Information Sheet

 

 

R         Rolla (Mo.).

205                  Photographs, ca. 1885-1945.

                                    Two folders.

 

 

 

These are photographs and postcard views of Rolla and Phelps County, Missouri, from the fam­ily collection of Margaret Isabelle Rauch.  Included are views of businesses, public build­ings, and street scenes in Rolla, the Phelps County Fairground, and U.S. Highway 66.  The photo­graphs have been copied on 35mm black-and-white-film.

 

These views are from the family collection of late Rolla resident Margaret Isabelle Rauch (1860-1942).  Many of the views have never before been available.  Some of the photo­graphs, primarily those of churches, have been copied by the Phelps County Historical Society and are so marked.  Views of downtown Rolla predominate, including several street scenes, interiors and ex­teriors of businesses, a major fire on Pine Street in 1939, and crews of the Rolla Fire Depart­ment.  There is also a view of the Rolla Cemetery and south Rolla Street, and another featuring an uni­dentified individual standing in front of nondescript mounds of earth.  The otherwise un­imposing scene is thought to feature the remains of Fort Wyman, and might be the only photo­graph of the earthworks on the site.

 

Other views in the collection have been reproduced from picture postcards.  They in­clude a “bird's-eye” view of Rolla, the post office, the deep railroad cut (“Coleman’s Cut”) west of town, and “Federal Highway 66 From Fairground Hill.”  Several of the postcards were pub­lished and sold by John W. Scott & Company, whose book, music, and drug store was a long-time feature on Pine Street.

 

The locations of most of the views are known, and many of the individuals in the photo­graphs have been identified by the donor.  The collection has been copied on 35mm black-and-white film, with selected views also available on 35mm color slides.  Descriptions of each view are in­cluded in a collection inventory.

 

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