Pierce City, MO

Pierce City is a southwest Missouri city at the meeting of Routes 37 and 97, four miles west of Monett and spread across the Lawrence-Barry county line. The town was once spelled Peirce City, and nearby St. Martha, surveyed in 1870, adds another layer to the local settlement story. Pierce City R-VI schools keep one local thread running from the first school building started in 1871 to today's elementary, middle, and high schools. The Harold Bell Wright Museum gives the city a literary connection, while the fall festival brings a recurring weekend of vendors, games, rides, and raffles. Pierce City is a county-line community where schools, local history, and two state routes still do most of the orientation.