Roswell Beebe (1795 – September 27, 1856) was an American politician, business executive, and real estate purveyor during the early 19th century. Serving as president of the

Cairo and Fulton Railroad Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, Roswell Beebe was an important figure in the early development of

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

, where he was elected alderman (1848) and mayor of the city (1849). On September 25, 1839, he received the original patent for the town of Little Rock, signed by President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...

Beebe, Arkansas Beebe is a city in White County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 7,315 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the second most populous in the county. The city is home to Arkansas State University-Beebe. ASU-Beebe also has branch campuse ...

(and later, its current city hall) was also named after Roswell Beebe. "As first President of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad company, Roswell Beebe guided the southern portion of the Union Pacific (which is now named the Southern Pacific line) from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

to Little Rock and then on to

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

". The Roswell Beebe train ran on this track and was named after its benefactor. Beebe was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to a wealthy English family, and he died there while visiting in 1856. His body was returned to Little Rock, where it was buried in

Mount Holly Cemetery Mount Holly Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Quapaw Quarter area of downtown Little Rock in the U.S. state of Arkansas, and is the burial place for numerous Arkansans of note. It was listed on the National Register of Historic ...

, one of the city cemeteries that he had donated.

References

Bibliography

* Atkinson, J. H., ed. "Letters from Solon Borland to Roswell Beebe." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 18 (Autumn 1959): 287–290. * "Roswell Beebe Materials, 1795–1925." Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Arkansas. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beebe, Roswell 1795 births 1856 deaths 19th-century American politicians Burials at Mount Holly Cemetery Businesspeople from Arkansas Mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas 19th-century American businesspeople