The new American Legion Post 322 Hall is taking shape on the southwest corner of North Main Street and Stadium Drive.

Post Commander Don Wooten says completion is expected in early spring.

The new building is just south of the current Legion hall, which has been sold to the Webb City R-7 School District.

At 15,000 square feet, it will be just 3,000 square feet smaller than the original. “We’re just losing the garage,” which isn’t being used anyay, says Legion member Rick Copeland.

The layout will be the same, with a large room for dinners and bingo, a room for smaller gatherings, kitchen and offices.

Copeland says bingo is still going strong, with an average of 115 to 120 players per week. One thing different in the new building will be windows to allow the smoking section to be able to see the caller and everyone else in the non-smoking section.

Quarles Construction is the contractor, with help from Steve Boyd.

James Dawson is on site representing the Legion. “We could not have done it without him,” says Copeland. “He initiated it (the plan), and he is overseeing construction.”

The Legion expresses its appreciation to the public each year by hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner. It will be Sunday, Nov. 21, this year. There will be no Veterans Day breakfast this year, however.

The school district is paying $900,000 for the current Legion hall, along with donating the site where the new building is under construction. 

The district had previously purchased the baseball field from the American Legion, and the adjacent Heritage Preschool building was originally the VFW hall. In the latest deal, the VFW is donating two lots it owns in front of Heritage to the district. So most of the block is now owned by the school district.

The district has not yet exactly decided how it will use the current Legion hall.