Webb City is looking for a company – ideally a nonprofit – to put the historic Clubhouse at 115 N. Madison Street to good use.

A century ago, the clubhouse was built as a place for streetcar workers, employees of the Southwest Missouri Electric Railway, to relax and socialize.

After the Jasper County Health Department quit using it as a clinic in the ’90s, the Webb City Historical Society accepted ownership and restored it. In addition to housing its collection, the society rented it out as an events center.

Except for being a polling place, the Clubhouse has mostly been unused since the city accepted ownership of the building from the historical society.

City Administrator Carl Francis says, “We would love” to have a not-for-profit agency occupy the building and pay the utilities.

And he wouldn’t rule out a for-profit entity “as long as it fits the bill for what we’d allow.”

It’s NOT for sale, though.

“Oh, no, no, no! We wouldn’t sell it. “It’s way too historic to be sold,” says Francis.

“We just want to save it.”

Using it as an events center has been ruled out, according to Francis. For one thing, the city already has an events center, the Mining Days Community Building.

“We’re looking for options,” says Francis.

He says it was a good situation this spring when a health company occupied the Clubhouse as a COVID-19 testing center for a few months.

The signs out front of the Clubhouse were originally made for property the city had for sale on East Street. Now that all of that land has spoken for, Francis decided to put the signs in front of the Clubhouse to spark interest.