Copy of letter signed John F.Darby to James S. Rollins, Columbia, Boone County, Mo., titled “The St. Louis River Convention.” Compliments Rollins on participating in recent St. Louis River Convention. Darby as Mayor in 1835 asked Aldermen to call for an Internal Improvement convention to study building a railroad from St. Louis toward the western boundary of the state. Describes how delegates from across the state were sought. Rollins was a delegate. The Jacksonian party opposed internal improvements. The Whigs had to solicit Democratic support. Darby believes this convention in 1836 was the first anywhere on internal improvements. In 1839, Col. Benton gave a terrific speech against internal improvements, but later favored them. Darby personally delivered an invitation to Benton to an internal improvements convention in St. Louis in 1849. Stephen Douglass was made president of the convention. Describes a convention in Chicago of which Edward Bates was president, where Bates gave a famous speech. Another such convention was held at Memphis, at which John C. Calhoun was president. This convention addressed river improvements. Darby discusses work while he was Mayor on Mississippi river at St. Louis by Lt. Robert E. Lee. [filed in n.d.], No date

Item — Box: 5, Folder: 8

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection consists largely of the papers of John F. Darby and his wife Mary F. Darby, and relates mostly to the political, social, and business history of St. Louis. The papers also include family correspondence with relatives in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Missouri, and correspondence regarding legal and business matters. Of special note are the minute books of the Jefferson Society and the St. Louis Debating Club (1827-1828), both regional debating societies of which Darby was a member; letters of Mary F. Darby; correspondence with Montgomery Blair, William T. Sherman, and George Caleb Bingham; and fragments of a history of the Mormons by John Corrill, dated 1839.