The list will be incomplete for several reasons. First, people in the past as today have begun and ended businesses within a year. The business may not have been in operation at the time annual licenses were required. Second, some enterprises we may consider businesses seem to not to be listed in the business licenses records. Among those never or rarely listed are: liveries, blacksmiths, banks, insurance companies, most doctors and dentists, railroads, and most agricultural businesses. Finally, with the research concentrating around Nixa, the list includes merchants listed as being in Nixa, Boaz, Highlandville, Spokane, Ozark, Riverdale, Guinn, Cassidy, Bengal, and Selmore. It does not include licenses for merchants in Clever, Billings, Garrison, Linden, Hopedale, Sparta, Christian Center, McCracken, Chadwick, Oldfield, Smyrna, Pembina, Petelo, Bruner or other towns not in the first list. Nevertheless, it is a useful and interesting list. Because some businesses rarely mentioned in licenses lists are usually listed in the personal property tax list and vice versa, when that list is on-line, the two combined business lists will give a fair picture of the individuals and organizations doing business in Christian County during the 1882-1900 period when the lists overlap.

As he continues his life-long Christian County research into the Ozark area, the compiler would appreciate correspondence with other researchers who connect to the families mentioned here as having early businesses, or any other early Ozark families. Please contact him at: Wayne Glenn, Box 827, Nixa, MO 65714.

Please note that this list is LARGE and may take a while to download!