Mapping Carthage

Cassil Place, now 700–800 W. Central

Take a look back at Carthage via maps!

The 1895 Jasper County Atlas contains three large format maps. Even if you are lucky enough to find an 1895 atlas, it often lacks the extra map set.

Carthage has a map to itself as does Joplin; but Webb City and Carterville share a map together. On these maps are notations for buildings, houses, electric and regular railway lines, mines, quarries and other items of interest. In town, lots that have some acreage have their owner's name but small house lots do not.

Courthouse square and business district. The red lines mark the route of the trolley or interurban line.

As in the case of Carthage, some homeowners who have no idea of the age of their home have been able to narrow down the estimated construction year or period by looking at this map and doing some further research at the Carthage Public Library with the Sanborn Insurance Maps on microfilm there.

Any of the large format maps can be consulted, but an appointment is neccessary. Due to their large size, a special viewing space must be prepared.

Map of a Different Kind — A Bird's-eye View

Detail of Oak, Olive and McGregor Streets just west of Garrison Avenue

In addition to the various local and county maps in the museum's archival holdings is the print entitled "Bird's-eye View of Carthage, 1891" by Fowler & Moyer. This piece was a prized Powers family possession and either the original black and white print or modern sepia-toned reproduction is always on view at the museum.

The large-format lithograph features minute representations of all the structures that made up Carthage in mid-1891. Specific identifications are made of the following industries and businesses: Harrington Hotel, Karr Hotel, Carthage Hotel, City Flour Mills, Carthage Springs Mill, Globe Flour Mill (#8 in above illus.), Carthage Foundry & Machine Shop (#9 in above illus.), Carthage Woolen Mill, Missouri Woolen Mfg. Co., Missouri White Lime & Stone Co., South Western Light Fuel & Gas Works, Water Works, Gas Works, Electric Light Plant, Spring River Packing Co., Carthage Light & Cold Storage, Frisco RR Station, and Missouri & Pacific RR Station.

Among the identified churches: 1st Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Episcopal, Evangelical (Swedish Lutheran), 1st Methodist; Methodist Episcopal, South; 1st Presbyterian, Catholic, 2nd or Bethel Baptist and Wesley Chapel (Methodist).

The Jasper County Jail, Carthage Collegiate Institute and the ward grammar schools and the High School are pictured as well. Although not specifically named, the existing ward schools at that time were: Franklin, Washington, Irving, Benton and Lincoln.

Detail of courthouse square

The most glaring omission to viewers today is the absence of the Jasper County Courthouse in the city's public square. It was not built until 1894-95, three years after Fowler & Moyer made Carthage's print. The view presented here is a close-up detail of the Carthage commercial square and surrounding area looking from the northwest to the southeast.

Artist Thaddeus M. Fowler of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, was one of the country's most prolific townview makers and also did a bird's-eye view of nearby Aurora, Missouri, in the same year, as well as several towns in Oklahoma. The Carthage print also bears the name of James B. Moyer, who according to the Carthage Weekly Press of August 27, 1891, was from Boston. Apparently he was the printer for the project and was in partnership with Fowler. The newspaper reviewed the print and declared it "a splendid piece of work and remarkably accurate, the exact outline of each house being so correctly given that it can be recognized in a moment."

At least 500 of these prints were made for the real estate firm of Bottenfield & Webster to be distributed for the promotion of Carthage. How many other prints were made and sold to the general public is not known, nor is the original selling price known. Most bird's-eye prints at the time sold for $1-5 depending on paper and the amount made.

If you would like to read more about bird's-eye views, consult John W. Reps' Views and Viewmakers of Urban America, Lithographs of Towns and Cities in the United States and Canada, Notes on the Artists and Publishers, and A Union Catalog of their Work, 1825-1925 published by the University of Missouri Press in 1984.

For more information on bird's-eye views, also called panoramic maps, consult the Library of Congress collection.

A limited edition reproduction of the print can be purchased at the Powers Museum Shop or by mail (PO Box 593, Carthage, MO 64836). Please note several versions of Carthage's 1891 map can be found on online auction sites; however, some are copies of a damaged print. The museum's limited edition print is a full, complete view.

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