West Plains: 1880-1930

by Toney Aid

Overview

On the eve of the Civil War, West Plains was a sleepy county seat with a population of 150 and a wood-frame courthouse in its town square. During the war, this Southern Missouri town was burned, abandoned, and eventually reconstructed. With the arrival of the railroad in 1883, West Plains turned boomtown, and photographers were among the first entrepreneurs to arrive. This volume of vintage photographs documents the town as it grew, struggled, and prospered over the next 50 years. Pictured here are the washwomen and the bankers, the circuses and the fires, the schools and homes that helped build the West Plains of today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738531595
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/03/2003
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Toney Aid, treasurer of the Harlin Museum, owns the Downtown Antique Mall on the town square in the location his family's business has been in since 1885. Active in many restoration projects, he has won two statewide preservation awards and helped place three West Plains buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.