In southeastern Butler County, Missouri, along the east side of Black River, is the site of the former community of Carola. The location is along Missouri Route N, 2 ½ miles southwest of Oglesville and 3 ½ miles north of the Arkansas border.
The founder of Carola was a German immigrant, Charles F. Hinrichs. Hinrichs was born in Warin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, to C. D. and Louise Priester Hinrichs on February 15, 1828. He came to America at age 16, landed in Galveston, Texas, and obtained work as a butcher. He then returned to Germany in 1847 to bring his family to Cape Girardeau. His father, C. D. Hinrichs, died shortly after arriving in the U. S., but the family was successful in business and land transactions.
Charles enlisted in 1861 in the Missouri State Militia, and in 1862 in Co. L., 10th Missouri Cavalry as 1st Lieutenant. He was later promoted to Captain. He returned to Cape Girardeau, eventually opening a store several miles southwest of town. At the time, the store served as the nucleus of a small community called Hinrichsville, and at various other times, Dutchtown.
Hinrichs sold his interests in Cape Girardeau County in 1867 and moved to Gillis Bluff, just south of the future Carola. He had a successful business in farming and livestock and invested in Butler County real estate and mining interests. A robbery of his home in 1879, in which his nephew was killed and money stolen, prompted his move to Poplar Bluff.
Perhaps remembering his experience as a poor immigrant and wishing to promote settlement in the area, he developed the idea to start a colony of German immigrants in this swampy area of Butler County. In 1881, Hinrichs persuaded a group of Germans to immigrate to America and settle on his land at Gillis Bluff. The settlement received the name of Carola, possibly coming from the name of one of the ships that brought immigrants to America.
Hinrichs worked through a corporation, the “Saxon Colony for Agriculture, Manufacture, and Navigation,” chartered as a corporation by the State of Missouri. Forty immigrants for the colony arrived at Poplar Bluff in June 1881 via the Iron Mountain Railroad. He deeded land to the colony July 17, 1881. Shortly thereafter, the concern purchased a steamboat, the “Belle of Carola,” to run between Poplar Bluff and Carola, allowing easier transportation of settlers and goods to reach the site, and marketing of crops and other items elsewhere. By October 1881, the company mortgaged land to Hinrichs for $9700 to generate ready capital. After the company platted the town, the first town lots and land parcels sold starting in May 1882. The colonists also established a German newspaper, post office, and sawmill.
Land parcels sold slowly, however, and the colony never really prospered. The handicaps of inept farming practices, poor site drainage and frequent flooding, and recurrent epidemics of malaria eventually led to the colony’s demise. By January 1887, the company defaulted and Hinrichs purchased over 650 acres back. The state revoked the charter by 1889.
The town did not die completely, however. A number of the colonists stayed, and lie buried in the Carola Cemetery, which remains today. The Carola Schoolhouse continued to be a community center for the surrounding area well into the 20th Century.
While Charles Hinrichs lost some of his investment in Carola, he continued to be successful in other ventures. He resided in Poplar Bluff until his death in 1902.
