What Is the Bonnie & Clyde Garage Apartment?
In early 1933, this was the hideout of the infamous Barrow Gang, where police found evidence that made national icons of Bonnie & Clyde but also assured their doom!
What Makes It Historical?
The fabled crime spree of Bonnie & Clyde only spanned about 2 years from 1932 until 1934, but it’s not the length that makes the legend! After an abusive 2-year stint in Eastham Prison Farm for stealing a car, Clyde Barrow emerged with a bone to pick with the justice system! The first robberies that included Bonnie Parker were to raise funds and firepower for a raid on the prison, which meant robbing shops across northeastern Texas and leaving five folks, including police officers, dead in their wake!
This garage apartment entered the scene the following March, when Clyde’s brother, Buck, and his wife, Blanche, teamed up with Bonnie & Clyde to form the Barrow Gang here in Joplin, Missouri! While they did rob stores in town, it was their raucous card games and general rowdiness that made the neighbors report them to the police! On April 13, 1933, the Barrow Gang fled the apartment in a shootout, killing Detective Harry McGinnis and Constable J.W. Harryman in the process! When police searched the apartment, they found a camera full of undeveloped photos of the crime couple, whose anarchic romance captured the imagination of the country!
Fame made them recognizable, which made it harder to lay low in their crime spree that stretched from Texas to Minnesota! The beginning of the end came about when Clyde crashed a stolen car and Bonnie’s leg got severely burned! Buck was fatally shot in the head in July during a shootout in Platte City, Missouri, and Blanche got arrested when he died. Gang member, W.D. Jones, was arrested in Houston on November 16th, and his confession led to another shootout and narrow escape while Bonnie & Clyde visited their families!
On January 16, 1934, Clyde’s original mission came to fruition: they raided Eastham Prison, breaking out several inmates, all of whom were hunted down and killed except the one who would betray his rescuers. It was at this point that former Texas Ranger, Frank Hamer, joined the hunt. He had figured out that the Barrow Gang were circling the Midwest, crossing state lines to throw off the police, but traveling between gang member families in a specific pattern. It was in Shreveport, Louisiana where Henry Methvin, the only surviving inmate from the prison raid, betrayed Bonnie & Clyde to the Hamer posse. En route to the Methvin family home, they drove right into an ambush. 130 rounds later, Bonnie & Clyde were very, very dead!
Despite their viciousness (12 murders, including 9 police officers), Bonnie & Clyde had picked up a cultlike following. Before the bodies had even cooled, there were souvenir collectors pushing past the police to snip off locks of Bonnie’s hair and cut off Clyde’s finger and ear! What was left of them got buried in separate plots with thousands in attendance, and the very laws had to change because of them. Because of the Barrow Gang, life insurance doesn’t get paid out if someone dies in a criminal act, and this state-hopping crime spree elevated kidnapping and bank robbery to federal crimes. Now, the FBI can pursue any future copycats regardless of which state line they cross!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Volunteer with Missouri State Parks!
- Donate to the State Historical Society of Missouri!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
299 W 34th St
Joplin, MO 64804
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
View the exterior whenever the mood strikes you!
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