As street work is being done on Allen (later Main) Street between Church and First streets, The Century Building, 25, 27 S. Allen St., and Clark Dodson Building, 29 S. Allen St., can seen in the background. Two unmistakable features are The Century Building’s second-floor bay window and Clark Dodson’s angled corner on the alley. Both buildings are still standing.
Century and Clark Dodson buildings were built in 1900 and 1901
Jeanne Newby
There is a building on Main Street of Webb City that has often been a building of high regard through the years. The name of that building is The Century Building.
A name of honor, as the building was built at the turn of the century in 1900 by Tom C. and Gladys Hayden. It was located at 25 and 27 S. Allen St. (Allen Street became Main Street by city ordinance on Oct. 18, 1920.
According to the Sanborn Map, the golden brick building replaced wooden vacant buildings.
Mining supplies and hardware were sold in the larger portion of the building, which was 25 S. Allen. A harness shop was housed in 27 S. Allen.
To the south, at 29 S. Allen, was the Clark Dodson Building, built in 1901 with retail on the main floor and apartments upstairs.
The buildings have been empty for a while, but the owners hope to bring them back to glory.
From old advertising, we conclude that other businesses in the building included Smithson Wallpaper in 1908, J.J. Funk Real Estate in 1908 and 1906, and Reynolds Hardware was in the building in 1945,
Tom Hayden, who owned the building, advertised in 1918. His business was still listed there in the City Directory in 1928. At the same the directory indicated Hayden and his wife were also living in the building.
We can tell this Fourth of July parade took place before the turn of the century because The Century Building hadn’t been constructed yet. On the corner In the foreground on the right are two building (reduced to one-story height today) formerly used as the fire department, city hall and police department. Across the alley to the left are buildings that were replaced by the Century and Clark Dodson buildings.
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.
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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