More on the timeline of Webb City’s first decade

The timeline of Webb City history that Jeanne Newby has developed over the years continues from last week – a year after John C. Webb discovered lead in 1873.

1874 – John B. Webb, son of John C. Webb, passed away.

1874 – Granville Ashcraft married Theresa Belle Baker and built the first frame house on the northwest corner of Pennsylvania and Daugherty streets.

1874 – Aug. 12, construction began on John C. Webb’s brick home at 112 N. Webb St.

1874 – The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad moved James and Patience McNair to Oronogo.

1875 – Sept. 10, Carterville town plat was filed. Legend has it that Carter and Daugherty flipped a coin to see who would have the town named after him and who would have a street named after him. I guess Carter won! Another associate was William McMillan.

1875 – In the fall, the entire prairie where the town of Webbville was to be built was burned to start planning the town. It was all prairie land, with the only trees being the orchard that had been planted by John C. Webb.

1875 – July, the town of Webbville was officially platted.

1875 – James E. McNair moved to Webbville from Oronogo and built a home for John C. Webb at the corner of what would be Tom and Daugherty streets. Webb lived there while his new brick mansion was being built at 112 N. Webb St.

1875 – The Transit House, 208 E. Main St. (Broadway), a two-story, 17-room hotel was built by Smith & Fisborn. It was later operated by Mr. Coyne.

1875 – Nelse McTerron built the first store.

1876 – Four more additions were platted to Webbville.

1876 – March 20, Ruth F. (Davis) Webb, wife of John C. Webb passed away.

1876 – Oct. 10, Joseph R. Lowe moved to Webbville with $25 in his pocket.

1876 – Aug. 30, McCorkle’s First Addition was surveyed.

1876 – Dec. 11, Webb City was incorporated under the Statutes of the State of Missouri. James McNair honored to be first mayor. The name of Webbville no longer existed.

1876 – George W. Ball, age 16, arrived poor and penniless in Webb City.

1876 – H.A. Ayre was heading to the gold fields of California but stopped in Oronogo and never made it to California. Within four years, he had enough money to buy 204 acres. He became the Oronogo postmaster.

1876 – The Coyne family moved to Webb City in October. Thomas Coyne graduated from Webb City schools. Sadie Coyne married A.D. Hatten.

1876 – William Toms built a lead furnace on Ben’s Branch between Webb City and Carterville. This allowed the lead to be melted down for easier transport. The furnace was destroyed by fire in 1880. Smelters were expensive to build and quick to burn.

1876 – A four-room frame school house was built on Webb Street, between Church and First streets, facing east. Professor Dickey was the principal.

1876 – The Western Hotel was built and then operated by Mrs. Pratt.

1876 – Dr. J.J. Wolf established his office in Webb City.

1876 – Lon Ashcraft moved to Webb City, and his first day of school was upstairs over the Hall Drug store on the northwest corner of Allen (Main) & Main (Broadway) streets. He remembered the days of Bud Blunt and a gang of desperadoes who had shot up the town.

1876 – J. Van Buskert Grocery opened. He had moved from Joplin.

1877 – Six more additions were platted to Webb City. At the end of the year, Webb City had a population of about 2,000.

1877 – Jan. 13, McNair resigns as mayor (after one month) to accept the position as the first postmaster of Webb City. James Smith succeeded McNair as mayor.

1877 – The Pacific Hotel was built by G.W. Scott at 15 S. Allen (Main) St. to replace the Scott House. It featured 20 rooms, a dining room, and parlor. The Pacific burned in the big fire of 1883.

1877 – The Webb City Hotel was built. 9 South Webb Street.

1877 – A.H. Rogers was attending college at Harvard and went to visit Professor Alexander Graham Bell who had just received the patent for his telephone invention. While there Rogers was in the attic and spoke on the telephone with Bell who was in the basement. Rogers always claimed to have been the first person living in SW Missouri to talk over a telephone.

1877 – March 4, John C. Webb married Sarah M. Canchman. At this time, John C. Webb owned 1,000 acres in Jasper County, of which 160 was mineral land being leased out.

1877 – April 14, Charles “Carl” Skinner filed a plat for a town called Carl Junction, with 81 lots, seven streets and four alleys.

1877 – April 24, A petition to incorporate Carterville as a village was presented to county. Accepted on Sept. 6, but no action or meetings on the part of the town trustees were taken until April, 1882.

1877 – Aug. 6, Hamilton Snodgrass moved to Webb City to start a grocery business.

1877 – Charles R. Chinn Sr. moved to Webb City and opened the largest dry goods store in the city. C.R. Chinn and Co. Dry Goods was a17 X 30 bldg with $3,000 in stock.

1877 – S.L. Manker and his wife, Sarah, moved to Webb City and opened the first hardware store at 111 S. Allen (Main) St. Manker, Hewlett, and Co. mining supplies, hardware and grocerie.

1877 – J.G.L. Carter also known as Leroy built a new family home at Lakeside.

1877 – Joseph C. Stewart came to W.C. Center Creek Mining Co. Opened a Lumberyard with brother W.C. Stewart.

1877 – March 27, The First Presbyterian Church of Webb City was organized with 8 members.

1877 – 1888 – Pneumonia claimed the lives of many due to inclement weather and lack of adequate shelter.

1877 – The wood-framed Central School opened. It started as a four-room and was expanded to eight rooms.

1877 – Harry B. Hulett arrived in town as a boy with his father on a Frisco train. He said the train station at that time was on Fourth street. They rode into town in a “cab” and lived in a house where the Memorial Park is now.

1878 – April, Ben C. Webb was elected mayor and served until 1881.

1878 – Feb. 28, Webb City (on the verge of bankruptcy) became incorporated as a fourth class city to allow a tax levy for revenue. The first taxes were collected in 1879.

1878 – Hancock & Lowe opened a furniture and undertaking business. A horse and wagon were traded to obtain the initial stock, mostly second-hand goods.

1878 – The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad extended from Oronogo to Webb City and Joplin (10 miles). It ran on the east side of Webb City by the Center Creek Mining Co.

1878 – The Webb City Board of Education was established.

1879 – George W. Ball married Martha Ann Palmer.

1879 – The Webb City Sentinel was established as a weekly paper.

1879 – Col. James O’Neill arrived in Webb City. His accomplishments included establishment of Webb City Water Works. He was the half owner of the Webb City Ice & Storage Co., and he built the large Newland Hotel. He was also responsible for bringing gas service to town. He was a very important citizen.

1879 – Hendrickson Murray Hardware opened for business.

1879 – The Frisco Railroad depot was built in the West End of Webb City.

1879 – E.T. Webb, son of John C. Webb graduated from college and returned to Webb City.

1879 – The Wright Drug Store opened. Charles Wright & Bros. Drug and Jewelry opened with $1,200 stock. The business continued for 30 years until Charles retired.

1879 – Dr. L. Green moved from Medoc and opened a drug store.

1880 – Edwin E. Spracklen said when he came to town in 1880, they had to let down the bars of a farm fence on the south end of town to allow you to enter Webb City. Spracklen was a noted photographer and was elected mayor in 1898.

1880 – A local promotion declared that Joplin was “The Wonder of the West”, Carthage was “The Queen of the West”, Sarcoxie was “The Strawberry Capital of the Nation”, and Webb City was “The Zinc Capital of the World”.

1880 – Jesse Frankenberger came to Jasper County in1882 and located in Webb City. In 1898, he was elected justice of the peace.

1880 – The Webb City Cemetery was organized.

1880 – Union Pacific Railroad and the Burlington Northern Railroad came to town and found a home at the Frisco Depot in the West End of town.

1880 – Ward & Laster Transfer Business opened, as well as the J.B. Overstreet Coal & Wood.

1880 – Dr. Thomas Donehoo purchased the Pacific Hotel at 15 S. Allen (Main) and leased it to E.M. Fennike.

More on the timeline of Webb City’s first decade

1880 – City Officials were: Mayor T.J. Harrington, Marshall R.F. Fitzpatrick, Councilmen, D.H. Mack, John Marlsolf, John Lofter and D.J. Horn. Clerk, J.E. McNair, Treasurer C.H. Murray, Collector James N. Stephenson, City attorney W.M. Robinson.

1880 – Parker Bros. & Sinclair meat merchants opened for business.

1881 – April, Mayor T.J. Harrington elected and served until 1886.

1881 – Parker Chinn & Co. opened for business.

1881 – The Missouri Pacific Railroad came to Webb City and was located by Ben’s Branch between Webb City and Carterville.

1881 – Webb City received its first telephone with the American Bell Telephone Company (Charles W. McDaniel). Wires were strung along trees, bushes, buildings, porches, etc.

1881 – The Webb City Foundry and Machine Shop began (Webb Corp).

1881 – Wright Jewelry was established by Will Wright in the Charles Wright & Bros. Drug Store. He later established the Wright Jewelry in the old Webb City Bank Building, on the southeast corner of Webb and Main (Broadway) St.

1881 – Webb City welcomed many new businesses: Gammon & Henderson Grocery and O.P. Sutherland Grocery. Allie Rice, milliner opened for business.

1882 – The Webb City Bank was established by John C. Webb and his son Elijah (E.T.) Webb. The first three assistant bank clerks were, Clem Fishburn, W.S. Chinn and Tom Coyne. Walter Spurgin’s father made a walnut counter for the bank, lined inside with quarter–inch steel and armed with revolvers handy to resist robbers. Extra caution was observed by making shotguns available at neighboring stores to assist the bank if robbers were trying to rob the bank.

1882 – E.T. Webb built a beautiful home on the southwest corner of Liberty and Joplin (Broadway) streets. He added the piazza in 1884.

1882 – Lead ore was discovered at Troup City (later known as Prosperity), just outside Carterville.

1882 – April 4, Carterville was incorporated as a 4th Class City.

1882 – Dec. 29, Charles R. Chinn, Jr. was born. He was president of Webb City Bank, starting in 1915.

1882 – Joseph Allen Hardy Sr. and his wife, Emily, moved to Webb City. He opened the Hardy & Lillibridge Mine, and he was influential in getting the Bishop Lillis of Kansas City to establish Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Webb City.

1882 – The Webb City Silver Coronet Band was organized.

1882 – Saw the beginning of the existence of clubs, lodges and organizations, with the establishment of the AF and AM on April 5.

1882 – The first church was built in Webb City on land John Webb had set aside for that purpose on the southeast corner of Liberty and Joplin (Broadway) streets. Webb was sick at the time, and telephone wires were run from the church to the house so Webb could hear the ceremony. The church was named Webb Chapel by the Rev. Ben Deering. Webb paid $5,000 for construction of the Southern Methodist Church.