A statue commemorating the heritage of Joplin and the Tri-State Mining District commissioned by retired Joplin businessman Henry Robertson stands tall now in t Rotary Sculpture Garden at Mercy Park.

There was a time when the mining industry was the lifeblood of Joplin. On Tuesday, a bronze statue named Ground Boss was ...

The sculpture is a full-size depiction of the miners who helped build Joplin from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

The bronze sculpture, Ground Boss, depicts a life-size mine boss standing on an ore outcropping wearing a Sunshine Lamp helmet and resting a mattock, or pickax, on his shoulder.