Gangsters' apartment added to historic register

JOPLIN — A Joplin apartment that was the scene of a fatal shootout between lawmen and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Roger Maserang wrote the document nominating the structure, and learned Friday that the garage apartment had been listed.

He said the apartment is among the last places associated with the outlaws in Missouri that has "retained its integrity." He said what happened at the apartment has "historical significance."

On April 13, 1933, two law enforcement officers died at the apartment during a confrontation with the infamous criminal couple and other members of the Barrow gang.

The couple's two-year spree of robbing banks ended in May 1934 when police killed them in Louisiana.