Carthage Missouri, I was born and raised here( yeah I know, no big deal) but it gets alot better...
Marlin Perkins, you know the guy who did the "Mutual of Omaha's wild kingdom" back in the 70's,
astronaut Dr Janet Kavandi(sp),
our beautiful courthouse, reminds me of a big castle, made of locally mined Carthage Marble
Rt 66 comes thru town, and our very own 66 drive in,
Belle Starr, civil war era outlaw
and we are also known as the first battle of the Civil War,( yes I know I was always taught about the battle of Ft Sumpter, but that was BEFORE Lincoln signed the declaration of war on July 4, 1861. Battle of Carthage occured on July 5,1861.) A series of 5 squirmishes in one day, we actually have markers where each of the "battles" took place. ( Can anyone tell I enjoy history?) Ok before I make anyone mad, I am not choosing sides on this almost 150 yr old issue.
We also have Precious Moments,
artists Lowell Davis and his Red Oak 2/ Foxfire Farm, Bob Tommey, April Davis Leiter, and Midwest Gathering of the Artists, which is held in Sept of each year.
On a bad note... after the Ok City bombing when everyone was looking for the 2 "John Does", they were found at my in-laws motel. My husband made national news when he was interviewed, one of his students was stationed in Pearl Harbor and was very surprised to find his martial arts instructor on the news.
Just up the road about 10 miles is Jasper Mo, this was the town that was portrayed in "Roadhouse", yes there was actually supposed to be a real rough -housing bar in Jasper.
Carthage is also home to several Victorian houses. These were built during the mining days in the late 1800's. Joplin, Webb City, Carterville and Oronogo Mo were home to the lead and zinc mines, and the poor miners. The rich mine owners did not want their families to associate with these lower class citizens, so they moved to Carthage to raise their families. What snobs! My family were miners, and mining engineers, who came originally from Hardy Co WV.
For sports we always have our football competition. Carthage vs Webb City. We were so thrilled when we beat them this year,after 20 years or so. Webb City has a really good team and has taken several state championships.
In October we have our Maple Leaf Festival. We have our big band competition on the 3rd Sat of Oct with the parade right before.
We do have our problems with drugs, meth is really bad.
All in all we are not a bad town to live in, but 11,000 people is just way too big for me. I would love to live in a much smaller place. Come and visit us.
