SLAVE ROCK
Missouri Historical Landmark

Chronology

Historical Timeline

Each entry lists its source. Entries without verified sources are marked as pending.

  1. Geologic time

    Formation of the sandstone

    The rock is a natural sandstone formation shaped over immense spans of time by deposition and erosion. Its specific geologic unit and age have not yet been confirmed for this project.

    Research Pending

  2. 1818

    Montgomery County organized

    Montgomery County was organized by the Missouri Territorial legislature in December 1818, as American settlement spread west along the Missouri River valley.

    Source: Missouri State Archives, county formation records

  3. 1821

    Missouri statehood

    Missouri entered the Union as a slave state on August 10, 1821, following the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

    Source: Missouri State Archives; U.S. National Archives

  4. 1821 – 1865

    Slavery in antebellum Missouri

    Enslaved people labored on farms and in households across central Missouri. Their lives, families and resistance form an essential part of the region's history.

    Source: Missouri State Archives, slavery-related collections

  5. Antebellum period

    Dr. Robert Graham’s property

    The land where the rock stands belonged in the nineteenth century to Dr. Robert Graham, a slaveholder. Local tradition — and the belief that slave auctions or related events occurred on his property — gave the rock the name Slave Rock.

    Research Pending

  6. 1861 – 1865

    Civil War and emancipation

    Missouri, a divided border state, abolished slavery by ordinance of its constitutional convention on January 11, 1865.

    Source: Missouri State Archives, 1865 Constitutional Convention records

  7. 19th – 20th c.

    Development of Mineola and local routes

    The growth of Mineola and the roads and rail lines through the area require documentation from county records.

    Research Pending

  8. 1956 onward

    Construction of Interstate 70

    After the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Missouri began work on I-70. When and how the roadway was routed around the rock near Mineola remains to be documented.

    Source: Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956; MoDOT history (route specifics pending)

  9. Present

    A landmark remembered

    The rock remains visible to travelers on I-70 and continues to prompt questions about the region's past.

    Source Needed