Monark Springs, Missouri: A Ghost Town That Never Quite Emptied

01Monark Springs on Hickory Creek

Monark Springs lies about five miles east of Neosho, roughly a mile and a half east of US 60, at an elevation of about 1,158 feet. The spring itself is about 500 feet southeast of the townsite, in the floodplain of Hickory Creek. Newton County's own website lists Monark Springs among the county's "localities," not as an incorporated city. It is a place on the map, not a municipality with a mayor and a census count.

Truman Elmore founded Monark Springs. Today the townsite is a scatter of remnants around a community center and a campground that fills every summer.

02A Name Built From a Railroad

The town took its name from the railroad, a blend of "MoNArk," for the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad. The Railroad Station Historical Society lists a Monark Springs station on that line. The original depot is gone. A replica depot or shelter stands at Monark Drive and Springs Road, and a depot from Monark Springs was reportedly moved to Neosho.

A painting in the community center across from the campground, set around 1905, shows worshippers arriving by rail at the Monark Springs depot. In the camp meeting's early years, the morning rail car from Neosho was how many of them came.

The State Historical Society of Missouri holds a photograph collection of 11 images, 1890–1976, that includes postcards of Monark Springs.

03What Happened to Monark Springs?

In 1956 Monark Springs entered the medical literature. A 1958 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, "A Widespread Epidemic of Typhoid Fever Traced to a Common Exposure," traced an outbreak to the "MonArk Springs, Missouri, encampment." Attendees began arriving July 20, 1956, and the meeting ended July 29. More than 550 participants from 15 states had attended.

04Vines, Hymns, and a Missing Winemaker

The area's best-documented history predates the railroad name. Hermann Jaeger settled in the Monark Springs area in 1865. He and his brother John planted a vineyard in 1866. Jaeger later supplied cuttings during the phylloxera crisis that devastated European vineyards, and he was named Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1893. He disappeared in May 1895.

The Jaeger house, built about 1865, was demolished in 2022 to make way for a housing development.

The camp meeting is the thread that runs through the most years. The campground's own site says the first camp meeting was held in July 1938, and that John Stretch was instrumental in building the tabernacle in 1940. KOAM-TV reported more than 500 people at the 75th annual meeting.

05What Remains of Monark Springs Today

The Church of God National Camp Meeting still gathers each summer at 13928 Park Lane; the 2026 meeting ran July 17–26. A replica depot stands at Monark Drive and Springs Road as a reminder of the railroad.

The old Jaeger house is gone, the original depot is gone, and the spring itself lies in the Hickory Creek floodplain. Much of the land is private, and the campground is active, so anyone visiting should respect posted property and event schedules.