Editing Carthage, Missouri (section)

==History==
[[Image:Powers Museum.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the Powers Museum]]
[[Image:Carthage Route 66 Drive-in.jpg|thumb|Carthage Route [[66 Drive-In]]]]

[[Jasper County, Missouri|Jasper County]] was formed in 1841. Carthage was chosen as the county seat, the area cleared and the town [[plat]]ted in 1842.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ | title=How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | author=Eaton, David Wolfe | year=1916 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ/page/n75 178]}}</ref> The city was named after the ancient city-state of [[Carthage]], one of the [[Roman Republic]]'s main rivals (in what is now [[Tunisia]]).<ref>{{cite news |author=Merkner, Sue A. |date=Jul 27, 1977 |title=Odd places give Missouri towns foreign names |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7pgfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZdQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3742%2C1648956 |access-date=7 June 2015 |work=The Nevada Daily Mail |pages=5}}</ref> By the time of the [[American Civil War]], there were over 500 residents,<ref>A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Volume 1 By Joel Thomas Livingston, Page 42</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryjasperc00unkngoog | page=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryjasperc00unkngoog/page/n51 3] | quote=History of Jasper County. |title = A History of Jasper County, Missouri, and Its People| publisher=Lewis publishing Company |last1 = Livingston|first1 = Joel Thomas|year = 1912}}</ref> a brick and stone courthouse, and several businesses.

The area was divided over slavery, and almost all of the African-Americans in the county at the time were slaves. The [[Battle of Carthage (1861)|Battle of Carthage]], fought on July 5, 1861, was a clash between Union troops from St. Louis and Confederate troops led by the pro-Southern Missouri Governor [[Claiborne F. Jackson|Claiborne Fox Jackson]].  The "Second Battle of Carthage" occurred in October 1863 when Union troops confronted Confederate troops north of town and forced them to return to Arkansas. The town experienced minor skirmishes and attacks throughout the war; pro-Confederate guerrillas burned most of the city (including the courthouse) in September 1864. Historical accounts, such as ''Jasper County, Missouri in the Civil War'' (1923) by Col. Ward L. Schrantz, document the regional warfare.

The area grew rapidly following the Civil War. The [[Missouri and Western Railway]] arrived in 1872. Town residents started a foundry, furniture factory, woolen and grain mills, a plow works and numerous liveries and other businesses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.powersmuseum.com/exhibits/pastexhibits/carthagein1800s.html |title=Carthage in the 1800s |access-date=2006-05-01 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217043844/http://www.powersmuseum.com/exhibits/pastexhibits/carthagein1800s.html |archive-date=2006-02-17 }}</ref> [[Leggett & Platt]], now a [[Fortune 500]] company still based in Carthage, was founded in 1883. Nearby lead mines and limestone quarries also contributed significant wealth and Carthage became one of the most prosperous towns in the area. Residents poured their money into ornate Victorian-style homes, many of which are now part of the Carthage South District, which was named to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1982.  The Jasper County Courthouse, also on the National Register of Historic Places, was built of Carthage stone in 1894–95. There is a mural inside the courthouse depicting the history of Jasper County. Growth in Carthage can be documented through [[Sanborn maps]], many of which are available online.<ref>[http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/image/umcscsanic/title/carthage+missouri Sanborn Maps for Missouri:Carthage], [[University of Missouri]] Digital Library.  Accessed 2011-03-14.</ref>

Numerous local buildings, in addition to the courthouse, were built in the late 19th and early 20th century out of stone from local quarries. The limestone is hard enough to be polished into "Carthage marble" and was used in both the interior and exterior of the state capitol building in [[Jefferson City, Missouri]]. The quarries known today as the [[Carthage Underground]], a commercial space that utilizes but a small portion of the extensive uncharted quarries nearby.<ref name="Underground Ozarks">{{Cite web|url=https://www.undergroundozarks.com/carthage.html|title=Carthage Underground - Underground Ozarks|website=www.undergroundozarks.com}}</ref>

In 1925, Ozark Wesleyan College merged three Methodist colleges into one institution and built a campus in the center of town. The college operated only a few years before closing. The campus was home to Our Lady of the Ozarks College from 1944 to 1971 and now houses the [[Vietnamese-American]] [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] religious [[Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix]]. This Vietnamese order of priests and brothers came from [[Vietnam]] and settled in Carthage in 1975, immediately following the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004c/092404/092404j.php |title=Nation: Vietnamese celebrate faith and culture at Marian Days |access-date=2005-08-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041009172903/http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004c/092404/092404j.php |archive-date=2004-10-09 }}</ref> In the monastery of this Vietnamese congregation, [[Archbishop]] [[Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục]] died in 1984.

U.S. Highways [[U.S. Route 66|66]] and 71 came through town in the 1920s, and for a time the town saw a stream of cross-country traffic. Route 66 intersected with [[U.S. Route 71 in Missouri|U.S. Route 71]] at the present intersection of Central and Garrison Avenue. The original owners of a [[Boots Court Motel|Boots Court motel]] at this crossroads promoted a [[drive-in restaurant]] with a [[KDMO]] AM radio broadcast, "Breakfast at the Crossroads of America", named as a reference to the two major highways of the era. Route 66 was eventually re-routed, then replaced in the 1960s with [[Interstate 44 in Missouri|Interstate 44]] running south of town.

In the late 20th century, the town began actively courting tourism, emphasizing its history (the Battle of Carthage, Victorian architecture, and Route 66), as well as its proximity to the [[Precious Moments, Inc.|Precious Moments]] hotel and store, along with the popular country music destination [[Branson, Missouri|Branson]].