Webb City’s first building constructed as a post office later became known as the Elks Club, which met on the second floor. Jane Benson gave dance lessons on the third floor. The building still stands on the northwest corner of Broadway and Webb Street.

More tidbits from our favorite eras in our favorite town

Back to the days of Teen Town and ‘Teen Hop’

  • The day before Thanksgiving was called “Potato day” and each student brought a potato to school…over 100 bushels of potatoes were distributed among the needy to have for their Thanksgiving dinner.
  • Remember having to decide which “Drive-in movie” you would go to for the evening? The Webb City Drive-in, Tri-State Drive-in by the Schifferdecker Golf Course, The Crest Drive-in east of 32nd and Rangeline, and the Route 66 Drive-in in Carthage.
  • One reader recalls her uncle during the 40s taking twelve kids on the back of a flatbed truck. Adults had to pay and kids were free, so it was a fun and cheap entertainment for the kids that night.
  • Larry Hayes recalls when gas was 14 cents a gallon and he could add kerosene for 6 cents a gallon and the car still ran just fine. And you had gas attendants who came running out to the car to put the gas in the tank for you.
  • How about those school shots? Remember the long lines and everyone watching to see if you flinch or worse yet, cry!!
  • Remember being proud to have a “store bought” dress or shirt or “store bought” candy. Now the “home made” would be the rare item.
  • Oh the fun of doing the laundry. You washed the clothes one day, sprinkled them with water, kept them in the refrigerator, ironed them the next day. Then they came out with the steam iron and you didn’t have to sprinkle your clothes anymore. Modernization!
  • Remember Webb City’s Teen town (third floor of the Elk’s Building at Webb and Broadway? Remember “Teen Hop” every Saturday on the local television station?
  • Every store in town use to close at six o’clock so every could go home to have dinner with their family. You had to make sure that you bought everything you needed, like food and filling the gas tank by six o’clock on Saturday night because nothing was open on Sunday.
  • Remember having small “mom and pop” grocery stores every few blocks? Then the big super markets came along the little stores could not compete with their prices, so they just faded away. Now we have “convenient stores” all over the place.
  • When John C. Webb determined to establish a city he burned all the prairie (1875) where his home was located and it eventually became the original town area of Webb City.
  • Remember the red gym suits the girls had to wear in the 60s at WCHS
  • Remember when it took five minutes for the television tube to warm up and the television to come on. If you wanted to change the channel, you had to get up, walk over to the television and turn the dial. And when you turned off the television, there was a red dot in the center of the screen that took forever to disappear. If you left the screen on after the television station went off the air, then the Indian pattern would appear on the screen accompanied by a high pitch noise.
  • Do you remember when the Beatles came to America?
  • Coca Cola served in a cold bottle with the glass turned upside down over the top of the bottle. Or maybe you were lucky enough to have your coke served in a glass with a straw.
  • Was there anything more exciting than those Hostess Cup Cakes with the white and pink icing over chocolate cake…only 12 cents.
  • One reader recalls that his grandmother knew everything about the neighbor by the way they did their laundry. She knew if someone was out of town, if someone was expecting a baby, if sheets were hung on the line more than once a week, someone was sick or a bed wetter. She kept track of how often someone changed their underwear. This lady needed to get a life!
  • I had always heard of people carrying buck eyes for good luck but one reader said her Dad carried his buck eye to protect him from rheumatism or piles (hemorrhoids). It was very bad luck to lose your buck eye. She asked her dad if he was superstitious, he said “No, I’m not, I just don’t want to get the rheumatism!”

Jeanne Newby

A lot of us appreciate the Bradbury Bishop Fountain, but Jeanne actually worked behind the counter making sodas while she was in high school. She knows everything about Webb City and is a member of the Webb City R-7 School Board.
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The Webb City Sentinel isn’t a newspaper – but it used to be, serving Webb City, Missouri, in print from 1879-2020. This “newspaper” seeks to carry on that tradition as a nonprofit corporation.

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