Joplin's Ku Klux Klan Cave

The Ku Klux Klan, as most people know, arose in the aftermath of the Civil War, ostensibly as a law-and-order organization, but it ended up dishing out its brand of justice in a discriminatory manner, mainly targeting freed slaves. The group fell out of favor after a few years as its racist tendencies became increasingly clear.
However, the KKK enjoyed a revival starting about 1915, and in 1921 a local conclave of the secret organization was formed in Joplin. The organizational meeting at Schifferdecker Park drew an estimated crowd of 1,500 people. Not long after the local conclave was formed, the group purchased a cave near Belleville a few miles west of Joplin (a couple of miles north of Seventh Street on Malang Road). The first specific references to the cave in local newspapers that I've found come from 1924, but it's clear from the context of these references that the cave had already been in use as a KKK meeting place for some time.
In 1922, members of the Joplin conclave traveled to Fantastic Caverns, where they conducted the initiation rituals for 125 new inductees into the Springfield conclave. So apparently caves were a favorite meeting place for KKK conclaves. I suppose that was because they were conducive to secrecy.
During the early 1920s, the KKK was often seen as a patriotic, law-and-order organization, and it won widespread acceptance. Many of its members held positions of leadership in churches and local government, and its membership even included well-known national politicians. In 1923, the KKK Imperial Wizard, the group's national leader, visited Joplin, and the local conclave held a parade on Main Street.
The Joplin KKK was definitely not without its opposition, however. In late 1923 or early 1924, a local anti-Klan group arose, and in the spring 1924 school and city elections, the anti-KKK organization mounted a strong campaign against the Klan and for its own members to be elected to the school board and to city commissions. The group charged that the Klan was dividing the city, threatening the local institutions of government, intimidating citizens, and endangering their liberties. "Will you vote for a continuance of this condition," one anti-Klan newspaper ad challenged, "or do you desire release from this stranglehold of a group...who have so dominated our city affairs that you have no voice in its administration, and must perforce accept the dictates of a secret society that issues its edicts from the Ku Klux Klan cave at Belville." In another ad, the anti-group appealed to the people to oppose "the domination of churches by secret cricles taking orders from the Cave at Belville" and for them to vote for government conducted in the open light of day. Apparently, however, the KKK still held sway in Joplin, because all the candidates endorsed by the anti-Klan group lost.
On the national level, though, the Klan was already starting to lose influence, just as it had after its brief period of popularity in the wake of the Civil War. The group was again exposed as a discriminatory organization that was anti-black, anti-Catholic, and anti-foreigner. It soon faded into the background, in Joplin as well as the rest of the country, and the old cave fell into disuse.
In the summer of 1939, a fiery cross was burned near the intersection of 4th and Maiden Lane, and rumors of an attempt to revive the local KKK circulated. A couple of days after the cross burning, Joplin detectives trekked out to the former KKK cave but found no signs of recent activity. The pathway leading to the cave was so obscured by weeds that it was scarcely visible, and the iron door across the entrance was padlocked. The lawmen got inside somehow, though, and discovered a room large enough to hold about 2,000 people.
In 1940, with World War II on the horizon, some Joplin city officials proposed to the federal government that the old KKK cave be used as a war industry site, perhaps a munitions plant. The local officials said the cave was two miles long with openings at both ends and that it was 20 to 30 feet high and could be widened to 20 to 50 feet, so that vehicles could be driven through it. The government rejected the proposal, however.
In the spring of 1956, a beer party at the old cave by a large number of young people got busted by police when a resident living near the cave reported the young people for disturbing the peace. About 35 young people were arrested, while another 60-70 left before they could be rounded up. Of the ones arrested, over 20 of them were charged with disturbing the peace. Two nights later, a carload of young men returned to the old cave and were harassing the man who'd called the police, driving past his house and calling him vile names, when he responded by firing a shotgun at the car, wounding a 17-year-old boy in the vehicle. The boy was not seriously hurt, though, and no charges were filed in the case, at least not in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
In the spring of 1971, a group of Memorial High School students went out to the old KKK cave and cleaned up the premises as a project for Earth Week.
In 1980, someone wrote to the Joplin Globe proposing that the KKK cave should be preserved as a historical site. A day or two later, someone else fired off a response, asking why anyone would want to preserve a monstrosity that amounted to little more than a pile of rocks.
In 1989, the Klan cave, along with ten surrounding acres, was sold at auction.
Maybe the person who bought it was a member of the Fir Road Christian Church, because a few years later, in 1996, the church used the old cave as a site for its Easter morning sunrise services. The following year, the same church presented a crucifixion drama at the cave.
In recent years, the cave, dubbed the Old Haunted Belleville Cave, has been used as a commercial spook house during the Halloween season. In fact, I think it's open right now. Not this very instant, but probably tonight.