Marshfield - "Top of the Ozarks"
Welcome to Marshfield, Missouri. Located in the Heart of the Ozarks, we are a rapidly growing community that has preserved its traditional values but has also planned aggressively for a progressive future. The face and facets of Marshfield and Webster County are constantly changing.
In 2005, Webster County, where Marshfield is located, celebrated its sesquicentennial (150th) year of establishment, with Marshfield established one year later (1856) as its county seat. We are a city that is proud of its historical heritage, so much so that we have it posted on a two-sided sign that stands on the east lawn of the Webster County Courthouse.
Webster County, organized March 3, 1855, encompasses 590 miles of the highest extensive upland area of Missouri's Ozarks. The judicial seat, Marshfield, lies 1490 feet above sea level, highest county seat in Missouri. Pioneer legislator John F. McMahan named the county and county seat for Daniel Webster, and his Marshfield, Mass. home.
Marshfield was laid out in 1856 by R.H. Pitts on land given by C.F. Dryden and W.T. and B.F.T. Burford. Until a courthouse was built, county business was conducted at Hazelwood, where Joseph W. McClurg, later governor of Missouri, operated a general store. Today's Carthage marble courthouse, built in 1939-1941, is the county's third.
During the Civil War, a small force of pro-southern State troops was driven out of Marshfield on February, 1862, and 10 months later a body of Confederates was routed east of town. On January 9, 1863, Gen. Joseph O. Shelby's troops burned the stoutly built Union fortifications at Marshfield and at Sand Springs, evacuated earlier. By 1862, the telegraph line passed near Marshfield on a route later called the "Old Wire Road."
In Webster County, straddling the divide between the Missouri and Arkansas rivers, rise the headwaters of the James, Niangua, Gasconade and Pomme De Terre Rivers. A part of the 1808 Osage Indian land cession, the county was settled in the early 1830s by pioneers from Kentucky and Tennessee. An Indian trail crossed southern Webster County and many prehistoric mounds are in the area.
Of special note, famed Astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953) counts Marshfield as his birthplace and the composition "Marshfield Tornado" by the musician John W. (Blind) Boone gave wide publicity to the April 18, 1880 tornado which struck Marshfield, killing 65 and doing $1 million worth of damage.
Tourism is a major industry in southwest Missouri and many attractions abound in and around Marshfield. Bass Pro is located in Springfield, Exotic Animal Paradise is located six miles west of Marshfield, and Branson with its numerous attractions is just over an hour away. The home of Laura Ingalls Wilder is located in nearby Mansfield. The Dickey House, Walnut Springs Farm, Frontier Theatre, the Hubble Telescope replica and the Amish Community provide local tourism attractions.
A growing city with plenty to boast..."Mingling traditional values with a progressive outlook for the future".
We invite you to visit our fine city. If you have any questions, please contact the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, (417) 859-3925, or Marshfield City Hall, (417) 859-2352.
Source:
City of Marshland
