status, Abu Bakr might have signaled to the Muslim community that his daughter Aisha and the rest of Muhammad's widows were the true heirs of Muhammad, according to Aslan. Madelung holds a similar view.

Madelung suggests that the caliphate of Abu Bakr was inherently inconsistent with maintaining the privileged status of Muhammad's kin and applying the Quranic rules of inheritance to them. As phrased by Mavani, if the Banu Hashim had inherited Muhammad's material property, then they might have also been expected to inherit the spiritual authority of Muhammad. Similar views are voiced by Jafri, Margoliouth, Ayoub, and Lalani, while El-Hibri does not view the saga of Fadak as a mere financial dispute. According to Aslan, Abu Bakr's actions are often regarded as a political move to weaken Muhammad's clan and strip his kin from their privileged status. Aslan also argues that Abu Bakr's efforts were intended to undermine Ali's claim to the caliphate. These efforts, writes Aslan, are partly explained by Abu Bakr's conviction that the caliphate must reside outside of Muhammad's clan and partly by the personal enmity between Abu Bakr and Ali. Madelung, Abbas, and Anthony have noted the poor relations between the two men.

Attack on her house

In the immediate aftermath of Muhammad's death in 11/632, the Ansar (natives of Medina) gathered in the Saqifa () of the Sa'ida clan. The conventional wisdom is that they met to decide on a new leader for the Muslim community among themselves. For Madelung, however, the absence of the Muhajirun (migrants from Mecca) from this meeting suggests that the Ansar gathered to re-establish the control of the Ansar over their city Medina, under the belief that the Muhajirun would mostly return to Mecca after Muhammad's death.

Abu Bakr and Umar, both companions of Muhammad, hastened to the gathering upon learning about it. After a heated session, in which a chief of the Ansar was likely beaten into submission by Umar, those gathered at Saqifa agreed on Abu Bakr as the new head of the community. The Saqifa event is said to have excluded Muhammad's family, who were preparing to bury him, and most of the Muhajirun. To protest the appointment of Abu Bakr, al-Baladhuri () reports that the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan) and some of his companions gathered at Fatima's house. Among them were Muhammad's uncle Abbas and his companion Zubayr, according to Madelung. The protesters, including Fatima, held that her husband Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad, possibly referring to Muhammad's announcement at Ghadir Khumm. Ali is believed to have explained this position to Abu Bakr.

After the Saqifa affair, Abu Bakr reportedly tasked his ally Umar with securing Ali's pledge of allegiance. As noted by al-Tabari (), the latter led an armed mob to Ali's residence and threatened to set the house on fire if Ali and his supporters would not pledge their allegiance to Abu Bakr. The scene soon grew violent, and Zubayr was disarmed and carried away. The mob, however, retreated without Ali's pledge after Fatima pleaded with them, as reported in al-Imama wa al-siyasa. Alternatively, al-Baladhuri states that Ali capitulated and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr immediately after Umar's threat. In contrast, the canonical Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim relate that Ali pledged to Abu Bakr after Fatima died. Soufi comments that all but one of the traditions cited by al-Tabari and al-Baladhuri do not have chains of transmission that reach back to the time of the conflict.

Madelung believes that Abu Bakr later placed a boycott on Ali and, more broadly, on the Banu Hashim to abandon their support for Ali. As a result, prominent men ceased to speak to Ali, according to a Sunni hadith attributed to Aisha. Hazleton similarly writes that Ali prayed alone even in the mosque. Jafri adds that those who initially supported Ali gradually turned and pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr. It appears that only his wife Fatima and their four small children remained on his side, writes Hazleton, in line with a statement to this effect attributed to Ali in Nahj al-balagha.

Use of violence
Umar has been noted for his severity and misogyny, especially in Shia sources. "Umar's toughness" () is cited in a Sunni tradition by Aisha as the reason Umar was excluded from a supposed attempt at reconciliation between Ali and Abu Bakr. Kelen describes an incident of Umar's violence against his sister when she professed Islam (before Umar). It is uncertain what followed the above altercation at Fatima's house. Shia sources allege that Fatima suffered injuries and miscarriage during a raid on her house led by Umar. In particular, Shia alleges that Fatima miscarried her son Muhsin, whose name had been chosen by Muhammad before his death, according to Abbas. These claims are categorically rejected by Sunnis, who maintain that Muhsin died in infancy of natural causes.

The allegations of violence and miscarriage appear in some Shia works, including the canonical Kitab al-Kafi, Kamil al-ziyarat, Kitab al-Irshad, Tarikh al-Ya'qubi, and Dala'il al-imama. Of these, Tarikh al-Ya'qubi does not mention miscarriage, while Kitab al-irshad by al-Mufid () is quiet about any violence. For the latter, considering that al-Mufid writes about violence against Fatima elsewhere, Khetia suspects that he refrained from controversial topics in his Kitab al-Irshad to render it accessible to most Twelvers without provoking the anger of Sunnis. In his al-Saqifa wa Fadak, al-Jawhari () includes a tradition to the effect that Umar and his men first threatened to set Fatima's house on fire. Then they entered the house, despite her pleas, and forced Ali and his supporters out of the house. The remainder of the account in al-Imama wa al-siyasa describes that Ali was pulled out of his house by force and threatened with death, according to Khetia. Mu'awiya () is known to have alluded to the violent arrest of Ali in a letter to him before the Battle of Siffin.

Madelung is uncertain about the use of force. Still, he notes that there is evidence (in Sunni sources) that Fatima's house was searched. According to Madelung, Ali later repeatedly said that he would have resisted (Abu Bakr) had there been forty men with him. Alternatively, Buehler suggests that the allegations of violence should be treated with caution as they reflect the political agendas of the time. In contrast, Veccia Vaglieri is of the view that the Shia allegations are based on facts, even if they have been exaggerated. Abbas writes that some well-regarded Sunni sources mention Umar's raid and Fatima's injuries. Khetia believes that there are known instances where sensitive information has been censored by Sunni authors, such as the prominent jurist Abu Ubayd al-Salam (), who was possibly concerned with the righteous representation of Muhammad's companions. Similar allegations have emerged against al-Tabari and al-Mas'udi (). Along these lines, Lucas and Soufi both note the Sunni tendency to minimize and neutralize the conflicts among companions after Muhammad, particularly about the Saqifa affair, while these conflicts might have been amplified in Shia records.

Both al-Tabari and al-Mas'udi note that Abu Bakr regretted the events after Saqifa on his deathbed. In particular, al-Tabari states that Abu Bakr wished he had "never opened Fatima's house to anything, even though they had locked it as a gesture of defiance." This appears to have been a sensitive admission that has been censored by the Sunni author Abu Ubayd al-Salam in his Kitab al-amwal. Abu Bakr's regret is also cited by the Shia al-Ya'qubi (). Sunni sources are nearly unanimous that Ali pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr after Fatima's death. When it became clear that Muslims did not broadly support his cause, Ali is said to have relinquished his claims to the caliphate for the sake of the unity of a nascent Islam, which faced internal and external threats, according to Mavani. In particular, Jafri notes that Ali turned down proposals to forcefully pursue the caliphate, including an offer from Abu Sufyan. In reference to Abu Bakr's caliphate, Madelung writes that a poem later began to circulate among the Banu Hashim ending with, "Surely, we have been cheated in the most monstrous way." Ali forbade the poet to recite it, adding that the welfare of Islam was dearer to him than anything else.

In sharp contrast with Muhammad's lifetime, Ali is believed to have retired from public life during the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. Anthony describes this change in Ali's attitude as a silent censure of the first three caliphs. While he reportedly advised Abu Bakr and Umar on government and religious matters, the mutual distrust and hostility of Ali with Abu Bakr and Umar is well-documented, though largely downplayed or ignored in Sunni sources. Their differences were epitomized during the proceedings of the electoral council in 644 when Ali refused to be bound by the precedence of the first two caliphs. A common Sunni argument is that Ali would have never continued his relations with Umar had the latter organized a raid on Ali's home. A typical Shia response is that Ali gave up his rights and exercised restraint for the sake of a nascent Islam, according to Abbas.

Death
Fatima died in 11/632, within six months of Muhammad's death. She was 18 or 27 years old at that time according to Shia and Sunni sources, respectively. The exact date of her death is uncertain but the Shia commonly commemorates her death on 13 Jumada II. The Sunni belief is that Fatima died from grief after Muhammad's death. Shia Islam, however, holds that Fatima's injuries during a raid by Umar directly caused her miscarriage and death shortly after.

Al-Tabari mentions the suffering of Fatima in her final days. Shia traditions similarly describe Fatima's agony in her final days. In particular, the Isma'ili jurist al-Nu'man similarly reports a hadith from the fifth Imam to the effect that "whatever had been done to her by the people" caused Fatima to become bedridden, while her body wasted until it became like a specter. This hadith seems to contain a reference to Fatima's injuries during the raid. Ayoub describes Fatima a symbol of quiet suffering in Islamic piety. In particular, the Twelver Shia believe in the redemptive power of the pain and martyrdom endured by the Ahl al-Bayt, including Fatima, for those who empathize with their divine cause and suffering.

Multiple sources report that Fatima never reconciled with Abu Bakr and Umar, partly based on a tradition to this effect in the canonical Sunni collection Sahih al-Bukhari. There are some accounts that Abu Bakr and Umar visited Fatima on her deathbed to apologize, which Madelung considers self-incriminatory. As reported in al-Imama wa al-siyasa, Fatima reminded the two visitors of Muhammad's words, "Fatima is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me." The dying Fatima then told the two that they had indeed angered her, and that she would soon take her complaint to God and His prophet, Muhammad. There are also Sunni reports that Fatima reconciled with Abu Bakr and Umar, though Madelung suggests that they were invented to address the negative implications of Fatima's anger.

Burial

Following her will, Ali buried Fatima secretly at night and hid her burial plot. According to the Sunni al-Tabari, her dying wish was that Abu Bakr should not attend the funeral, and this request was fulfilled by Ali. Fatima's wish is believed to be at odds with the common practice of Muslims, who are encouraged to join funerals. In Shia sources, her wish for a secret burial is viewed as a sign of the disassociation of Muhammad's daughter with the Muslim community who largely failed to support her against Abu Bakr.

The prominent Twelver traditionist al-Tusi () reports an account of the burial that vividly describes the suffering of Ali after the death of his wife, attributed to their son Husayn. Al-Mufid (), another notable Twelver scholar, includes in his Ikhtisas a related tradition ascribed to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Imam. This tradition describes that the next morning Abu Bakr and Umar berated Ali for the secret burial of Fatima. After learning that this was Fatima's wish, the account continues that Umar threatened to locate and exhume Fatima's body and then re-bury her after funeral prayer. According to this account, what prevented Umar from materializing his threat was Ali's warning, "By God, as long as I'm alive and [my sword] Zulfiqar is in my hands, you will not reach her, and you know best [not to do it]." For Khetia, the interpretation is that the loss of Fatima was so traumatizing for Ali that he threatened Umar with violence for the first time, despite his previous restraint.

Fatima's exact burial place in Medina remains uncertain, with often contradictory reports. The two most probable locations for her grave are the al-Baqi' cemetery and her home, which was later annexed to the Prophet's Mosque. The former location is reportedly supported by her son Hasan's wish to be buried next to his mother. On the other hand, the Sunni al-Samhoodi () concludes that Hasan is buried next to his grandmother Fatimah bint Asad, rather than his mother Fatima. This uncertainty in Shia sources again underscores Fatima's displeasure with the Muslim community.

Descendants

Fatima was survived by two sons, Hasan and Husayn, and two daughters, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. Controversy surrounds the fate of her third son Muhsin. Some canonical Shia sources report that Muhsin died in miscarriage, following Umar's raid on Fatima's house. Alternatively, Sunnis hold that Muhsin died in infancy of natural causes. It is through Fatima that Muhammad's progeny has spread throughout the Muslim world. Fatima's descendants are given the honorific titles of  () or  () and are respected by Muslims. The Fatimid dynasty () in North Africa claimed descent from Fatima via the Isma'ili imam Muhammad ibn Isma'il, though this claim has been challenged.

In the Quran and hadith texts

While Fatima is not mentioned in the Quran by name, some verses are associated with her in classical exegeses.

Verse of mubahala
An example is verse 3:61 of the Quran. After an inconclusive debate about Jesus with a Christian delegation from Najran in 10/631-2, it was decided to engage in , where both parties would pray to invoke God's curse upon whoever was the liar. This is when Muhammad is reported to have received verse 3:61 of the Quran, also known as the verse of mubahala, which readsMadelung argues that 'our sons' in the verse of mubahala must refer to Muhammad's grandchildren, Hasan and Husayn. In that case, he continues, it would be reasonable to also include in the event their parents, Ali and Fatima. Madelung writes that their inclusion by Muhammad in this significant ritual must have raised the religious rank of his family. A similar view is voiced by Lalani.

Of those present on Muhammad's side, Shia traditions are unanimous that 'our women' refers to Fatima and 'ourselves' refers to Ali. In particular, since the verse refers to Ali as the self of Muhammad, Shia holds that the former enjoys the same authority as the latter. In contrast, most Sunni accounts by al-Tabari do not name the participants of the event, while some other Sunni historians agree with the Shia view. Some accounts about mubahala add that Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn stood under Muhammad's cloak, and this five are thus known as the Ahl al-Kisa (). On the same occasion, Muhammad is also believed to have referred to them as the Ahl al-Bayt, according to Shia and some Sunni sources, including the canonical Sahih Muslim and Sunan al-Tirmidhi.

Verse of purification

The last passage of verse 33:33, also known as the verse of purification, reads:Muslims disagree as to who belong to the Ahl al-Bayt () and what political privileges or responsibilities they have. Shia Islam limits the Ahl al-Bayt to the Ahl al-Kisa, namely, Muhammad, Fatima, Ali, Hasan and Husayn. There are various views in Sunni Islam, though a typical compromise is to include also Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt. The verse of purification is regarded in Shia Islam as evidence of the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt.

The majority of the traditions quoted by al-Tabari () in his exegesis identify the Ahl al-Bayt in the verse of purification with the Ahl al-Kisa, namely, Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn. These traditions are also cited by some other early Sunni authorities, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal (), al-Suyuti (), al-Hafiz al-Kabir, and Ibn Kathir (). The canonical Sunni collection Sunnan al-Tirmidhi reports that Muhammad limited the Ahl al-Bayt to Ali, Fatima, and their two sons when the verse of purification was revealed to him. In the event of mubahala, Muhammad is believed to have gathered Ali, Fatima, and their sons under his cloak and referred to them as the Ahl al-Bayt, according to Shia and some Sunni sources, including the canonical Sahih Muslim and Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Veccia Vaglieri writes that Muhammad recited the last passage of the verse of purification every morning when he passed by Fatima's house to remind her household of the  prayer. This makeup of the Ahl al-Bayt is echoed by Veccia Vaglieri and Jafri, and unanimously reported in Shia sources.

Possibly because the earlier injunctions in the verse of purification are addressed at Muhammad's wives, some Sunni authors like Ibn Kathir include Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt. A number of Sunni hadiths, including some narrated by Ibn Abbas and Ikrima, also support the inclusion of Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt. This view is shared by Goldziher and his coauthors. Alternatively, Leaman argues that only those wives of prophets who mother their successors are counted by the Quran in their .

Verse of mawadda
Verse 42:23 of the Quran, also known as the verse of mawadda, includes the passageThe word kinsfolk () in this verse is interpreted by the Shia as the Ahl al-Bayt. Ibn Ishaq () narrates that the prophet specified  as his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn. As quoted by Madelung, Hasan ibn Ali referred to the verse of mawadda in his inaugural speech as the caliph after the assassination of his father in 661, saying that he belonged to the Ahl al-Bayt "whose love He [God] has made obligatory in His Book [Quran]..."

The verse of mawadda is often cited by the Shia about the elevated status of the Ahl al-Bayt. In Twelver Shia, the affection in this verse also entails obedience to the Ahl al-Bayt as the source of exoteric and esoteric guidance. This obedience is believed to benefit the faithful first and foremost, citing the following passage of verse 34:47, which contains the passage, "Say, 'I ask not of you any reward; that shall be yours ().'" Some Sunni commentators agree with the Shia view, including Baydawi, al-Razi, and Ibn Maghazili. Most Sunni authors, however, reject the Shia view and offer various alternatives. The view preferred by al-Tabari is that the verse of mawadda instructs Muslims to love the prophet because of their blood relations to him. Alternatively, Madelung suggests that the verse of mawadda demands love towards relatives in general.

Verses 76:5-22
Verses 76:5-22 are connected to Fatima in most Shia and some Sunni sources, including the works of the Shia al-Tabarsi (), and the Sunni al-Qurtubi () and al-Alusi (). According to these exegetes, verses 76:5-22 were revealed to Muhammad after Fatima, Ali, Hasan, Husayn, and their maidservant Fidda gave away their only meal of the day to beggars who visited their home, for three consecutive days. In particular, verses 76:7-12 read:

Connection with Mary

The Quranic praise for Mary in verse 3:42 has been echoed for Fatima based on a prophetic hadith that lists Fatima, Khadija, Mary, and Asiya as the outstanding women of all time.

Especially in the Shia literature, there is a strong parallel between Fatima and Mary, to the extent that one of the Shia epithets for Fatima is Maryam al-Kubra (). Similar to Mary, some early sources report that angels spoke to Fatima on multiple occasions. Both are viewed as mothers of exalted progenies: Mary gave birth to Jesus, and Fatima is the mother of the Imams. Fatima surpasses Mary in purity and divine favor in Shia writings and in some Sunni sources. For instance, citing the statement "Women's honor is through their fathers," the Shia Ibn Shahr Ashub () argues about the superiority of Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, over Mary, daughter of Imran. To reconcile the superiority of Fatima with verse 3:42 above, "the women of the world" in this verse is interpreted as the women of Mary's time by most Shia and some Sunni exegetes.

Verse of Light
Verse 24:35 of the Quran, also known as the verse of Light, is often associated with Fatima in Shia exegeses. The verse of Light begins as

According to the Shia al-Kulayni (), Fatima is in this verse both the niche wherein resides the lamp (i.e., the Imams) and the shimmering glass for the divine light.

Hadith literature
The canonical Sunni collection Sahih al-Bukhari attributes to Muhammad, "Fatima is a part of me, and whoever makes her angry, makes me angry." Similar versions of this hadith appear in other Shia and Sunni sources. The Sunni al-Suyuti relates from Muhammad that "Whoever loves (my) offspring, God loves; whoever gets angry [at them], God gets angry at them." The Shia Ibn Babawahy similarly narrates from Muhammad that, "Verily God becomes angry when Fatima is angry and is pleased when she is pleased."

Another prophetic hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari elevates Fatima to the mistress of all the women on earth and in paradise. Muhammad is also famously said to have listed Fatima, Khadija, Mary, and Asiya as the four outstanding women of all time. Whenever Fatima arrived, Muhammad used to stand up, greet her and ask her to sit next to him. When leaving Medina, Fatima was the last person that Muhammad bid farewell to, and she was the first he visited upon his return. Her manners were described to be similar to Muhammad's. The prophet held that Fatima will be the first person to enter the paradise and, as with Mary, she will intercede for those who honor her and her descendants.

It is attributed to Abu Bakr's daughter Aisha that Fatima was the most beloved of women to the prophet, and Ali was the most beloved of men to him, according to the Sunni al-Hakim al-Nishapuri and al-Tirmidhi () and the Shia al-Qadi al-Nu'man, among others. A similar tradition is cited by the Sunni al-Suyuti. There are also competing traditions about Abu Bakr-Aisha instead of Ali-Fatima, though Spellberg believes they were circulated later for political reasons.

Muhammad's wife Umm Salama relates in possibly the earliest version of the Hadith al-Kisa that Muhammad gathered Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn under his cloak and prayed, "O God, these are my  () and my closest family members; remove defilement from them and purify them completely," thus making a reference to verse 33:33 of the Quran, known also as the verse of purification. The accounts of the Sunni Ibn Kathir and al-Suyuti and the Shia Tabatabai () continue that Umm Salama asked Muhammad, "Am I with thee, O Messenger of God?" but received the negative response, "Thou shalt obtain good. Thou shalt obtain good." There also exists a version of this hadith in Sunni sources where Umm Salama is included in the Ahl al-Bayt. In another Sunni version, Muhammad's servant Wathila bint al-Asqa' is counted in the Ahl al-Bayt.

In modern culture

While Fatima has been revered as an ultimate archetype for Muslim women, she has also gained a modern importance as a symbol for the female freedom fighter and the defender of the oppressed. In Fateme Is Fateme, the Iranian philosopher Shariati portrays Fatima as "the symbol of a responsible, fighting woman when facing her time and the fate of her society." Fatima is also venerated for her compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering by all Muslims, especially by the Shia. The first feature-length movie about Fatima set during the lifetime and after the death of Muhammad is titled The Lady of Heaven, produced in 2020 by the Enlightened Kingdom. The movie premiered in the United States on 10 December 2021.

Mother's Day in Iran
Iranians celebrate Fatima's birth anniversary on 20 Jumada al-Thani as the Mother's Day. On this day, banners reading Ya Fatima (O! Fatima) are displayed on government buildings, private buildings, public streets and car windows. The Gregorian date for this changes every year.

See also

 Book of Fatimah
 Hamsa, a type of amulet also referred to as the "Hand of Fatima"
 Our Lady of Fátima, the title of the Virgin Mary based on reported apparitions at Fátima, Portugal
 Bayt al-Ahzan

Citations

References

Books

Encyclopedias

Journal articles

Theses

Further reading

Books

Shia sources

 The Life of Fatimah

 (In Persian)

Sunni primary sources

 (In Arabic)

External links

 The Life of Fatimah Az-Zahra'
 The Virtues of Fatimah (sa)
 Fidda

615 births
632 deaths
7th-century women
Muslim female saints
People of the Quran
Women companions of the Prophet
Children of Muhammad
The Fourteen Infallibles
Ali
Khadija bint Khuwaylid
People from Mecca
Wives of Shiite Imams
Muslim figures favored in Shia Islam

Fatima


Robert Barnhill Roosevelt, also known as Robert Barnwell Roosevelt (August 7, 1829 – June 14, 1906), was a sportsman, author, and politician who served as a United States representative from New York (1871–1873) and as Minister to the Hague (1888–1889). He was also a member of the Roosevelt family and an uncle of US President Theodore Roosevelt.

Early life
Robert Roosevelt was born in New York City to businessman Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. He had three elder brothers, Silas, James, and Cornelius Jr., and two younger brothers, Theodore and William. He was an uncle of President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. and grand-uncle of First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. As an Oyster Bay Roosevelt, and through his ancestor Cornelius Van Schaack, Jr., he was a descendant of the Dutch American Schuyler family.

Career
Roosevelt studied law and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1850. He commenced practice in New York City. During the Civil War he was an active Democrat, and a founder of the  Allotment Commission and the Loyal National League.

His first experience in politics was in the organization of the Citizens' Association at the time of the Tweed Ring administration in New York city. For several years, he edited the organ of the Citizens' Association, the New York Citizen, at first with Charles G. Halpine, and after Halpine's death by himself. He was a founder of the Committee of Seventy, and first vice-president of the Reform Club.

Roosevelt was elected as a Democrat to the 42nd Congress (March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873). Although the pressure of anti-Tammany Democratic organizations forced Tammany Hall to approve his nomination, he denounced its measures, and did much to contribute to the breaking up of the latter organization.

Roosevelt served as trustee representing the city of New York for the New York and Brooklyn Bridge from 1879 to 1882. He was instrumental in establishing paid fire and health departments in New York City. He was a member of the Board of Aldermen of New York City.

He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Minister to The Hague, serving from August 10, 1888, to May 17, 1889. He was treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in 1892. In 1893, President Cleveland appointed him the secretary of the embassy in London in exchange for a $10,000 campaign contribution.

Conservation
Roosevelt was an early angler and conservationist. He organized several clubs to restrain the indiscriminate slaughter of game. He is credited with influencing his nephew, Theodore Roosevelt, to become a conservationist. He founded the New York State Fishery Commission in 1867, and was appointed one of the three fish commissioners. He served as fish commissioner for 20 years, 1868–1888, without a salary. The reports of the commission were prepared chiefly by him, and led to the appointment of similar commissions in other states.

For many years, he served as president of the Fish Culture Association, of an association for the protection of game, of the New York Sportsman's Club, and of the International Association for the Protection of Game. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As a member of the U.S. Congress, he originated the bill to create the United States Fish Commission.

Writer
Roosevelt was a popular author and a friend of writers such as Oscar Wilde.  He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Barnwell or Ira Zell. He edited Political Works of Charles G. Halpine, supplying a memoir (1869).

Robert's nephew Theodore Jr. credited him with being the first to scribe the "Br'er Rabbit" stories (which had been passed down orally by slaves), publishing them in Harper's, where they fell flat. This was a good many years before Joel Chandler Harris published the stories in The Atlanta Journal in 1879.

Personal life
Roosevelt was first married to Elizabeth Ellis (1829–1887), a descendant of the Livingston family who was the daughter of John French Ellis (1794–1853) and Eliza Glen Thorn (1796–1855). Together, they were the parents of:

 Margaret Barnhill Roosevelt (1851–1927), who married Augustus Van Horne Kimberly (1845–1927) in 1889.
 John Ellis Roosevelt (1853–1939), who in 1879 married Nannie Mitchell Vance (1860–1912), daughter of Hon. Samuel B. H. Vance, at the recently built St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Fifth Avenue and 48th Street, in New York City. Vance, who was active in New York State Republican politics, was a manufacturer who served as Acting Mayor of New York City for the month of December 1874.
 Robert Barnhill Roosevelt Jr. (1866–1929) He purchased the Meadowcroft property at Sayville, New York, in 1873 and it was later developed by his son as the John Ellis Roosevelt Estate. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

After the death of his first wife, he married his mistress, Irish immigrant Marion Theresa "Minnie" O'Shea.  Although his children with Minnie were his biological children, they had been born prior to his wedding to Minnie and were known as his stepchildren. They had been listed as having a father named "Robert Francis Fortescue", and maintained the Fortescue name throughout their lives.  Together with Minnie, he was the father of:

 Kenyon Fortescue (1871–1939), who became an attorney.
 Major Granville Roland "Rolly" Fortescue (1875–1952), who married Grace Hubbard Bell (1883–1979), niece of Alexander Graham Bell.
 Maude Fortescue (1880–1961), who married Ernest William Sutton Pickhardt in 1900 and moved to London.  Pickhardt was the son of Manhattan millionaire Ernest W. Pickhardt and the brother of Baroness Irene von Colberg. They divorced before Pickhardt's suicide in 1909.  In 1945, she married Brigadier General Richard L. A. Pennington.

Roosevelt died in Sayville, Suffolk County, N.Y., on June 14, 1906, while his nephew was serving as President of the United States. His remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  His large estate was left to his family,

Published works
 Superior Fishing; or The Striped Bass, Trout, Black Bass and Bluefish of the Northern States.
 Game Fish of the Northern States and British Provinces. (1862)
 Game Birds of the North (1866)
 Superior Fishing (1866)
 Florida and the Game Water Birds (1868)
 Five Acres Too Much, a satire provoked by Edmund Morris's Ten Acres Enough (1869)
 Progressive Petticoats, a satire on female physicians (1871)
Fish Hatching and Fish Catching (1879)

References

External links

1829 births
1906 deaths
American people of Dutch descent
Writers from Manhattan
19th-century American diplomats
Robert
Schuyler family
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
Angling writers
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
People from Sayville, New York
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American writers
American male writers
Politicians from New York City
19th-century male writers
Democratic National Committee treasurers

Robert Roosevelt


The Kuntsevo Dacha () was Joseph Stalin's personal residence near the former town of Kuntsevo (then Moscow Oblast, now part of Moscow's Fili district), where he lived for the last two decades of his life and died on 5 March 1953, although he also spent much time inside the Kremlin, where he possessed living quarters next to his offices. The dacha is located inside a forest not far from the modern-day Victory Park.

Also called the "nearer dacha" (), it was built in 1933–34 to Miron Merzhanov's designs. One storey was added to the original building in 1943. Stalin lived in Kuntsevo during World War II. It was there that he played host to such high-profile guests as Winston Churchill and Mao Zedong.

Description
The dacha is located at the heart of a densely wooded birch forest; its defenses included a double-perimeter fence, camouflaged 30-millimeter antiaircraft guns, and a security force of three hundred NKVD (after 1946, MGB) special troops. The grounds included lemon and apple trees, a rose garden, a small pond, and a watermelon patch which Stalin liked to cultivate. There was also a sports ground for playing gorodki.

Upon entering the dacha, there was a lobby with two cloakrooms; to the left a door opened to Stalin's personal study, where he spent most of the day. Directly in front, a door opened to the large dining room, while to the right there was a long narrow corridor.

The rectangular dining room was dominated by a long polished table and covered with rose carpets. It was decorated with images of Vladimir Lenin and of the writer Maxim Gorky. It was in this room that Stalin welcomed the Soviet Politburo for meetings and late-night dinners, and where important decisions were often taken. An "almost invisible" door placed on the wall in one side of the dining room led to Stalin's bedroom, and to a kitchen.

On the left-hand side of the dacha, there was Stalin's personal study (where he spent most of the day when at Kuntsevo) with his large war-time desk, a radio that was a gift from Winston Churchill (when he first visited Moscow, in August 1942) and a couch; Stalin preferred to sleep on this couch, instead of his bedroom. The bathroom was located next to Stalin's study.

On the right-hand side, the long narrow corridor led initially to two bedrooms (mostly used for accommodating occasional guests) and eventually to a large open veranda. Stalin spent much time in this veranda; he would sit in a chair there during winter, despite the heavy cold, wearing a warm sheepskin coat and a fur hat. He also liked to read books and reports and feed the birds while at the veranda.

The Soviet leader seldom left his study, let alone visited the second storey (although a lift was installed on his orders). This storey was originally intended to accommodate his daughter Svetlana, but she used to stay there for only a few days each year. As a result, the rooms there remained dark and empty for most of the time.

After Stalin's death the Marx–Engels–Lenin–Stalin Institute set up a commission to make arrangements for a Stalin museum at Kuntsevo.
Nikita Khrushchev discarded the idea, and the dacha stood unoccupied for several decades.

Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva recorded that a copy of the famous painting Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks was hung somewhere on the ground floor but was not clear on exactly where.

The dacha today

The building remains shrouded in secrecy: the grounds are fenced and closed to ordinary visitors. However, the dacha is still preserved in good condition, along with all of Stalin's personal belongings, including his study with the war-time desk and the sofa where he slept.

Upon becoming  President of the Russian Federation in 2000, Vladimir Putin summoned the most powerful business  oligarchs of Russia to Kuntsevo in what Sergei Pugachev (a participant in that meeting) described as a "very symbolic" move; another participant, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said that by summoning them to Kuntsevo and by sitting in Stalin's office, Putin "wanted us to understand that we, as big businessmen, may have some power, but it is nothing compared to his power as the head of state."  (Khodorkovsky "did not take that message to heart" and wound up serving 10 years in prison on charges of tax evasion.)

References

External links
 Vintage photographs of the dacha's interiors

Buildings and structures in Moscow
Residential buildings completed in 1934
Places associated with Joseph Stalin
Dachas
Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union
1934 establishments in the Soviet Union

Kuntsevo Dacha


Zapadnaya Litsa (, ) is a naval base of the Russian Navy, part of the Russian Northern Fleet, located in Murmansk Oblast, Russia.

Location
Zapadnaya Litsa Naval Base is located within the Litsa Fjord at the westernmost point of the Kola Peninsula in Russia's far north, about 120 kilometers from Murmansk and 45 kilometers from the Norwegian border, and includes four naval facilities: Malaya Lopatka, Andreyeva Bay, Bolshaya Lopatka, and Nerpichya. A severe climate with changeable temperatures and strong winds, and a long polar night in winter (about 43 days), make the Zapadnaya Litsa region an inhospitable place. Numerous rivers, streams and lakes, rocky ground and swamps help characterize this remote and inhospitable area.

History
The area of Zapadnaya Litsa was originally developed in 1939 as a small naval base for Nazi Germany, at the beginning of World War II, as a result of Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. It was to be used for German ships under the name Basis Nord, but the successful German invasion of Norway the following year quickly rendered the port obsolete. The area remained largely untouched until the late 1950s, when it was further developed by the Soviet Union to house the fleet of the newly created nuclear submarine program of the Soviet Navy. The first facility built, Malaya Lopatka, became the home port of the first Soviet nuclear submarine, K-3 Leninsky Komsomol. In 1958, the settlement of Zaozerny (now Zaozyorsk) was formed near to the Zapadnaya Litsa base, and was kept secret and known under several different names.

Today, much of the Zapanaya Litsa region is a cause of serious environmental concern, due to its widespread radioactive waste deposits.

Use in other media
Zapadnaya Litsa was used as a location setting for the Russia episode of video game, Tomb Raider: Chronicles.

References

Russian and Soviet Navy bases
Buildings and structures in Murmansk Oblast

Zapadnaya Litsa (naval base)