Prior to the Civil War, the economy revolved around agriculture, retail trade, and eventually mining. In 1941, Neosho changed forever when the United States government established Camp Crowder - this brought 40,000 uniformed men and women to town. It is nationally known as the Flower Box City, which began when the town received a grant in 1955
to launch an experiment in city beautification, and has since placed flower boxes in front of business establishments, churches, schools and residential homes.