[4] There was once a small village called St. Martha about two and a half miles west of Pierce City.

[8][nb 1] The Pierce spelling was used erroneously by the United States Postal Service and adopted officially in the 1930s.

[8][10] A 1982 attempt to revert to Peirce was rejected by the United States Census Bureau.

[10] On August 19, 1901 a large white mob took three African-American men from jail in Pierce City and lynched them.

French and William Godley, and Peter Hampton,[11] were suspects in the murder of a young white woman.

This was part of a pattern of violence in southwest Missouri in the early 20th century; there were also large public lynchings in Joplin and Springfield, resulting in many African Americans abandoning the region for less hostile territory.

"Monett, Peirce City, Rogers, Ark., and several other towns around here have driven the negros out.

"[13] By 1910 only 91 African Americans remained in Lawrence County and their numbers continued to decline.

[15] In reaction, Mark Twain wrote the essay The United States of Lyncherdom, which was published posthumously.

The Lawrence County Bank Building and Pierce City Fire Station, Courthouse and Jail are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A nearby National Guard Armory, regularly used as the town's storm shelter, sustained heavy damage.

[18] But, outside the main path of the tornado, many Pierce City structures, including homes and the Harold Bell Wright Museum, sustained little or no damage.

Pierce City is located in the southwestern corner of Lawrence County at the intersection of Missouri routes 37 and 97.

Today, the campus includes the church, school, gymnasium and cafeteria, and pavilion.