Carthage

The Carthage Marble on the plaque has its showpiece in the Jasper County Courthouse. Work began on August 21, 1894, and the building was dedicated on October 9, 1895, a Romanesque Revival design by M. A. Orlopp Jr. raised in local Carthage stone for $100,000. Its lantern stands 176 feet above the ground. The clock faces were black until they were painted white in the 1950s, and in the 1960s an illuminated star went up on top, billed in a commemorative brochure as a star of peace. It joined the National Register in 1973.

What the plaque says

Carthage The beautiful city of Carthage was laid out, 1842, as the seat of Jasper County, organized, 1841, and named for Sgt. William Jasper, Revolutionary hero. Centered in a county of great mineral wealth and good farm land, Carthage grew into a marketing, manufacturing, and shipping city. Westward are the famous tri-state lead and zinc fields; northward, livestock and dairy farms; and here, the Carthage Marble quarries. A limestone of magnificent color and hardness, Carthage Marble was first quarried in 1880. Among buildings of this stone is the Missouri State Capitol. In 1861 Carthage was the scene of the second major engagement of the Civil War in Missouri. It was burned to the ground by Southern guerrillas, 1864. In the Battle of Carthage, July 5, 1861, some 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed State Guardsmen led by deposed Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson forced Union Col. Franz Sigel's 1,100 troops to fall back and cleared the way for joining with other State Guards and with Confederate troops, thereby gaining time to equip and train the pro-Southern troops of Missouri. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1955 Carthage (Continued from other side) Carthage, on the banks of Spring River, lies in a region where western prairie and Ozark Highland meet. This area was part of the territory held by the Osage Indians until their 1825 land cession to the U. S. After Carthage was burned, Sept. 22, 1864, Cave Spring was temporary county seat until 1866. During its reconstruction period, Carthage was aided by the coming of the Memphis, Carthage, and Northwestern R. R. (Frisco), 1872, and Lexington and Southern (Mo. Pac.), 1880. Among schools here were Carthage Female Academy, 1855; Carthage (Presbyterian) Collegiate Institute, 1886; and Ozark (Methodist) Wesleyan College, 1924. Today's Catholic College of Our Lady of the Ozarks opened, 1944. Among points of interest are Battle of Carthage markers; scenic Carter, Municipal, and Center parks; Carthage Public Library with its art collection from Carthage of Africa; and to the south, Carver National Monument. Born here were Anna Baxter White, said to be first woman elected to public office in Mo., when made county clerk, 1890; and Belle Starr, post-Civil War outlaw. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1955

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Battle of Carthage State Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  Carter Spring, where Franz Sigel's Union troops camped before the Battle of Carthage of July 5, 1861 and the State Guard camped after it, eleven days before Bull Run.
• Boots Court — 1.1 mi
  A 1939 Streamline Moderne motor court at the Carthage corner where Route 66 met the Jefferson Highway, rescued after decades of decline and renting all 13 rooms again, radios and no televisions.
• George Washington Carver National Monument — 14 mi
  The Moses Carver farm west of Diamond where George Washington Carver was born enslaved, the first national monument to an African American, told largely through Carver's own memory of the place.
• Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site — 21 mi
  The small Lamar house where Harry S Truman was born on May 8, 1884, bought by his parents for $685 and dedicated as a state site in 1959 with Truman on hand.

More markers nearby

• Joplin — 14 mi
• Lamar — 21 mi
• Neosho — 24 mi
• Baxter Springs Massacre — 26 mi