Carterville, MO

Carterville grew out of the lead-mining country of Jasper County. James George Leroy Carter's farm became the town site, and after lead ore was found nearby in the 1870s, the settlement turned into a mining camp, incorporated as a city in 1882. For a stretch Carterville was larger than Webb City, but the mines faded after World War I. The old Main Street still carries that layered history: early twentieth-century buildings, former streetcar tracks, and the route that later became part of US 66. Today Carterville sits between Webb City, Joplin, and Carthage, with Webb City R-VII schools serving local students. It is a small city whose shape comes from mining, streetcars, and the road that replaced them.