Old News

From the 3rd floor
of the Webb City Public Library

Home Telephone’s success required construction of a new building

Webb City Area Genealogical Society
December 27, 2023

In 1906, the Home Telephone Company purchased Lot No. 10 in the new Ryns & Jennings addition to Webb City for the purpose of erecting a new building. The lot, on Broadway (Joplin Street then) facing south, is the first one west of the alley.

Plans were made to build a two-story stone or brick building. Our 1921 photograph shows that the builder decided on brick with stone trim.

This building and its operators continued to serve the community as a telephone exchange for many years. It is now the home of the Webb City Police Department.

Home Telephone Co. was originally on the second floor of a building on Main Street. The back of the photo below reads: “Upstairs over 15 South Main, Home Telephone Company, Webb City, Mo. Dolph Emmerson (Carterville), Janie Paxton, Grova Harrison, Stella Bowen.”

This Home Telephone ad listing the number of subscribers it had in area towns was in the Aug. 5, 1905, Webb City Register.

The building at 15 S. Main St. was on the northeast corner of Main and Church streets. It was the Main Street Bar when that quarter of a block burned in December 1982.

Sentinel bound volumes are now in the Genealogy Room

The WCAGS has accepted ownership of the complete collection of bound volumes of the Webb City Sentinel, from 1983 (after the fire) until the final issue on Dec. 30, 2020.

Those issues can also be viewed on microfilm, along with much older issues.

Webb City Area Genealogical Society

WCAGS members staff the Genealogy Room on the third floor of the Webb City Public Library. Current hours are noon to 4 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the Genealogy Room.

Everything you want to know about Jasper County Missouri Schools is available at a site compiled by Webb City Area Genealogical Society member Kathy Sidenstricker.