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The old city hall had the fire and police departments as well as city offices and the courtroom in one building.
Jeanne Newby
Webb City has made changes through the years to go along with the growth of the town. One of the obvious changes has been our City Hall.
The original city hall was built at First and Allen (Main) streets. Before the building was built in 1891, the city hall was located at Main and Allen streets. Does that confuse you? It might be more recognizable as Broadway and Main. Now to confuse you more, Main Street was Broadway and Allen Street was Main Street, and there was a big two-story wood frame building, named Webb City Hall that seemed to be used for everything. It was a city hall, church, post office, school room, and anything else they needed a home for.
That building was torn down as Webb City Bank built a solid building there. The bank was originally in Webb City’s first brick building (built in1877) at Broadway (Main) and Webb Street. That building became a jewelry store owned by Wright. In the meantime, they had to put city hall in a few different locations, so the city decided in 1890 to build a permanent brick city hall on the northeast corner of Allen (Main) and First streets.
The new city hall building housed city offices, the chamber of commerce, police office and police court, fire department and city jail. It was a busy building. Eventually, Webb City purchased the Empire District building next door to the north and expanded. The original building had the fire department in front and police department in rear, with the courtroom between the fire department and city offices. Later, the front of the second floor fell forward onto the sidewalk and street for no apparent reason. The top floor was removed from the building.
Jeanne’s new book, “The Zinc City, Webb City, Missouri” is now available at Webb City Chamber office and other local retailers, such at Maggie Jane’s Gifts, at 8 S. Main St.
Atop the second floor was the popular bell tower.
In later years, the city expanded into the adjacent Empire District building.
Webb City has made changes through the years to go along with the growth of the town. One of the obvious changes has been our City Hall.
The original city hall was built at First and Allen (Main) streets. Before the building was built in 1891, the city hall was located at Main and Allen streets. Does that confuse you? It might be more recognizable as Broadway and Main. Now to confuse you more, Main Street was Broadway and Allen Street was Main Street, and there was a big two-story wood frame building, named Webb City Hall that seemed to be used for everything. It was a city hall, church, post office, school room, and anything else they needed a home for.
That building was torn down as Webb City Bank built a solid building there. The bank was originally in Webb City’s first brick building (built in1877) at Broadway (Main) and Webb Street. That building became a jewelry store owned by Wright. In the meantime, they had to put city hall in a few different locations, so the city decided in 1890 to build a permanent brick city hall on the northeast corner of Allen (Main) and First streets.
The new city hall building housed city offices, the chamber of commerce, police office and police court, fire department and city jail. It was a busy building. Eventually, Webb City purchased the Empire District building next door to the north and expanded. The original building had the fire department in front and police department in rear, with the courtroom between the fire department and city offices. Later, the front of the second floor fell forward onto the sidewalk and street for no apparent reason. The top floor was removed from the building.
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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