Rock Port

Rock Port now makes news for wind. In 2008 the town took ownership of four turbines totaling 5 megawatts, more than twice what it typically draws at any moment, and claimed to be the first community in the country with all of its electricity from wind. Eric Chamberlain, who grew up here and runs a family funeral home, pushed the project as a part-time hobby. Over a year the turbines can outproduce the town, though not every day, and surplus power is sold through the state's municipal power pool. Near Tarkio, the 300-megawatt Rock Creek Wind Farm followed.

What the plaque says

Rock Port Here on Rock Creek in Missouri's fertile Glacial Plains, Rock Port was laid out, 1851, by Nathan Meek and succeeded Linden as seat of Atchison County, 1856. A leader in corn production, the county, organized 1845, is named for U. S. Sen. David R. Atchison. In extreme northwest Missouri, Atchison is one of 6 counties formed from the Platte Indian Purchase annexed to Missouri in 1837. The county's north boundary was unsettled until 1851 when the U. S. Supreme Court had the Mo.-Iowa boundary marked. To the west, the Mo. River channel separates the county from Nebraska. In 1867, the river altered its course at one spot and the Supreme Court ruled the abandoned channel the boundary in 1904, thus giving land east of the river to Nebraska. In 1957, Mo. and Nebr. agreed to reestablish the river boundary at this spot. The Lewis and Clark Expedition camped along the Missouri in what is now Atchison County, 1804, and Clark, impressed by the bare hills rising from the river plain, named the area "Baldpated Prairie." Lewis explored nearby Nishnabotna (Indian--Canoe making) River and called the country handsome. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1957 Rock Port (Continued from other side) Rock Port, the seat of Atchison County, serves an area first settled by H. B. Roberts and Thomas Wilson, 1839, and listed in 1950 as having the highest valued farm land and buildings in Missouri. Early settlements near here included a short-lived German Colony, 1846-47, directed by Cornelius Schubert. In the Civil War, Rock Port and Atchison County were at times subjected to guerrilla raids and troop movements. It was not until 1881, when two railroads were built through the county, that prosperity was assured. In 1880, Tarkio, the county's largest town was laid out by Charles Perkins on Tarkio (Indian--Walnut) River. Tarkio (Presbyterian) College was founded there in 1883-85. Rock Port was first incorporated in 1855 as Rockport and this form of spelling has also been used. In town is the County World War I Memorial Building. The Brownville Mo. River Bridge (1940), between Mo. and Nebr., is owned by the county. Associated with county growth are Henry F. Stapel, Rock Port editor, a pioneer in mutual insurance movement; and David Rankin, noted farmer and pioneer in the settlement of Tarkio. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1957

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brownville — 6.5 mi
  A Missouri River town of 1854 that bet on a railroad and lost, kept its arts through the decline, and now has Nebraska's oldest repertory theatre and a 1932 steam dredge on the bank.
• Indian Cave State Park — 12 mi
  Wooded Missouri River bluffs in the old Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation, with carvings of animals cut into a sandstone shelter, the ghost town of St. Deroin and miles of trail.
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park — 25 mi
  J. Sterling Morton's estate in Nebraska City, a four-room house of 1855 grown to 52 rooms among the trees he planted, home of the man who proposed Arbor Day in 1872.
• Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge — 29 mi
  A 7,440-acre Missouri River marsh below the loess hills near Mound City, where up to a million snow geese stop in a typical year and 661 bald eagles were counted in December 2020.

More markers nearby

• Lewis and Clark Campsite: July 15, 1804 — 6.3 mi
• Muir House — 6.5 mi
• Brownville — 6.5 mi
• The Nebraska State Teachers' Association — 6.7 mi