Thursday, November 20, 2014

106 North Olive - The Heimberger House


By: Ryan Reed


106 North Olive Street - The Heimberger House

Sitting on the southeast corner of Olive and Second Streets, 106 N. Olive is an unassuming two story house that is a testament to a family that had a tremendous impact on Rolla. The home was constructed for Louis Heimberger whose parents and subsequent descendants would invest in Rolla and shape it into the city it is today.


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Rolla Express and "Squatterism"

The Rolla Express
November 19, 1860

Rolla Express "Maries and Phelps Counties" November 19, 1860

“The true Democracy of these two counties have most nobly done their duty and squatterism has received a most signal rebuke at their hands.  Maries County has given her opinion upon the issues of this contest by the following vote: Breckenridge 309; Douglas 98; Bell 95; Lincoln 7.  A majority over Douglas!  Phelps County has done well also: Breckenridge 430; Douglas 254; Bell 199, Lincoln 37.  In Phelps County the vote of the employees on the railroad has swelled the number who have supported the claims of the Squatter Giant else he had been no-whar’!”

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Rolla During the Civil War


By Ryan Reed

During the next four years, hopefully, Rolla Preservation Alliance will document daily events occurring in Rolla and the surrounding region during the Civil War.  The day to day activities documented through primary resources such as newspapers, correspondence, journals, military ordinances, etc will paint a picture of the effects of national and statewide events on our community.

This week in 1860, a national election was held that placed an Illinois lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, at the helm of our nation.  This event served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the Civil War.  During the 1850s, the nation became divided over questions surrounding the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners.  These issues broke the Democratic Party into two factions during the 1860 Democratic National Convention held in South Carolina.  Extreme pro-slavery delegates, known as Fire-Eaters, demanded the adoption of an explicitly pro-slavery platform. However, Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce. Southern delegates including Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and Texas left the hall and formed the Constitutional Democrats. These Southern Democrats nominated pro-slavery incumbent Vice President, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The National Democratic Party nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois.

A year prior to the Democratic division, ideologies and sectional antipathies created the Constitutional Union Party.  The party was formed by former Whigs, who supported supremacy of the Congress, and members of the Know-Nothing Party, the outgrowth of a strong anti-immigrant sentiment.  The party attempted to ignore the slavery issues which appealed to Border States such as Missouri.  The Constitutional Unionist nominated John Bell of Tennessee for president during the Spring of 1860.

The final contender in the race for the presidency was Abraham Lincoln, nominated by the Republicans.  Founded in the 1854, the Republican Party was the main opposition to the Southern Democratic Party.  The main cause was the opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska act which appealed the Missouri Compromise.  The latter was passed by Congress in 1820 to regulate the western spread of slavery.  The compromise prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory except within the boundaries of Missouri.  The compromise was appealed in 1854 when the Kansas-Nebraska Act, submitted by Stephen Douglas, became law.  The act determined the expansion of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska Territories through popular sovereignty.  To be admitted as a slave state, white male settlers in the territory would vote to either deny or allow slavery.

L to R - John Breckenridge, John Bell, Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.