In 1876 a good paying lead mine was opened on the Cox land, then two and a half miles southwest of the main
part of town and the little settlement which grew up around these mines was called '' Cox diggings.'' The county
school district that was organized was called the Cox Diggings schools and ran along like other county school
districts, with its occasional spelling match and literary society, until 1890, when a great change came over the
little settlement and in less than six months time transformed the hamlet into a town.
A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Volume 1
By Joel Thomas Livingston
The Cox Diggings area was eventually known as the incorporated community of Blendville. It was named Blendville
because of the huge amounts of zinc blend in the ground. The city of Joplin annexed Blendville in 1892.
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