Rockport Hall on the banks of the Mississippi, Part 1

Mary Langlois, along with her family moved to Cape Girardeau in the mid 1850s. In her writing, "Miss Mary Remembered," she tells of living on Spanish Street when the Horrell House sat on the banks of the Mississippi. "The back and front galleries were the same, up and down. It was built on a high foundation like the homes in New Orleans to keep the living quarters from dampness. The slave quarter were little brick buildings behind the gardens...and there was a big brick barn."

Benjamin Mackall Horrell (1815-1890) came to Cape County from Maryland with his parents, John and Sophia Horrell, as a young child of 3. His siblings were William, who married Mary Byrd and served as sheriff, county assessor and two terms in the state legislature; Thomas, who married Clarissa Byrd; Elijah, a Civil War doctor; Rachel, who married John Gayle; John, who married Catherine Hays; Sara, Maximillion and Alexander.

Around 1844 Benjamin hired Edwin Deane to build him a grand mansion at the cost of $30,000. Benjamin, an astute business man, had interests in New Orleans as well as Cape County. Rockport was his two-storied brick New Orleans-style home with exactly the same facade facing Spanish and east facing the river, with stairs rising to the first floor on both sides.

Amy Kimmel, whose family later owned the home, wrote an article in The Southeast Missourian Feb. 23, 1923, about the beautiful, extensive gardens and decorative iron fence that encircled the property. East and west gates were locked at night just as the tradition of New Orleans homes.

Kimmel's maternal grandfather was Deane, the architect. Unique to Deane's style was his handsome, handmade woodwork -- the doors, windows frames and the mantels, just as his woodwork on the Ellis House on North Main. There were four spacious rooms, upstairs and downstairs, divided by a wide hallway centered with sweeping staircase. The kitchen, dining room, storage and laundry were located in the half basement. On the east, the attractive property sloped gently down to the river. Kimmel added, "Grandpa Deane said he remembered the place when it was a pond, and deer came there to drink."

Horrell's county businesses included a partnership in 1826 with other citizens in the founding of Cape Girardeau Milling Co., a spiral grist mill that was powered by the Mississippi River. Its unique screw propeller had been discovered by Bartholomew Cousins. Horrell and associates sold it to James Fulkerson in 1832 for $525.

In 1845 he and James Reynolds constructed a steam-powered log mill downtown which jutted out over the Mississippi. In 1857 it was rebuilt of brick and renamed the Union Mill.

The Horrell family used slaves to work their numerous plantations, as well as other businesses, such as the mills. Benjamin hired 11 slaves from his father's estate. The 1828 Cape Girardeau County Tax books shows he owned 16 slaves and slave houses.

(Part 2: " Rockport Hall's Civil War Days and Demise")