ROLLA

city, seat (1857) of Phelps county, south-central Missouri, U.S., in the Ozark Mountains, near the Gasconade River and units of the Mark Twain National Forest (headquartered at Rolla). It originated about 1856 as a construction site for the St. LouisSan Francisco Railway and supposedly derived its name from a phonetic spelling of Raleigh, N.C., home of one of the settlers. It was a Federal stronghold during the American Civil War. The University of Missouri at Rolla was founded in 1870 as the Missouri School of Mines. Rolla is the site of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Metallurgical Center, and the U.S. Geological and Missouri Geological surveys also maintain facilities there. The Missouri Trachoma Hospital is in the city. Agriculture, state and federal agencies, and light industry (auto parts, food products) are the city's economic bulwarks. Inc. 1890. Pop. (1990) 14,090.