Where industrial buildings and parking lots are now, there once were homes.

The area of 10th Street and Joplin Avenue in Joplin looks nothing like it did at the start of the 20th century when poet, playwright, essayist and columnist Langston Hughes was born in one of those homes along the railroad tracks.

Research by members of the Langston Hughes Cultural Society has pinpointed, through newspaper articles, census data and other sources, the location of the now-demolished home at 1046 S. Joplin Ave. where Hughes was born.

On Wednesday (June 21, 2023), the society brought in researchers with the Bernice S. Warren Center for Archaeological Research at Missouri State University to do a geophysical survey to try to find the foundations of the home on now what is a tiny vacant lot.

Read more about this effort on Yahoo News.