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A Missouri Railroad Pioneer - The Life of Louis Houck (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,014
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A Missouri Railroad Pioneer - The Life of Louis Houck (Paperback)
Series: Missouri Biography Series
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Lawyer 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 the nation. Rhodes
presents a more complete picture of Houck than has ever been
available: reviewing his life from his German immigrant roots,
considering his career from both social and political perspectives,
and grounding the story in both state and national history. He
especially tells how, from 1880 to the 1920s, this self-taught
railroader constructed a network of five hundred miles of track
through the wilderness of wetlands known as "Swampeast
Missouri"-and how these "Houck Roads" provided a boost for
population, agriculture, lumbering, and commerce that transformed
Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area. Rhodes discusses how Houck
fits into the era of economic individualism-a time when men with
little formal training shaped modern industry-and also gives voice
to Houck's critics and shows that he was not always an easy man to
work with. In telling the story of his railroading enterprise,
Rhodes chronicles Houck's battle with the Jay Gould railroad empire
and offers key insight into the development of America's railway
system, from the cutthroat practices of ruthless entrepreneurs to
the often-comic ineptness of start-up rail lines. More than simply
a biography of a business entrepreneur, the book tells how Houck
not only developed the region economically but also followed the
lead of Andrew Carnegie by making art, culture, and formal
education available to all social classes. Houck also served for
thirty-six years as president of the Board of Regents of Southeast
Missouri State Teacher's College, and as a self-taught historian he
wrote the first comprehensive accounts of Missouri's territorial
period. A Missouri Railroad Pioneer chronicles a multifaceted
career that transformed a region. Solidly researched, this lively
narrative also offers an entertaining read for anyone interested in
Missouri history.
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