A pioneer settler and brickmaker whose Turkey Creek homestead and brickyard helped shape early Joplin.
Known forA pioneer settler and brickmaker whose Turkey Creek homestead and brickyard helped shape early Joplin.
Solomon Rothanbarger belongs to the earliest layer of Joplin history: the period when families were still choosing creek bottoms, timber, and open land as places to build a life. Born in Pennsylvania, he moved through Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee before settling in the Turkey Creek area in 1837.
His story then follows one of the great currents of the nineteenth century. In 1850, Rothanbarger left Missouri for the California Gold Rush. After about eighteen months in the gold fields, he returned with enough capital to establish a brickyard near his homestead.
That brickyard became one of his lasting contributions. Its hand-pressed bricks were used in local construction, including the Rothenberger House at 1210 North Florida Avenue, a house remembered for its thick brick walls, oak plank floors, and rafters joined with wooden pegs.
A House Tied To Local Memory
The Rothanbarger House later became part of Civil War memory in Joplin. The source writing describes it as a field hospital used during the war, with cannonballs discovered in its walls during later renovations.
The family also adapted to the frontier setting around Turkey Creek, trapping wild turkeys and making use of the land around them. Rothanbarger is remembered not only as a settler, but as a builder whose materials became part of the city itself.
Source: "Founding Fathers of Joplin.docx" and image files in the Solomon Rothanbarger folder.