Chamber membership drives are a tradition

Founders of the Webb City Chamber of Commerce would no doubt be proud of their successors’ successful annual membership campaigns.

One of the newspaper articles in our chamber of commerce file on the Third Floor of the Webb City Public Library reports on the chamber’s 1934 membership drive, but a specific goal wasn’t mentioned. In that same May 18, 1934, Joplin Globe article, it was reported that the chamber was hoping to repurpose the former Central School building as a factory for Smith Garment Company.

That brick building, still standing south of Broadway between Webb and Liberty streets did become a factory. Finishing furniture was one of the last uses.

There was apparently a strong connection between the chamber and local farmers. Two of our favorite pictures on file are of large gatherings for a farm day luncheon and Jasper County Farm Bureau dinner.

Let’s salute the unknown photographer who shot these Webb Chamber of Commerce hosted events for the farm community. The faces are clear from front to back in both photos. Hat bands in the top photo appear to say, WEBB CITY GREETS YOU.” Note the man sitting on a stump. The outdoor photo is believed to have been taken on Farmers Day on a farm north of town. We’d like to know which building the indoor photo was taken in. The Jasper County Farm Bureau sign is in front of an “In Memoriam” list.