Carthage (Missouri)

Carthage is a city of about 15,500 (2020) in Southwest Missouri, It is known as "America's Maple Leaf City".

Understand
Carthage was established in 1842 to serve as the county seat of Jasper County. As Missouri was sandwiched between the secessionist southern states and the abolitionist north, Carthage became a Civil War battlefield on July 5, 1861 and again in October 1863; pro-Confederate guerrillas burned much of the city in September 1864.

The current Jasper County Courthouse, built of Carthage stone in 1894, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The history of the Civil War sites in the Missouri-Kansas border region fills a book, "The Big Divide" ISBN 978-0976443414, published in 2013.

After the civil war, Carthage thrived as a rail town, a source for "Carthage marble" (a hard, polished limestone) and a highway crossroads when U.S. Highways 66 and 71 came to town in 1926.

Get in
Joplin Regional Airport (10 miles from Carthage) offers multiple round-trip flights daily to Kansas City (150 miles); transport is also available to Tulsa (110 miles).

By highway, Carthage is served by Interstate 44 (which bypasses Route 66 in the region) and by US Highway 71.

Get around
No public mass transit exists in Carthage, although the municipality operates City Taxi (8AM-6PM weekdays only, +1 417-623-5577). Conventional taxi service is provided by Martins Taxi (+1 417-726-2010).