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archaeology
Prehistoric La Salle New Madrid Louisiana Purchase New Madrid Earthquakes Johne Hardeman Walker Missouri Compromise Stoddard Co & 1860 Election John Bell |
Slavery in Stoddard County
Amos Stoddard Absolom Bailey Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson General Ulysses S. Grant Battle of Belmont The Stars and Stripes Newspaper Battle of New Madrid/Island #10 Battle of Pilot Knob |
Dexter
Essex Frisco Small Pox Outbreak 1895 dredges Little River Drainage District Spanish Influenza in Stoddard Co Freedom Riders in SEMO Richland School History |
Southeast Missouri (for this unit) includes the counties of Cape Girardeau, Wayne, Bollinger, Butler, Stoddard, Scott, New Madrid, Dunklin, Mississippi, and Pemiscot.
Native American Settlement
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Native Americans occupied Southeast Missouri for thousands of years. Estimates vary, but evidence from archaeological digs suggests that the first humans to inhabit Southeast Missouri most likely did so about 12,000 years ago. Archaeology is the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation or digging of sites where artifacts and physical remains are found that represent a people that lived there before today. Prehistory or Prehistoric is any event that occurred before there was written records. These Native Americans settled in Southeast Missouri along ridges and close to water sources that would provide food and drinking water.
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Towosahgy Native American mounds, near East Prairie, Mississippi County. Occupied until 1420.
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Indian Mound currently located next to New Madrid County schools (Lilbourn site).
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Map showing Native American settlements in Southeast Missouri.
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The Native Americans in Southeast Missouri lived here until the mid to late 1400s (about 300 years ago), when for some reason they began to move further west and south. Archaeologists do not agree on why the Native population suddenly moved. When Europeans later arrived there were very little to no Native Americans living in the region.
European Settlement
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The Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto was the first European explorer to venture anywhere near Southeast Missouri, although there is no evidence that he did not go further north of Memphis, he was only the first of several that would later venture into southeast Missouri. In 1673, French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joilet were the first European explorers to lay eyes on southeast Missouri as they traveled down the Mississippi River. In 1682, French explorer La Salle, traveled down the Mississippi River and claimed all of the land on the west and east side of Mississippi River for France. He called the new land, Louisiana, named after the French King Louis the XIV (14th). Under French control the only permanent settlement in Southeast Missouri was at the town of Ste. Genevieve. After the French lost the French and Indian War in 1763, it gave all of the land EAST of the Mississippi River to England, and all of the land WEST of the Mississippi River to Spain (an ally to England).
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1822 Map of Southeast Missouri, the red dot represents about where we are located.
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Under Spanish rule, the land west of the Mississippi River was divided into five districts: St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid. The first permanent settlement in Southeast Missouri was created by Peter LaForge at New Madrid in 1787, as a trading post with Delaware and Shawnee Indians that had moved west from their original homes in the East. In 1794, Francois Lesieur moved south of New Madrid a ways and started the community of Little Prairie, now known as Caruthersville. The Spanish controlled the area of Southeast Missouri until 1800 when they ceded or gave away the land to France (Spain lost a war with France and giving them the land West of the Mississippi River was part of the treaty). The French only owned the ground for three years before they sold it to the U.S. under Thomas Jefferson in 1803 for $15 million dollars, called the Louisiana Purchase, it doubled the size of the U.S. From 1803 until 1811, small settlements began to spring up in Southeast Missouri.
New Madrid Earthquake - 1811 -1812
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On December 6, 1811, at about 2AM, the first of a series of severe earthquakes shook southeast Missouri. These earthquakes were the largest ever experienced in North America even to this day. The ground was torn open in countless areas and shot sand up in the air. The shaking was so severe, it shook church bells in Philadelphia. For a short time, the Mississippi River flowed backwards and waterfalls were created where the land was torn creating sharp drop-offs. The earthquakes caused many residents of Southeast Missouri to move elsewhere. The U.S. government tried to help by issuing the first ever aid to American citizens during a natural disaster by the U.S. government.
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Seismic zone of New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 and 1812.
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The Missouri Territory & Creation of the Bootheel
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On June 4, 1812, President James Madison created Missouri as an official territory of the United States (not to be confused with statehood, being a "territory" was the first big step to becoming a state). The bottom of the state was supposed to be the line 36" 30' north latitude (which is now the long straight edge of most of Missouri, EXCEPT, the bootheel). Since it looked like the Arkansas territory south of Missouri was far from being organized, many landholders in what became the Missouri Bootheel, asked Congress to include an extension in Southeast Missouri that would go into Arkansas. They believed that their land would be worth more when Missouri became a state. John Hardeman Walker was the largest landowner in the future Booheel reagion (he lived near present day Caruthersville, Missouri in Pemiscot County). Walker had enough influence to convince representatives in Congress to support including the Bootheel. Missouri finally became a state when the Missouri Compromise was ratified (passed) that created Missouri as a state (with slavery) and Maine as a state (free state), in 1820.
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Stoddard County Early History
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In 1820, when Missouri became a state, there were 15 counties already established in Missouri. In Southeast Missouri, only the counties of Wayne, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid were drawn out and included all of the land in Southeast Missouri. On January 2, 1835, Stoddard County was carved from parts of Cape Girardeau and New Madrid Counties. The county was named after Amos Stoddard, the first civilian commander/governor of the Louisiana Territory for the U.S. and a veteran of the American Revolution.
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Amos Stoddard, 1762 - 1813.
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The first town that was officially incorporated into the county was Bloomfield. Bloomfield is located on Crowley's Ridge and was the site of a former Shawnee Indian village. The town was first called Castor but the name was changed at an unknown date to Bloomfield which reflected the large amount of fields with flowers in them. Absolom Bailey was the first resident of Bloomfield and he donated fifty acres to build a town. Bailey's home served as the first courthouse for the county until 1839 when an official courthouse was built.
Stoddard County & The Civil War
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During the 1860 election, Stoddard County overwhelmingly voted Democrat, but votes were divided among the three Democratic candidates. John Bell's middle of the road, "the Union and the Constitution as they are," rhetoric attracted the most Stoddard Countians with 385 votes. Steven A. Douglas, the popular sovereignty champion and Lincoln's political rival, garnered 230 votes. John Breckenridge of Kentucky received 198 votes. Abraham Lincoln did not tally a single vote in Stoddard County. While opinions varied as to the extent that Stoddard Countians pledged loyalty to the South during the crisis of 1860/61, it was obvious they were not a fan of Northern ideas.
Stoddard County is an interesting case study of a border state county that was made up primarily of yeoman farmers who originally had traveled to the county in the 1840s from North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Less than ten percent of households in the county (143) were from states outside of the South. The institution of slavery, while present, had little influence over the political or economical forces within the county. According to the 1860 census, only 215 slaves out of a total county population of 7,874 were located in Missouri (less than three percent). The largest slave owner, Samuel Holmes, owned sixteen slaves on his farm between present day Essex and Dexter. The overall average among slave owners was 3.5 slaves, most living in or connected to the family home. Only twenty-four of the county's fifty-four slave owners served in the Confederate forces. One out of every thirty-one soldiers from Stoddard County was a slave owner. At the time of the Civil War ninety-two percent of cotton raised in Missouri was raised in four southern counties: Stoddard, Shannon, Dunklin, and Dallas, which possessed a white population of 20,562 and a slave population of 513. |
Newspaper article encouraging southeast Missourians to join the Confederate army.
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The Civil War in Southeast Missouri began when the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard troops under Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson occupied key towns in the region such as Bloomfield, Clarkton, Sikeston, New Madrid, and Charleston. Thompson commanded all Missouri State Guard troops in Southeast Missouri and quickly became known as a good general that would strike the enemy and then retreat to hide in the swamps where the Union troops would be unable to find him. Thompson's men kept Union soldiers tied down in Southeast Missouri so they could not be sent to other areas to fight.
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In the fall of 1861, Union forces in Southeast Missouri were commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant who had his headquarters in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. On November 7, 1861, Grant moved his forces south to attack Confederates at Belmont, Missouri (near present day East Prairie). Grant had a little over 3,000 men at Belmont that fought an all day battle against a Confederate force commanded by Confederate General Leonidas Polk who had about 5,000 men. Grant's small army was eventually driven from the field and Confederates claimed a victory. The Union suffered a little over 600 killed and wounded, while the Confederates suffered about 641 killed and wounded. It was Grant's first battle as a General.
Part of Grant's campaign for Belmont was to send a column of Illinois troops under Richard Oglesby to Bloomfield, Missouri to block any troops being sent from M. Jeff Thompson to reinforce Confederates at Belmont. On November 9, 1861, Union troops entered Bloomfield where they wrecked the local newspaper office and began printing a military newspaper called The Stars and Stripes. The Stars and Stripes newspaper went on to be the official newspaper of the U.S. Army and is still printed today all around the world. |
Map that shows the battle of Belmont and New Madrid, MO.
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Battle and Siege of New Madrid, MO
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The next major military operation occurred in early spring of 1862 when Union forces decided to move on New Madrid, Missouri, the site of Island Number #10 and two Confederate forts that commanded the Mississippi River there. Part of the overall Union strategy to win the war was to control all of the major river ways in the Confederacy including the Mississippi River. New Madrid was the furthest north fortified town on Mississippi and became crucial for the Union to take. Union forces surrounded New Madrid and used ironclad gunboats to bombard Island #10. Within a few weeks, Confederates realized it was impossible to continue to defend New Madrid and retreated from the town, most were later captured in Tennessee. The Union's capture of New Madrid became the first victory they accomplished on the Mississippi River of the War.
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Marmaduke's Raid & Pilot Knob
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After New Madrid, Union forces mostly controlled the majority of Southeast Missouri with occasional outbreaks of fighting. Small forces of Confederate troops would attack small Union outposts at places like Bloomfield, and then retreat back into Arkansas. An exception to this happened twice during the war. In the Spring of 1863, Confederate forces under John S. Marmaduke with 8,000 cavalrymen, entered southeast Missouri and fought Union forces at Cape Girardeau on April 28, 1863. Union forces defeated Marmaduke and he was forced to retreat back into Arkansas. The next time Confederates showed up in large numbers occurred in September of 1864 when Confederate General Sterling Price passed through the region during his raid through Missouri. Price's army fought the largest battle in Southeast Missouri at Fort Davidson in Iron County. The battle was fought on September 27, 1864, the Union were inside a fort named Fort Davidson which was surrounded by Shepard's Mountain and Pilot Knob. Confederates attacked from Shepard's Mountain but were unable to kick the Union soldiers out. During the night of September 27, Union forces were able to escape from the fort which gave the Confederates a small victory by capturing the fort. The Battle of Pilot Knob or Fort Davidson, was the last major military action in Southeast Missouri.
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Aside from the military skirmishes and battles fought in Southeast Missouri, there was always the presence of guerrilla warfare. Men like Sam Hildebrand and John Fugate Bolin, attacked Union supply trains and small groups of Union soldiers they caught outside the strong defenses of Cape Girardeau.
Post Civil War
After the Civil War, Southeast Missouri was in a bad financial state, four years of war had devastated farms and businesses and most just wanted to get back to making a living. Bands of men called night riders formed and began causing problems among the local population. These men were mostly for personal gain, but operated under the name of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1871 they tried to gain a foothold in Stoddard County but they were run out by former Confederate soldiers who had no time for violence and just wanted their region to return to normal.
Most of the decades after the Civil War were a time of railroad building and town growth. Most of the towns and communities now known in Southeast Missouri were formed during this time period. In July of 1873, the future town of Dexter was laid out by the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad (that is the railroad that you cross when going through Essex). Col. Henry J. Deal of Charleston Missouri built the tracks that ran through Stoddard County to Poplar Bluff. The workers on the railroad were paid .16 to .24 an hour. The land bought for the future town of Dexter, Missouri was along Deck's Creek. The town was named in honor of the Creek and for a very famous race horse at the time named Dexter. It was first called Dexter City and was later shortened to Dexter in 1887.
Essex, Missouri
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The town that became Essex was laid out the same year as Dexter. It was named for the railroad engineer that was in charge of building the railroad through the area. By 1876 Essex had its own post office. Essex became known as somewhat of a wild town because of the number of people that passed through to work in local saw mills that were busy cutting the vast amount of timber spread out locally. In 1881, W.T. Hoffman killed O. B. Miller in Essex over Hoffman's disapproval of Miller marrying his daughter. In 1882, a farmer was killed and buried a log by a man that tried to steal ownership of his farm. In 1898, a local man was killed during a town dance after a fight broke out. In 1935 Elzy Knight was murdered and robbed just outside of town.
Farmers Bank was built in 1919 by Charles Clemens at a cost of $13,000, it only took ninety days to build (It is one of only two of the buildings still standing that are very old in town). |
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Essex School, 1900
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Located on Wamble Curve on Hwy 114. Destroyed by a tornado.
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Rural School outside of Essex
Essex Baseball Players
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Taken near Essex, Mo
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Essex Saw Mill
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Drainage ditch near Essex, Mo
Frisco
Frisco is located southwest of Essex in the northern section of Elk Township. First called Pinhook because the ridge it was located on resembled the tool called a pinhook that loggers used. The name was later changed to Frisco in order to attract the Frisco railroad to build there, which it did not.
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Small Pox Outbreak - 1895
The first case of smallpox was in Poplin (Poplin was located in western Stoddard County, just across the St. Francis River from Fisk, Missouri) was on March 14, 1895 when George Adsitt fell ill (as did his 9 year old daughter). Dr. Baker of Ash Hill was the first area physician to recognize that it was smallpox. Most that heard of Baker’s diagnosis doubted his opinion and on April 14 the Butler County Court and the Board of Health of Poplar Bluff asked Dr. George Admas to travel to Poplin and investigate the recent outbreak of several sick individuals. Adams confirmed that it was indeed smallpox. On April 20 Poplin was put under strict quarantine. A “pest house” was organized with supplies and cots for the sick. The third case was Mollie Tilley, she died from the illness. John Spragin then caught it, he traveled home to Lotta, Missouri where fifteen cases of smallpox soon sprang up. Spragin died from it. Next a Mr. Campbell died from smallpox. Mr. Brewster who ate dinner with Mr. Adsitt (before he realized he had smallpox) then traveled to his home in Acorn Ridge, which resulted in thirty cases of smallpox in that community. Poplin eventually had a total of fifty-four cases housed in the “pest house,” eleven died while there. The founder of nearby Fisk, Samuel Fisk, contracted smallpox and survived.
June 13, 1895 (PB Citizen) - Mr. Pearce who works in Poplin left for Neelyville to see his wife, he avoided Poplar Bluff because those from Poplin are under quarantine. When he arrived in Neelyville, there was much excitement and he was arrested and returned to Poplin.
On July 3, 1895 the "pest house" and all of its contents were burned to the ground signaling an end to the smallpox epidemic in Stoddard and Butler counties.
June 13, 1895 (PB Citizen) - Mr. Pearce who works in Poplin left for Neelyville to see his wife, he avoided Poplar Bluff because those from Poplin are under quarantine. When he arrived in Neelyville, there was much excitement and he was arrested and returned to Poplin.
On July 3, 1895 the "pest house" and all of its contents were burned to the ground signaling an end to the smallpox epidemic in Stoddard and Butler counties.
Swamp Drainage
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The draining of the swamps in Southeast Missouri began in 1885 in New Madrid County. It wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century (1900s) that large scale drainage was seriously considered because of new developments in a steam and diesel powered machine called a dredge. Dredges were large machines on tank tracks that had a large pole that extended far out with cables which were connected to a bucket that opened and closed at the bottom. The dredge would drop the bucket down onto the ground opened, the bottom of the bucket would close like an alligator's mouth picking up dirt. The machine would then swivel and drop the dirt in long piles building a trench with high sides.
Dredges were unique when they were redesigned to be able to be used on floating barges. These allowed for drainage ditches to be built. All of the drainage ditches that you see today were originally built by these early dredges. |
Floating dredge with a house connected, taken in New Madrid County, Missouri.
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In Southeast Missouri, people came in like the Himmelburger-Harrison Lumber Company, and cut the timber. Using the newly built railroads, they shipped their timber to places outside of Southeast Missouri like St. Louis. Once the timber had mostly been cut, land developers would either sell the land with stumps on it, or they would remove the stumps and sell the land at a higher price. These land companies advertised all over the midwest to encourage people to move to Southeast Missouri. Even though it was cheap land, it was still hard to convince people to move from Illinois and Indiana to come here to live. That was before programs like the Little River Drainage District were formed and began draining the swamp land which made it easier for farmers to create homesteads. Land once bought for a dollar an acre, once drained, brought $5 or more an acre.
In December 1904, a dozen of the major landowners in the Missouri bootheel at Cape Girardeau. Their plan was to create a company that would be in charge of draining over 90% of the swamplands in Southeast Missouri along Little River which was the largest flowing river that traveled through the bootheel. The Little River Drainage District was formed and became the largest overseer of land drainage in the history of the United States. The drainage of the swamps by the Little River Drainage district completely changed the physical and social landscape of the Missouri bootheel and allowed new types of crops to be grown in Missouri in large numbers like cotton and rice. The headquarters of the Little River Drainage District was in Morehouse, in New Madrid County.
World War I and the Spanish Influenza of 1918
When World War I began in 1914, America tried to stay out of the all European war, but in 1917 became involved after repeated violations by Germany against the U.S. The U.S. Army at that time was too small to fight a large scale war so President Woodrow Wilson activated state forces or National Guards, to help add to the number of U.S. soldiers needed to fight in the war. Stoddard County was home to an infantry company that was in the 140th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division. The 35th Division was called to service in the fall of 1917 and in 1918 was sent to France where it fought in the battles of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. Stoddard County lost over dozen men killed in WWI.
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In September of 1918 a new form of flu or influenza reached Stoddard County. From October 1918 until May 1919, there were over 250 people from Stoddard County who died from what became known as the Spanish Flu or Spanish Influenza. Nearly 10,000 Stoddard Countains became infected with the disease. Most of the deaths were from those under the age of fifty. Towns issued stay at home orders and businesses shut down for weeks. Entire families died from the Spanish Flu and it wasn't until a third of the population had contracted it that the cases began to decrease from herd immunity.
No one was immune from the Spanish Flu, the town of Frisco's only doctor died from it. An entire family in Hunterville all died within days of one another, and the principal of Bloomfield High School died from the flu in October of 1918.
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1920s
The 1920s was a crazy time in Stoddard County and Southeast Missouri. With recent lands now cleared and drained, farming in the region exploded to numbers never seen before. Most farmers began growing cotton for the first time (southeast Missouri is the furthest north that cotton is grown in great numbers). Cotton is a very labor demanding crop to grow because it must be picked by hand. With this sudden influx of cotton, a huge number of cotton pickers were needed to keep up with demand. Landowners began advertising for labor in the Deep South. For decades black sharecroppers were treated horribly in the Deep South states, landowners in Missouri promised black laborers better living conditions and treatment, which led to large migration of black laborers into Southeast Missouri. To give an idea of the number of blacks that migrated to Stoddard County during this time: In 1922 there were 3 black school age children in Stoddard County, in 1924, there were 867.
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This large influx of black laborers angered many poor whites in the region who believed that black laborers would take all of the work and do it for less than white laborers. Some resorted to violence, called night riders, they would put on masks and terrorize the homes of black cotton pickers in order to convince them to move out.
At the same time this was going in Southeast Missouri, there was a rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan nationally. The Klan moved into Southeast Missouri, but generally played a different role than it did in other parts of the country. Most of the Klan members in Southeast Missouri were large landowners who were upset with the way the country was going socially. They were against immigration of European immigrants and were afraid that their traditional ways of life were being threatened. While the Klan was against any empowerment of blacks, it was even more against losing the black laborers that worked their land so when night riders attacked or threatened the homes of black laborers, local landowners under the masks of the klan, threatened to retaliate against the poor whites who threatened their laborers. Beginning in 1921, Klansmen would visit local churches, make a donation, and give a small speech about the importance of religion and traditional values. They had klaverns or clubs in almost every community in Southeast Missouri. By 1922 there were 35,000 klansmen in Missouri. The klan was very large in Southeast Missouri from 1921 to 1925, but virtually disappeared by 1927.
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1939 Sharecropper's Strike
1960s - Southeast Missouri
Freedom Riders in SEMO
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The Greyhound bus terminal in Sikeston was located in the MO Pacific depot downtown. It moved to a new location on 61N later that year. Cyrus’ Restaurant opened up to serve riders on their trek from St. Louis to Memphis. In 1961, 15 black and white members of the Congress of Racial Equality (two were local, Jim Masters of Parma and Calvin Brooks of Lilbourn) out of St. Louis (most were Mizzou students, but also a couple of SLU faculty), decided to test Missouri desegregation policies at businesses in Southeast Missouri.
Upon entering Cyrus’ Restaurant, located in the Greyhound station at Sikeston, they were asked to leave and go to the “negro side entrance” for service. They refused and sat down in the main dining area. The police were called, all were arrested without incident for “disturbing the peace” and assigned $12.50 bail, which was paid. Three years later, CORE again tested Cryus’ Restaurant and were told that while the Restaurant manager did not want to serve the travelers, he would if they insisted. The manager was notified that FBI agents were watching the actions of the establishment which no doubt led to the manager reluctantly allowing the travelers to sit and eat in the main dining facility. The group went on to test over a dozen businesses in the region (which will be the focus of Part II) with varying results. So while we learn and see photographs of Freedom Riders in the Deep South, we had our own Freedom Riders and Sit-In’s right here in SEMO. Luckily ours did not result in violence. |
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In Southeast Missouri there was not much in the way of violence when it came to voting during the Civil Rights Era. The main reason is because voter registration was not a thing, instead, local landowners and whites would buy black votes and transport them to the polls in order to make sure they voted. Local blacks learned that by living in communities that were all black they had a higher level of independence from outside influence. Many black communities thrived and helped to add to the economic base of the region.
Penermon
Penermon was created in 1967, it's first citizen and mayor was Morris Griffin. It was named after J. O. Penermon of Sikeston, who was the first person to create the idea of the community. The town grew enough that in 1971 it was incorporated to official village status. It had a city council and by 1972 there were 28 houses with 185 residents in the small community. The first business in Penerman was opened by Andrew Cain who opened a grocery store and auto body shop. It built a community center, a park, and a fire house.
Richland School History
The first school in Essex was built in 1874 or 1875 (depends on what source you go by). Another school was built in 1888, but the first "large" brick building school was built in 1906, it housed grades 1st through 8th grade and added one year of high school in 1911, and two more years of high school in 1919. Population continued to grow and in 1930 a new building was built and the old buildings were renovated. In 1959, the Essex and Gray Ridge school districts consolidated becoming the Reorganized School District Number I, Stoddard County, Missouri. In 1962 it changed its name officially to Richland School.
When the two districts consolidated in 1959, it had not yet integrated local black students. There were two black elementary schools, one south of Hunterville on Highway 153 and the other was known as Guide Star School. Black junior high and high school students were bused daily to Lilbourn High School in New Madrid County. Richland was integrated using a gradual system from top down with 11th and 12th grade integrated first and so on, by 1964 the high school was completely integrated. The elementary schools became integrated by the 1966 - 1967 school year. There were little to know problems mentioned during the integration process, when the superintendent of the school was asked in 1966, "how are they doing," he replied, "If you were 12 whites with 250 blacks how would you act? (Richland only had 12 black students at the time)."
The first superintendent of schools was Robert Rasche, who had been in charge of Gray Ridge school for over 30 years, Ralph Parks from the Essex school district was chosen as assistant superintendent. No teachers were let go because of the consolidation. When the new board was elected, six were elected from Essex and three from Gray Ridge. In order to make the consolidation go smoother, the administration and board chose to allow the student body to select the name of the school, the mascot, and the school colors. The name chosen was Richland, the mascot chosen was Rebels (believed to have originated from a popular math teacher's alma mater, the University of Mississippi), and the colors were scarlet red and pearl gray. The school had successful basketball seasons that took it to the state tournament in 1962 (3rd place), 1963, and 1964 (2nd place), which many said contributed to an easier transition after consolidation.
When the two districts consolidated in 1959, it had not yet integrated local black students. There were two black elementary schools, one south of Hunterville on Highway 153 and the other was known as Guide Star School. Black junior high and high school students were bused daily to Lilbourn High School in New Madrid County. Richland was integrated using a gradual system from top down with 11th and 12th grade integrated first and so on, by 1964 the high school was completely integrated. The elementary schools became integrated by the 1966 - 1967 school year. There were little to know problems mentioned during the integration process, when the superintendent of the school was asked in 1966, "how are they doing," he replied, "If you were 12 whites with 250 blacks how would you act? (Richland only had 12 black students at the time)."
The first superintendent of schools was Robert Rasche, who had been in charge of Gray Ridge school for over 30 years, Ralph Parks from the Essex school district was chosen as assistant superintendent. No teachers were let go because of the consolidation. When the new board was elected, six were elected from Essex and three from Gray Ridge. In order to make the consolidation go smoother, the administration and board chose to allow the student body to select the name of the school, the mascot, and the school colors. The name chosen was Richland, the mascot chosen was Rebels (believed to have originated from a popular math teacher's alma mater, the University of Mississippi), and the colors were scarlet red and pearl gray. The school had successful basketball seasons that took it to the state tournament in 1962 (3rd place), 1963, and 1964 (2nd place), which many said contributed to an easier transition after consolidation.
A committee was formed to find a suitable location for the school, some disagreements popped up during this time as neither the Gray Ridge or Essex citizens wanted the school too close to either town. The site selected (after voting five different times) was south of the "Tucker Crossing" on land owned by Tom Taylor. Taylor wanted $1,000 an acre (the land had sold originally to Solomon G. Kitchen for $1 an acre), the district offered $750 an acre and bought the land for $31,000. Haywood Snipes of Poplar Bluff was hired to design the building and Kirk Construction of Paragould, Arkansas won the contract to build it. The new school was completed in 1964 and opened for classes over Christmas vacation, the first graduating class was in 1965. The first diplomas issued with the name Richland School appeared in 1962 before the construction of the new building.
The consolidation of Gray Ridge and Essex saved the problem of declining enrollment at the time, helped solve financial problems, and gave the students of both schools a better and more varied education that helped them better succeed.