Editing Monett, Missouri (section)

===Settlement: 1870-1900===
[[File:Dechenne Aeroplane.jpg|thumb|Logan McKee flying the DeChenne Aeroplane in Monett, Missouri]]
Monett was created as a [[Railway town|railroad town]] by the [[St. Louis–San Francisco Railway]] ("Frisco Line"), which was extended into the area in 1870, and a branch line going to [[Paris, Texas]], was built. Both lines are still in existence and operated by the [[BNSF Railway]]. During this time the area went through several names including Kings Prairie Depot, Plymouth, Plymouth Junction (when the southern branch was built in 1880), Gonten (named for the local [[postmaster]] because the Post Service said there were other Plymouths); and finally, Monett in 1887 when the area was formally platted and the Monett name was applied to the post office.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cappscreek/monettnames.html | title=Monett, Missouri History, A Town with Five Names}}</ref>  It was named for Henry Monett who was a popular general station agent for various railroads including the [[New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad]] ("Nickel Plate Railroad") before becoming an agent for the [[New York Central Railroad]] shortly before his death at the age of 35 in 1888.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7518073/charles_monett_obituary_oct_10_1888/ | title=Charles Monett Obituary Oct 10, 1888| newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_barry.html| title=Barry County Place Names, 1928-1945 (archived)| publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri| access-date=30 August 2016| url-status=bot: unknown| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071806/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_barry.html| archive-date=24 June 2016}}</ref><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/n17 206]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=MO | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=30 August 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Monett MO Presby PHS1028.jpg|thumb|upright|The Presbyterian Church in Monett, Missouri]]

The community was very much noted for being a rail town and had a [[Fred Harvey Company|Harvey House]] operating at the Frisco train station from 1896 until 1930.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.harveyhouses.net/states/missouri/mohouses.html | title=Missouri Harvey Houses}}</ref>  The community in the [[Ozark Mountains]] also had a thriving fruit business and was nicknamed the "Strawberry Capital of the Midwest."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.monett-mo.com/history.html|title=Monett Chamber of Commerce|website=www.monett-mo.com}}</ref>  The Ozark Fruit Growers Association building, which was built in 1927, is part of the Downtown Monett Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
[[File:Mural in Monett, MO.jpg|right|thumb|200px|{{center|WPA mural, ''Products of Missouri'' by James McCreery, in Monett post office}}]]

The [[David W. Courdin House]], [[Downtown Monett Historic District]], and [[Waldensian Church and Cemetery of Stone Prairie]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/listings/20140703.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=2014-07-03|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 6/16/14 through 6/27/14|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>

In 1894, a [[Lynching in the United States|lynching]] and [[race riot]] took place in Monett before the violence spread to [[Pierce City, Missouri|Pierce City]] and other southwestern Missouri towns. Monett became a [[sundown town]], banning African Americans from living or staying there after dark, with a sign across the main street saying: "Nigger, don't let the sun go down."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Southwest Missouri Riots (1894–1906)|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Race Riots|volume=2|editor1-first=Walter|editor1-last=Rucker|editor2-first=James Nathaniel|editor2-last=Upton|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=603–607|isbn=978-0-313-33302-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-mKwbU0XlEC&pg=PA603|via=Google Books|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Negroes Killed or Driven Away|work=[[Chicago Tribune|Chicago Daily Tribune]]|location=Chicago|date=August 21, 1901|page=1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29386672/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=Most of the refugees are making through the woods to [[Joplin, Missouri|Joplin]], as Monett, the nearest town, has for years refused to permit a negro to reside there. Across the main street of Monett for years there has been a sign reading: 'Nigger, don't let the sun go down,' and no negro has been permitted to remain inside the corporation after dark.}}</ref> A newspaper in another Missouri town reported in 1906 that "[[Monett]], [[Peirce City, Missouri|Pierce City]], [[Rogers, Arkansas|Rogers, Ark.]], and several other towns around here have driven the negros out."<ref>{{cite news
|title=Negroes Lynched
|newspaper=[[Sedalia Democrat|Sedalia Weekly Democrat]] ([[Sedalia, Missouri]])
|date=April 20, 1906
|via=newspapers.com
|page=9
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33765278/negros_lynched_in_springfield_missouri/}}</ref> When Pierce City drove out its African American population in an act of [[ethnic cleansing]], the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' said the town had been "Monettized".<ref name="PBS">{{cite web |title=Pierce City, Missouri |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/banished/pierce.html |website=Banished: American Ethnic Cleansings |publisher=PBS.org |access-date=2 September 2020}}</ref>