MO DPO - Prosperity - machine cancel - 1907

The post office in Prosperity, Missouri, was a quintessential "mining town" station in Jasper County, located just south of Carterville in the heart of the Joplin mining district. The post office opened on July 30, 1891, during the peak of the regional lead and zinc mining boom. As the shallow mines were exhausted and the population migrated toward Joplin and Webb City, the office was closed on October 31, 1918. Today, Prosperity is considered a "vanished" mining town or a historic neighborhood. Because the town was built on top of mine shafts, most of the original structures were either moved or demolished as the ground became unstable. Today, the area is largely rural or industrial, with few visible signs of the bustling 1890s post office.