Established in 1970 as a teaching museum, the Longwell Museum, houses artifacts and many of Thomas Hart Benton's original lithographs, as well as, the famed Daisy Cook Collection. The Longwell exhibits are made complete by the works of many other regional artists.

Housed in one of the three remaining barracks on the campus of Crowder College, the Camp Crowder Collection contains over 5,000 photographs, manuscripts and records that chronicle the history of the World War II Signal Corps Training Camp.

In 1941, Neosho changed forever when the United States government established Camp Crowder on the southern edge of town. The camp, a U.S. Army Signal Corps Training Center, flooded Neosho with an average population of 40,000 uniformed men and women. The impact of Camp Crowder's establishment can only be matched by the impact of its closure. The millions of dollars spent locally by the government and soldiers almost disappeared entirely when World War II ended.

Farsighted men and women, however, turned the city in a new direction - manufacturing. Utilizing the many facilities left at the old camp site, business and industry rose where barracks and mess halls once stood. Later, Crowder College was formed and moved in where the army had moved out.