Editing Noel, Missouri (section)

==History==
A post office called Noel has been in operation since 1886.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MO&county=McDonald | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> The community was named for Clark Wallace "C.W." and William Jasper "W.J." Noel; brothers, stockmen, and owners of a [[sawmill]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfAuAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA190 | title=How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | author=Eaton, David Wolfe | year=1916 | pages=190}}</ref> The town was founded after the Kansas City, Pittsburg, and Gulf Railroad arrived.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/08/long-time-christmas-tradition-continues-noel-missouri/4374108002/|title = Here's how a small town in Missouri became known as 'The Christmas City'| website=[[USA Today]] }}</ref>

Noel has capitalized on its Christmas-themed name, along with [[North Pole, Alaska]], [[Christmas, Michigan]], [[Santa Claus, Indiana]], and [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]]. Each year, tens of thousands of Christmas cards and letters are sent to the [[United States Postal Service|USPS]] Noel Post Office during the holiday season to be stamped with a postmark reading, ''Noel, Mo. - "The Christmas City in the Ozark Vacation Land"''. This practice became popular in the late 1940s when [[Kate Smith]], a radio and television singer, began telling the "Noel Story" during her broadcasts.<ref>[http://www.4noel.com/postmark.html Noel Christmas Postmarks] Retrieved 2009-12-11.</ref> Most of the year, area residents pronounce Noel as rhyming with "mole", in honor of the town's namesake, Bridges Noel.

On August 3, 1969, a freight train exploded while passing through Noel, spraying fragments of metal through houses and buildings over a six-block area.  One person was killed, and 40 others injured.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19690804&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Missouri Village Sprayed with Metal—] 1 Dies, 100 Are Hurt in Rail Blasts ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', August 4, 1969, p1</ref>

Noel was home to a [[Tyson Foods]] chicken-processing plant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCorvey |first=J.J. |date=2023-08-29 |title=Rural town braces for Tyson plant closure as manufacturing booms elsewhere |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/tyson-foods-chicken-plant-closures-rural-manufacturing-rcna100434 |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref><ref name="usatodaysomalirefugeeschangeface">{{cite news|last1=Gounley|first1=Thomas|title=Somali refugees change face of southwest Mo. town|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/06/somali-refugees-missouri/97548508/|access-date=February 9, 2017|work=USA Today|date=February 6, 2017}}</ref> By 2010, an estimated 400 to 500 Somali refugees, and 60 and 70 Sudanese refugees, out of 1,800 residents, lived in the town, most of whom worked for Tyson Foods.<ref name="usatodaysomalirefugeeschangeface"/> In 2011, 130 Muslim employees stopped working temporarily after they were allegedly discouraged from praying five times a day for fear of low productivity.<ref name="joplinglobesomaliworkersbackonjob">{{cite news|last1=Letner|first1=Josh|title=Somali workers back on job at Tyson plant|url=http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/somali-workers-back-on-job-at-tyson-plant/article_979fde40-57ac-501e-b168-719ebc6bd6c0.html|access-date=February 9, 2017|work=The Joplin Globe|date=October 25, 2011}}</ref> Tyson Foods later released a statement dismissing it as a cross-cultural misunderstanding.<ref name="joplinglobesomaliworkersbackonjob"/>

A [[mosque]] was established in 2009, and an African grocery store which sells headscarves and rugs in 2010; both are located on Main Street.<ref name="usatodaysomalirefugeeschangeface"/> In 2017, the mayor, John Lafley, said that the Muslim refugees "want to practice their [[Sharia law]] here, and that's one thing the city won't tolerate."<ref name="usatodaysomalirefugeeschangeface"/> On December 28, 2020, an early morning fire broke out at the African grocery. It was destroyed. The fire spread to the adjacent mosque as well as other businesses. One person inside the store suffered extensive burns from which they died.<ref>Main Street Noel Burns -- Shannon Becker, FourStatesHomePage, December 28, 2020. https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/joplin-news-first/main-street-business-in-noel-burns/</ref> A few days after the fire, the Islamic Society of [[Joplin, Missouri|Joplin]] launched a fundraising campaign to find a new home for the mosque. The goal was met, raising $100,480.<ref>Joplin Islamic Society Raises Funds for New Noel Masjid -- Shannon Becker, FourStatesHomePage, December 31, 2020. https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/joplin-news-first/joplin-islamic-society-raising-funds-for-sister-noel-muslim-community-since-mosque-destroyed-in-fire/</ref>