Description
Book SynopsisLawyer and journalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Louis Houck is often called the ""Father of Southeast Missouri"" because he brought the railroad to the region and opened this backwater area to industrialization and modernization. Although Houck's name is little known today outside Missouri, Joel Rhodes shows how his story has relevance for both the state and America.
Trade ReviewReaders with an interest in Missouri history and the Southeast will find much to engage with, especially given Houck’s status as a local historian and intellectual. Those seeking to understand the complicated legal and financial arrangements contingent in the building of railroads in Missouri and the nation will also find this book useful."" -
Southern Historian""Readers will be impressed with the skill Rhodes has mustered and researched the material for this volume from family descendants, archives, and published sources. The author makes what must have been a morass of material as thick and tangled as any southeast Missouri swamp into a very readable history."" -
Missouri Historical ReviewTable of Contents
- A Missouri Railroad Pioneer
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Wanderjahre
- Chapter 2 Volksblatt
- Chapter 3 The Belle of Cape Girardeau
- Chapter 4 To Cogitate and To Dream: The Coming of the Railroad
- Chapter 5 The Houck Roads
- Chapter 6 Zwei Meinungen: Of Two Minds
- Chapter 7 A Damn Fine Lawyer
- Chapter 8 St. Louis, Kennett and Southern Allied Lines
- Chapter 9 Academic Hall
- Chapter 10 The Histories
- Chapter 11 Cape Girardeau Northern
- Chapter 12 The Big Ditch
- Chapter 13 A Quiet Religious Mood
- Bibliography
- Index
