Monett, Missouri

Monett is the most-populous city in Barry and Lawrence counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The city is located in the Ozarks, just south of Interstate 44 between Joplin and Springfield. According to the 2024 census population estimate, the town is home to an estimated 10,108 individuals.

Southwest Missouri, including the area of what is now Monett, was inhabited by Native Americans of the Osage Nation until their forced removal to Indian Territory.

Monett was created as a railroad town by the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway ("Frisco Line"), which was extended into the area in 1870, and a branch line going to Paris, Texas, was built. Both lines are still in existence and operated by the BNSF Railway. During this time the area went through several names including Kings Prairie Depot, Plymouth, Plymouth Junction (when the southern branch was built in 1880), Gonten (named for the local postmaster because the Post Service said there were other Plymouths); and finally, Monett in 1887 when the area was formally platted and the Monett name was applied to the post office. It was named for Henry Monett who was a popular general station agent for various railroads including the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad ("Nickel Plate Railroad") before becoming an agent for the New York Central Railroad shortly before his death at the age of 35 in 1888.

The community was noted for being a rail town and had a Harvey House operating at the Frisco train station from 1896 until 1930. The community in the Ozark Mountains also had a thriving fruit business and was nicknamed the "Strawberry Capital of the Midwest." The Ozark Fruit Growers Association building, which was built in 1927, is part of the Downtown Monett Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The David W. Courdin House, Downtown Monett Historic District, and Waldensian Church and Cemetery of Stone Prairie are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1894, a lynching and race riot took place in Monett before the violence spread to Pierce City and other southwestern Missouri towns. Monett became a sundown town, banning African Americans from living or staying there after dark, with a sign across the main street saying: "Nigger, don't let the sun go down." A newspaper in another Missouri town reported in 1906 that "Monett, Pierce City, Rogers, Ark., and several other towns around here have driven the negros out." When Pierce City drove out its African American population in an act of ethnic cleansing, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the town had been "Monettized".

From 1908 through 1911, Monett investors led by L. B. Durnil and U. S. Barnsley sought to build an airplane. Their most successful attempt was the DeChenne airplane. The DeChenne airplane gave its first public demonstration flight in Monett on July 4, 1911, flown by Monett pharmacist Logan McKee. It then made an exhibition tour in Oklahoma and Texas.

The population had reached 4,177 by 1910, due in large part to the railroad and its roundhouse. By 1937, a promotional pamphlet reported that one out of eight people in Monett worked for the railroad.