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Carthage, Missouri
Please Note: Powers Museum
website will be overhauled during December and January, so
please copy NOW any information you use repeatedly from this website in
the event it is not reprinted on the new website and/or is re-formatted.
Access to a museum website may be very limited during this period. We
appreciate your patience in this matter and hope you will enjoy the new
website.
In the meantime, you can follow the museum on Twitter.com
(PowersMuseum). Notices about our Flickr pages and new Facebook page will
be announced on Twitter.
Thank you for your support in 2009 and Happy New Year to all visitors
and viewers!
– Powers Museum Board and Staff
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In 1927, Carthage, Missouri, was proclaimed by the Carthage Chamber of Commerce as "The Open Gate to the Ozarks" and the guide book pictured extolled the "Little City Among the Trees" as one of the finest places to live due in part to its beauty of setting and architecture. At this time, too, Carthage was one of the Ozark Playgrounds Association members, promoting the entire Ozark region as a tourism destination.
These same attributes had been touted throughout the previous decades and still are in evidence today throughout Carthage's three districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the finest examples of Victorian and early 20th century architectural styles can be seen in these districts and elsewhere throughout town. The residences and store buildings stand as evidence of Carthage's diverse and prosperous economic development in previous centuries. Click here for a PDF file of the Carthage Convention & Visitors Bureau Historical Guide.
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| Carthage's Civil War Museum |
In 1841, Jasper County, Missouri, was formed from Greene County and in 1842, Carthage was laid out as the county seat with a public square surrounding a simple frame courthouse. By the next decade, a brick building for the county government was constructed and stood until destroyed by years of guerilla warfare during the Civil War. Today, the Battle of Carthage which took place on July 5, 1861, is memorialized with the Civil War Museum (205 Grant) and the separate Battle of Carthage State Historic Site (east of River on Chestnut Street Road). The George Washington Carver National Monument located outside nearby Diamond, Missouri, also interprets the turbulent years before and during the Civil War.
Like that 1854 brick courthouse, the thriving town of Carthage was destroyed by war, too. When new and former inhabitants returned in late 1865 and 1866, all they found was "a haunt for wolves and owls" as future judge and biographer Malcolm McGregor recalled. But soon the town reclaimed her position as the agricultural and social hub of southwest Missouri and the Tri-State Mining District. (Click here for further information on the area's lead, zinc and limestone heritage.)
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| Carthage Stone Company Quarry, c. 1895 |
By the mid-1880s, Carthage had a foundry, furniture factory, two woolen mills, 4 grain mills, a pottery, a brick manufacturer, a plow works and numerous liveries, agricultural implement dealers and regional wholesalers of clothing, groceries and hardware goods. But by the late 1880s Carthage discovered her greatest wealth lay underneath her in deposits of limestone, lead and zinc. Through these gifts from the earth, Carthage soon became one of the most prosperous towns in the state and became known as the Queen City of the Southwest. Other industries grew to supply products to the town's growing number of residents as well as to markets throughout the four-state area and beyond. By 1900, Carthage had approximately 12,000 inhabitants and over one hundred business and industrial concerns.
Today Carthage continues with a diverse economic base that includes industries manufacturing furniture components, poultry, cheese and other food products, electrical light fixtures, and many other products. Agribusiness also remains an important industry while tourism enterprises have been gaining recognition. For further information on contemporary Carthage, contact the Carthage Chamber of Commerce at 417-358-2373 or www.carthagechamber.com.
For more information on Carthage history, click on these links:
Carthage CVB's PDF file of historical guide
The Road Wanderer presents Historic Carthage, Missouri
For more information on Carthage NOW, try these links:
Carthage Convention & Visitors Bureau
Copyright © 2009 Powers Museum
1617 West Oak • P.O. Box 593 • Carthage, MO 64836
e-mail:infonow@powersmuseum.com
| phone: 417-237-0456
All Web site design, content and solutions are property of Powers Museum
Carthage, Missouri
