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One of the uses for this building at Madison Street and Broadway – after it generated power for the streetcar system – was storage for wholesale groceries. Webb City Wholesale Grocer Co. moved into the building in 1945.
Old News
Webb City Area Genealogical Society
Webb City Wholesale Grocery supplied groceries to all of the small neighborhood grocery stores located within a 50-mile radius of Webb City.
It was founded in 1914 by three brothers: Alexander, Russell and Ed Davis. They operated it as a partnership until Alexander became the sole owner in 1932. Upon his death in 1942, his widow, Lillian Davis, along with her sons Kenneth and Milton, ran the company.
The business was originally located at the corner of Church and Tom Streets but was destroyed by a fire in 1944. Rather than rebuild, the business was moved in 1945 to the Southwest Missouri Railroad Company’s former streetcar powerhouse building on the corner of Madison Street and Broadway (Skateland now).
The Davis family continued to operate the company until February 1958, when they closed due to the health of Dr. Milton A. Davis.
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.
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 second Tuesday of each month in the Geadalogy 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.
The Webb City Sentinel isn’t a newspaper – but it used to be, serving Webb City, Missouri, in print from 1879-2020. This “newspaper” seeks to carry on that tradition as a nonprofit corporation.
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