Purdy
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Looking West on Washington Ave in Purdy 1941 |
Purdy by Jo Ellen Stults from Back to Barry Formed by the Missouri legislature in 1835, Barry County included all of what is now Barry, McDonald, Newton, Lawrence, Dade, Jasper, Barton and a part of Cedar County. The county seat was located on Clear Creek just west of the town of Pierce City and was known as Mount Pleasant. The seat of justice remained there for the next five years until Barry County had been divided into smaller counties and only the area now known as Barry County and the south half of Lawrence remained. In order tobe more centrally located, the county seat, in 1840, was moved to McDonald (now McDowell), and remained there for the next five years. After Lawrence County was formed in 1843-44 (the north half being taken from Dade County and the south half from Barry), the county seat of Barry was moved to a new town, Cassville, which was platted in 1845. |
Purdy Depot |
The railroad spawned a new town called Winslow, some five miles north and mostly east of Corsicana, and business would go to the town with transportation facilities. Purdy, then known as Winslow and so called in honor of a Frisco executive, was surveyed in 1880. Additions were acknowledged in 1882, 1883 and 1884 as the Scotch, Ferguson, and Finley. Apparently, there was uncertainty and confusion about the name of the new town. For several years U.S. Postal Department records show the name of the post office "Purdy" from the beginning, However, records in the office of the Barry County Recorder of Deeds show the original town plat as "Winslow." By 1850, the U.S. was entering a period of great expansion. The Federal Government owned vast areas of wild lands to the West, but citizens were disinterested because the lands were far from transportation. The experiment of the governments granting land to railroad companies was successful. It enabled the companies to raise construction money by selling the land, new residents were enticed to the area to open up the country for settlement, completed lines provided transportation for people and products, both raw and manufactured. Soon after the Civil War, transcontinental lines spanned our country. But there was need for spurs and branch lines to bring even more settlers closer to rail facilities. |
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John Fly Store at Purdy |
As a community grows, the demand for banking services grows, so it was with Purdy. In 1892, three Monett residents and 17 from Purdy formed the Bank of Purdy. Apparently the bank did not do well for it was dissolved in 1896. For the next seven years, Purdy was without a bank until 1902. The Citizens State Bank (later called Purdy State Bank of Purdy was chartered. In 1919 a number of residents incorporated a bank to compete with First National. |
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Purdy School 1942 |
| U.S. Postal records show that Purdy's post office was established on December 18, 1880. Rural Free Delivery of mail was begun out of Purdy in 1903 with routes. Street lights had been (talked) since 1922, but were finally placed in 1934. The $65,000 project was completed when the 932-foot deep well and tower pushed water through the mains in September 1951. All lines from the mains to meters in the homes and business firms are copper. The sewer system became a reality in 1964, second water tower, in 1977. Natural gas arrived in 1963. The earliest record of a school in Purdy community is a warranty deed for one-half acre of land made December 16, 1875 from Wilson and Elizabeth Lane, his wife, to Barry County for the use of School District No.3. The site was located one-half mile south of the Purdy Cemetery on the west side of the road. It was not until 1884 that a school was located in Purdy. When the building burned in 1937, the present school site was selected. In 1988 Purdy remains a thriving small town with the population being 928 with approximately 34 businesses. |
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Cover to Purdy, MO 1881-1981: Our Heritage in Story and Picture |
| Link to Purdy Page on Barry County Rootsweb |
