Add Your Heading Text Here

In advance of the Reviving the Past concert by the Heartland Concert Band in the Memorial Park band stand, Bill Caldwell has submitted the following article. He is a member of the Webb City Area Genealogy Society and the former librarian of the Joplin Globe.

The concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday. Lawn chairs are encouraged. Donations will be collected to benefit the Webb City High School and Middle School bands.

« »

by Bill Caldwell

The original idea for a memorial park to commemorate the soldiers who fought and died in World War I came about in the Civic Club, which voted on May 24, 1919, to start actions to secure a site for a park. The proposal was presented to the Chamber of Commerce. It endorsed the proposal. Together they presented it before the city council. The council supported the proposal and called for a bond election on Nov. 24, 1919, to vote a bond issue of $10,000 with which to purchase a tract of ground for a memorial park.

The bond election on Nov 25, 1919 to vote $10,000 bonds to build a memorial park in honor of the Webb City soldiers who took part in the war carried by a majority of 247 votes. The totals were 511 votes cast – 384 yes, 127 no.

Initial plans called for a triumphal arch, a pavilion and a band stand. Five properties were among the choices presented to the memorial park committee. The last two choices were the half block Haskins and Ashercraft property between Daugherty and John streets and the half block Dodge-Pyle property on the southeast corner of Pennsylvania and Daugherty. The Haskins-Ashercraft property was chosen and purchased for $6,500, reported the Joplin News Herald on June 18, 1920.

Work on the park commenced to build a bandstand with walks and flowers. The park was ready for dedication by June 1921.

The park was dedicated on Flag Day, June 14, 1921. Preceding the dedication, there was a parade through the downtown streets in which the Toutz band, city officials, park board, G.A.R., American Legion posts of Webb City and Carterville, the Elks lodge and Co. G, 203 Anti-aircraft regiment all took part.

The dedication exercises were arranged by the Elks’ lodge with participation by the American Legion posts of Webb City and Carterville, along with other patriotic organizations. A crowd of more than 1,000 persons attended. Mayor W.F. Gill gave the opening address expressing the city’s gratitude to the men who had given their lives in the war and to all who entered the service of their country.

Roy C. Coyne, on behalf of the ex-service men of the Daris Schalk post of the American Legion, expressed gratification at the city’s gift. He also paid tribute to the flag and declared the determination of the Legion men at all times to defend it. He paid tribute to the memory of the men who still life in foreign fields. The flag was given by the local D.A.R. chapter.

A concert by the Toutz band supplemented the addresses. It included such selections as “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” a march “My Maryland,” Southern plantation songs, “Don’t Take Away Those Blues,” and concluded with the “Star Spangled Banner.”