The campus of Missouri Southern is cross divided by Duquesne Road (running north–south) and Newman Road (running east–west). The main portion of the campus is located west of Duquesne, though the football stadium and softball fields are on the east side of Duquesne.
Academic buildings Spiva Library (opened in 1967) was the first building built on the current campus following the properties purchase for use by what was then Missouri Southern College. The
library is named after prominent Joplin businessman George A. Spiva (1904–1967), who was a major donor and supporter of the school. Expansions to the library in 1972–1973 and 1999–2000 have tripled the size of the original structure. Prior to 1987, the social sciences department utilized some areas of the building for classrooms and offices.
Reynolds Hall (opened in 1967) is named after one of the original members of the school's board of regents, Lauren R. Reynolds (1916–1968). He served on the board from 1965 until his death. This building houses the biology and environmental health, chemical and physical sciences, and mathematics departments. On December 5, 2014, Missouri Gov.
Jay Nixon announced that he would request more than $5.2 million in funding from the state legislature for renovations to the building. The funds will allow MSSU to renovate labs, classrooms and electrical systems.
Hearnes Hall (opened in 1967) is named after former Missouri Governor
Warren E. Hearnes (1923–2009) who was governor at the time of the construction of the campus and signed the law which made Missouri Southern a state institution. Hearnes Hall is the university's administration building, but was previously home to English department (now located in Kuhn Hall) and the communications department (now located in Webster Hall). Hearnes Hall has never been expanded, but underwent major renovations ending in 2012.
Fine Arts Building (opened in 1967) is the home to the music and art departments. It is also home of the Spiva Gallery and is connected to both the Taylor Performing Arts Center and the Bud Walton Black Box Theatre.
Leon C. Billingsly Student Center (opened in 1969) is named after the first president of what was then Missouri Southern College, Leon C. Billingsly (1925–1978). Billingsly served in that capacity from 1964 until his death and supervised the construction of the original buildings on the campus. The building is home to the cafeteria, book store and Keystone and Connor ballrooms. Formerly known as the College Union, it was renamed for Billingsly in 1980, two years after his death. It has been expanded multiple times, the latest in 2009 when the George S. Beimdiek Recreation Center and Willcoxon Student Health Center were added onto it.
Kuhn Hall (opened in 1969) is named after John Raymond Kuhn (1902–1986) a Joplin area doctor who encouraged more practical application medical training at the college. It was originally home to the nursing (now in the Health Sciences Building) and computer science departments (now in Plaster Hall). Today it is home to the English department. The neighboring
Kuhn Annex, which was built in 1963 and also houses part of the English department, was originally a model home for a proposed housing subdivision planned by Rolla Stephens on the former Mission Hills estate. When Stephens learned of the search for a new campus for the college, he worked with George A. Spiva and Morgan Hillhouse so the land could instead be used for that purpose. It underwent a major renovation in 2011 and 2012 and had previously been used for technology and engineering courses, including automotive technology and drafting.
Thomas E. Taylor Performing Arts Center (opened in 1974) is named for former Missouri Southern board of regents member (1965–1974) and board of trustees member (1964–1975) Thomas E. Taylor (1902–1975). The 2,000-seat performing arts center was built on a $1 million bond and is home to the theatre department.
Taylor Hall (opened in 1977) also known as the Gene Taylor Education Center is named for U.S. Congressman
Gene Taylor (1928–1998). Taylor had served on the board of trustees from 1964 to 1972 and was the president of that board at the time the current campus opened in 1967. Formerly known as Matthews Hall and named after Norval M. Matthews (1895–1977), an original member of the school's board of regents from 1965 until his death, the building and the school of business, which has resided in it since its construction, were renamed after Plaster in 2006 when he made the largest donation in the college's history. Prior to this building's construction, the school of business had been located in the former Mission Hills mansion, today the Ralph L. Gray Alumni Center, from 1969 to 1980.
Webster Hall (opened in 1992) is named for
Richard M. Webster (1922–1990), a former speaker of the
Missouri House of Representatives and a longtime state senator representing the area from 1962 until his death. The building cost $7.5 million at the time of its construction and is home to the social sciences, communications, foreign languages, and international studies departments. The W. Robert Corley Auditorium is located inside Webster Hall. It was named after William Robert Corley, a local businessman following a significant donation by him in 2009.
Bud Walton Black Box Theatre (opened in 1999) is named for
Bud Walton, brother of
Walmart founder
Sam Walton and a financial donor for the construction of the facility. The Walton Black Box Theatre was built as a replacement for the college's previous
Barn Theatre, which was destroyed by fire in 1990.
Julio S. Leon Health Sciences Center (opened in 2010) is named for Julio Leon, who served as the president of the university from 1982 to 2007. It houses programs in nursing, dental hygiene, kinesiology, medical technology, psychology, radiologic technology and respiratory therapy.
Jeremiah "Jay" Nixon Hall (opened in 2019) is named for the 55th governor of Missouri Jeremiah "Jay" Nixon, who served from 2009 to 2017. Governor Nixon campaigned and received $5.2 million that was used to construct the hall and renovate the nearby Reynolds hall. Nixon hall is used for mathematics and other STEM fields. The building is three stories and houses staff offices, study rooms, and many classrooms. It is connected to Reynolds hall via a sky bridge on the second floor and is the newest building on campus.
Alumni Center The
Ralph L. Gray Alumni Center (opened in 2011) is named after Ralph L. Gray, a major donor for the building's restoration. The building, also known as the Mission Hills mansion, is the oldest structure on campus, built in 1926 as the private home of Lucius Buchanan. When the property was purchased for use as the university's campus in 1964, the mansion was originally used by then President Leon Billingsly for his office space. It then served as the home of the school of business from 1969 to 1980 and the social sciences department between 1987 and 1992. It sat empty from 1992 until 2006, when the process of restoring and renovating it for its current use started.
Former buildings Joplin Junior College at 4th Street & Byers Avenue (1938–1959) was the first permanent home of the college (the year previously the college's courses were taught in the
Joplin High School building at 8th Street and Wall Avenue). The building, which was originally constructed in 1897 and then nearly doubled in size in 1907, had previously served as the home of Joplin High School and later as North Junior High School before being renovated for use by the fledgling college. Joplin Junior College moved out of the building in 1959, moving to the now Joplin School District Administrative Offices at 8th Street and Wall Avenue. The 4th Street & Byers Avenue building was razed in 1961.
Blaine Hall (1946–1959) was named after Harry E. Blaine, the dean of Joplin Junior College from 1937 to 1947. It is not to be confused with the dormitory on the current campus that is also named after Blaine. It was located in a formerly private residence that was near Joplin Junior College's first home at the corner of 4th Street and Byers Avenue. Blaine Hall acted as a student union and had a cafeteria and a student lounge. The building was abandoned by the college when it moved to its second home at 8th Street and Wall Avenue in 1959. It was eventually torn down.
Joplin Junior College/Jasper County Community College at 8th Street and Wall Avenue (1959–1967) was the second permanent home of what was then Joplin Junior College (though the first year the college had offered courses in 1937 those classes had also taken place in this building). During the time the college was in this building it was renamed Jasper County Community College. This structure was built in 1917 as the home of Joplin High School, replacing the previous building at 4th Street & Byers Avenue, which was also home to Joplin Junior College from 1938 to 1959. The college was in this building from 1959 until 1967, when it moved to its current campus. The building became Memorial High School from 1968 to 1985 and then Memorial Middle School. The nearly 100-year-old structure still stands and now serves as the Joplin public school district's Memorial Education Center. The
Barn Theatre (1967–1990) was the first performing arts space on the current university campus. It had originally served as a dairy barn for the Mission Hills farm. With a limited budget and no theatre space included among the original academic buildings planned for the campus, theatre department staff transformed the former dairy barn into the campus's first theatre. It remained popular and in use even after the construction of the much larger and modern Thomas E. Taylor Center for Performing Arts in 1973. The Barn Theatre was destroyed by a fire on Thanksgiving Day in 1990. The
Learning Center (1967–2005) was renovated out of the shell of the former garage of the Mission Hills mansion. The original space had been expanded and at previous times housed the school of business and the department of social sciences. In 1992 it was remodeled for use for student tutoring and other similar needs. It was demolished in 2005 to make way for the construction of the George S. Beimdiek Recreation Center and Willcoxon Student Health Center and for the renovation of the Mission Hills mansion into the Ralph L. Gray Alumni Center, which takes up some of the footprint previously occupied by the Learning Center. The
Guest House (1967–2005) had served as a guest house for the Mission Hills mansion when it was a private residence. But following the establishment of the university on its current campus, the school's newspaper,
The Chart, had its offices in this building, though they were later moved to Hearnes Hall and are currently located inside Webster Hall. The building served various other purposes as office space and eventually storage for the university before being razed in 2005. ==Campus life==