Did you know there was a college on College Street?

We remember the day when a photo of the Webb City Business College, from a viewpoint we had never seen before, came into the genealogy room on the third floor of the Webb City Public Library.

Webb City Baptist College was constructed on a 6-acre site on the west edge of Webb City by A. R. Nesbitt. The cornerstone was laid on Aug. 10, 1893, and the school opened on Sept. 15, 1896, with an enrollment of 100 students.

The college offered full academic and preparatory courses, with programs for both male and female students. There were departments for music, art and oratory skills. 

In 1902, the trustees of the Spring River Baptist Association changed the school to a young ladies college. Seventy young women were enrolled at this time. The name of the school was changed to the Webb City College for Young Ladies.

The college continued as a Baptist school until 1903, when the school proved to be a financial failure. On May 9, 1903, Professor W. T. Larimore secured possession of the building. He named the school The Great Western Normal and Business College. The school offered many courses for both male and female students. The last school session was offered in the summer of 1906.

In 1908, the Webb City School Board considered remodeling the college building for use as the city’s new high school. An architect was sent to examine the building, and he found it in an excellent state of repair. A different site, though, was eventually chosen for the new high school.

The college was converted into an apartment building in 1909, and by 1910 there were four families living there.  In 1911, local evangelist W. M. Allison ran a small orphanage from the building. 

In 1928, the building was procured by Mike Evans, a Picher mining man. He demolished the old structure and salvaged the bricks for other projects.

The ground where the building stood was purchased by A. D. Hatten, who in 1933 presented it to the city for the purpose of a city park. During the Works Progress Administration days, a swimming pool was built in the basement of the old college. It was the city pool until the late 1960s. The historic bathhouse continues to grace the park, although it is just being used for storage.

In 1978, the college’s original cornerstone was found and placed at the entrance of Hatten Park, under the direction of the Webb City Historical Society.