From foot racing with gambling on the side to diving and swimming exhibitions to amateur stage shows to the amazing invention of moving pictures to gambling as a personal past-time to competition in military drill and town band challenges to an expanded version of such old ideas as the county fair, the New City in the early part of the 20th Century found a new sense of expression and growth in every direction. Trolley cars and steam-powered railway trains reaching out to intentional destinations. There was in fact a new sense of expansive growth in every direction, although the concept of a mobile society such as the 21st Century has seen was an unknown threat hidden from the most perceptive citizens here.
Among the vigorous community leaders involved here were a furniture salesman, Edward Knell, who with other members of his energetic family found Carthage fertile ground for many new ventures, especially including a history-making county fair that promised service to a statewide and potentially region-wide clientele.
The fair initially did rely heavily upon rail traffic to bring competitors and spectators to the site and gasoline powered machines still were a rarity during the fair’s earliest period; but all that slowly changed through the years, accelerating more obviously as more and more improved road surfaces and study bridges began to make their appearance over wide areas. It is more than mere speculation to assume that the fair’s success gave additional emphasis to the energetic development of improved roads as a central focus of county and municipal governments in Carthage and its neighboring communities to the extent that by the end of the century’s first decade, it generally was agreed Jasper County had more “modern” roads than any other county in Missouri.
The fair, highlighted by many of the most popular horse racing events in the region, drew ever larger and more enthusiastic crowds. Soon it was recognized as a rival of the state fair at Sedalia for the largest crowds. By 1909, Knell, having invested deeply in the development of a mortuary, turned to business enterprises and relayed leadership of the fair to his daughter Emma, who gained a nationwide reputation for the excellence of her management skills. Miss Emma eventually became a powerful voice not only in business affairs but also in politics. In 1926, she resigned from full-time management of the fair and ran successfully for a seat in the Missouri state House of Representative, one of the first women to hold elective office in the state. In that capacity, she was a vigorous activist. Successful measures that she authored and guided successfully through the legislative challenge was the measure that established the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the one which made it law that the U.S. flag must fly every day over all public school facilities in the state. The latter policy progressively was adopted by most other states so that, in effect, her action had important nationwide influence.
After earning statewide acclaim, she returned to the family business and, becoming the first woman licensed embalmer in the state, assisted with operation and management of The Knell Mortuary through the balance of her busy life.
However, it must never be forgotten that it was Edward Knell, with his vision of a big, colorful public fair, that made Carthage for a number of years the horse racing capital of the West as well as a factor of significance in the economy and the business development of a wide region.
The Knells were among several energetic families whose efforts combined to make Carthage, early in the 20th Century, one of the most widely recognized economic powerhouses in Missouri and the region beyond.
The city’s population grew apace and downtown Carthage was, on every busy day, a literal beehive of activity, with buying and selling and bartering drawing large crowds to every block in the business district, where heavily laden trolley cars daily deposited throngs of shoppers to explore goods exhibited on three-to-four floors of business and professional services.
