County of memorial: Scotland County
LOcation of memorial: E. Monroe St. side, courthouse lawn, Memphis
Plaque text:
TO
COMMEMORAATE
THE ORGANIZATION
AND DEVELOPMENT OF
SCOTLAND COUNTY
1841 ~ 1941
"Scotland County was organized by act of the Missouri General Assembly on January 29, 1841. At first its boundaries contained all the land now known as Knox County as well, but another act by the General Assembly in 1843 divided it off. Stephen W. B. Carnegy suggested that the county be named after his native country of Scotland. He also gave several settlements in the area Scottish names.
"The first white settlement in Scotland County occurred in 1833 by brothers Levi and George Rhodes and their families near a location known as "Sand Hill". Sand Hill was in the southern part of the county, about twelve miles from present-day Memphis. A general store was opened there around 1835 by James l. Jones, who also served as Scotland County's first sheriff. Slavery, while never as prevalent in Scotland County as in others further southin the state's Little Dixie region, did exist from the county's earliest days. Robert T. Smith brought the first slaves, a group of three, to the county in 1834. In 1850 Scotland County had 157 slaves or other "non-free people of color". However by the 1860 census that number reduced to 131.
"Farming was the primary economic lifeblood of Scotland County from its earliest times. Once the stands of timber could be cleared and the tough prairie grass plowed aside, settlers found rich soil. Between 1850 and 1880 the number of farms in the county grea from 334 to 1,994. The value of the farmland, in 1880 dollars, was over $3.72 million. Corn was the major cash crop, followed by oats, wheat, and potatoes." ~ Wikipedia