It seems that racial problems existed in Monett for quite some time after 1906. My mother was born (1930) and raised in Monett. Her German father had been raised in St. Louis and didn't understand American bigotry (even though he harbored some "old world" bigotry of his own). Some of Granddad Reinsmith's lifelong friends from St. Louis were the porters on the Frisco, who were, without exception, black. He would regularly meet them for conversation whenever they came to Monett, but they were only allowed in a certain area of town. He had to meet them at the station; they couldn't come to his shop. Mother remembers one evening, probably around 1937, when Granddad awoke her, wrapped her in a blanket and carried her outside to witness a huge gathering of the Ku Klux Klan, downtown, in their hoods and bearing banners and torches. Mother says that this had the desired effect on her; she's been terrified of and despised the Klan ever since. I have learned, across the years, that Granddad Reinsmith had few friends in Monett, even though he had a successful business there. Granddad's pugnacious nature and his unabashed friendship with the black railroad employees may have made him a clean-shaven pariah. -- Paul Jackson, Sr.