One of my favorite pictures of Allen (Main Street) in 1911, is a postcard showing Webb city’s busy street. Horse and buggy was the mode of transportation. The streetcar tracks were prominent down the middle of the street. The Webb City Bank is on the right side.

On down the street, the first building on the right the Zinc Ore Building, built in 1906 by John Dermott (recently home to the Webb City Sentinel).

But in 1911, Sol H. Baum displayed the name of his business on the north side of the building. Sol H. Baum Clothing. When the S.H. Kress company built the Kress Dime store at 6 S. Allen St., it covered up the north side of the Zinc Ore building, which was the end of the large sign for Baum.

The empty lot north of the new Kress store was the location of the Sales Day, where businesses auctioned off great merchandise and famers sold their wares.

Farther south, you can see the well known roofline of the Newland Hotel. On the ground floor, below the hotel rooms, were retail stores.

On the left side of the street, 1 S. Allen St., was the Middlewest Hotel, which also housed the Opera House.

I love the pictures of the past that show history in the making. The City of Webb City made many changes through the years, and the pictures showcase those changes.