FIRST - Meeting of Confederate State Convention - Cassville, MO - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

County of Marker: Barry County
Location of marker: Main St. & 18th St., roadside turnout, N. limits of Cassville
Marker Erected: 1955
Marker Erected By: The State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission

Marker Text:

  After Missouri's pro-Southern government was ousted by the State Convention, it met first at Neosho in Newton County. There it passed an ordinance seceding Missouri from the United States and an act ratifying the Provisional Confederate Constitution. The approach of Union troops forced flight to Cassville. Here the "Rebel Legislature" chose delegates to the Confederate Congress and Gov. Claiborne E. Jackson is thought to have signed the ace of secession. In the Civil War, Union troops occupied Cassville as an area headquarters and ravaging guerrilla warfare tore the countryside.

  South of Cassville is Roaring River State Park, 2,946 Ozarks acres featuring Roaring River Spring¹. At the base of a big recessed cliff, the spring sends forth a daily average flow of 28 million gallons. T.M. Sayman donated the original parksite, 1928.

  Center of the famed resort area and of an agricultural county, Cassville was laid out, 1845. Named for statesman Lewis Cass, it is the third town to serve as the seat of Barry County. Named for Postmaster General W.T. Barry and organized, 1835, the county originally included a vast area and as new counties were formed from it the county seat was relocated.

  As the devastating effects of the Civil War began to fade and with the coming of the St. Louis and San Francisco R.R. in the late 1870s, the county began to prosper. The railroad, by advertising the 140,000 acres of Barry County land it owned, brought in a large immigration. Several foreign colonies were established in the region.

  When the Frisco R.R. was laid through Barry County, Cassville was bypassed by 5 miles, and a connecting line, the Cassville and Exeter R.R., was laid, 1896. Still running, it is said to be the shortest broad-gauged ralroad in the U.S.² An important division point on the Frisco railroad was laid out to the north, 1887, and called Monnett for a railroad employee.

Corrections and updates since 1955:
1. Roaring River State Park now covers 3,358 acres of land.
2. The Cassville and Exeter Railroad discontinued operations in 1956.

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