This information about Webb City is from the website maintained by the Webb City Chamber of Commerce: (
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Webb City is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 9,812 at the 2000 census. Situated on the Ozark Plateau, Webb City, MO is 982 feet above sea level in the southwest corner of Missouri. It is approximately 200 miles southwest of the center of population of the United States and near the geographical center of the country. Located next to Joplin, ten miles east of the Kansas state line, 14 miles northeast of the Oklahoma state line, and 46 miles north of the Arkansas state line, Webb City provides central access to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
HISTORY
Our roots are literally in the ground. John Webb, for whom the city is named, plowed up a large chunk of lead ore one day in 1875 and from there sprang one of the richest lead and zinc mining areas in the world, and this city. A bit of the history of the town can be read on its street signs and buildings, Aylor, Ball, Chinn, Daugherty and Webb. The city was established in the year 1876, the year of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Having birthed as a boom town much needed to be done in a hurry to provide services to the miners and their families. The mine owners were up to the task and a business district, hotels and banks, homes and even a hospital were built. Soon transportation became an issue; then entered A. H. Rogers’ mule drawn streetcar, soon to grow into an interstate electric streetcar enterprise. Legend has it that when Webb City’s mayor was approached for right-of-way for the electric system, he was concerned that Webb City residents would use it to go to Joplin to do their shopping so he required the headquarters of the new system to be located in Webb City. The deal was struck and Webb City became the hub of the streetcar line, with offices, power house and car barns located on Madison Street between Broadway and Daugherty streets. The company built a clubhouse for their employees’ use. This part of town soon became a second business district with cafes, grocery stores, and some light industry. Many young men, as they left for war and whose names would appear on the tablets in Memorial Park, said goodbye to their loved ones at the Frisco Station at Daugherty and Madison.
But the grass is sometimes greener and richer lodes of lead were found in Oklahoma, and eventually the mining ceased; then mass production of automobiles and buses brought an end to the streetcar era. At that time an active Chamber of Commerce and concerned businessmen used their combined acumen to bring in new business and industry and for a time the city thrived. However, changing times and business practices brought near ruin to most central business districts and Webb City was no exception, although the newer business district on South Madison Avenue continued to grow. Recent years have seen an explosion of new businesses there, with new restaurants, retail establishments and offices.
However, it could be said that our past is also our future. The first floor of the power house and the clubhouse are still in use today, the power house being occupied by a skating rink and the clubhouse, still known as the Clubhouse, is the headquarters of the Webb City Historical Society. The fully restored streetcar rumbles around tracks in King Jack Park on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and reunions, giving gleeful pleasure to its riders. Its depot, once on the electric railway line, houses the Webb City Area Chamber of Commerce. King Jack Park itself was once the site of Sucker Flats mine, a large surface mine now full of water. The chat piles all around the area, having blighted the landscape for over 100 years, are being used to fill up the mines and reclaim the land for development. Route 66 is enjoying fame all over the world and the resulting tourism brings international visitors right through Downtown. Movies are being shown in Route 66 Theatre and discussions are underway for live theatre. Also, Downtown is getting “dolled up” with new sidewalks and historic streetlights and developers are making use of empty second and third stories of buildings for apartme