Oliver Collection
The Oliver Family Collection brings history together showcasing the history of Southeast Missouri
The Oliver Family Collection preserves the story of one of Southeast Missouri’s most historically significant families—a family whose influence reached from Cape Girardeau and Jackson to the Missouri General Assembly and ultimately into one of the most recognizable symbols of the state itself.
At the center of that story are Robert Burett Oliver and Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver, who made Southeast Missouri their home and became deeply involved in the civic, legal, political, historical, and cultural life of the region.
Robert Burett Oliver, born in Cape Girardeau County in 1850, established his law practice in Jackson in 1878 and was elected to the Missouri Senate in 1882. He later represented Cape Girardeau County in the Missouri General Assembly, practiced law for more than half a century, and helped organize the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society. His interest in documenting the region’s past helped preserve stories and records that otherwise might have been lost.
Marie Watkins Oliver became equally important to Missouri history. Born in Ray County in 1854, she married Robert in 1879 and moved to Jackson, where the couple raised their family. In 1896, the Olivers moved to Cape Girardeau as Robert relocated his law practice there. Their home, known as Oliver Heights and today as the Oliver-Leming House, became an enduring landmark in Cape Girardeau, and the place associated with Marie Oliver’s creation of the Missouri State Flag.
Together, the Olivers and their descendants left an extraordinary record of family life, public service, law, politics, community leadership and historic preservation in Southeast Missouri.
The Oliver Family Collection brings that history together, preserving objects, photographs, documents and family stories that connect visitors not simply to one prominent family, but to the larger story of Southeast Missouri and its place in the history of the state.
The Missouri State Flag
Designed in Cape Girardeau. Recognized Across Missouri.
In 1908, the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution appointed Marie Watkins Oliver to chair a committee charged with developing an official flag for Missouri. At the time, Missouri had been a state for nearly 90 years but still had no official state flag.
Marie approached the assignment as both a designer and a researcher. She contacted officials throughout the United States to study how other states had developed their flags before creating a design specifically intended to represent Missouri.
Her design incorporated three horizontal bands of red, white and blue, connecting Missouri visually to the United States while retaining a distinctive state identity. At its center she placed the Missouri coat of arms, surrounded by 24 stars representing Missouri’s admission to the Union as the 24th state.
Its origins are inseparably connected to Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri.
The Oliver Family
Public Service, Community, and a Lasting Legacy
Robert Burett Oliver
1850-1934
A native of Cape Girardeau County, Robert Burett Oliver was an attorney, legislator, historian and civic leader whose career spanned more than five decades.
After attending the University of Missouri, Oliver established a law practice in Jackson in 1878. He was elected to the Missouri Senate in 1882 and later represented Cape Girardeau County in the Missouri General Assembly in 1903–1904.
In 1896, Robert moved his law practice and family to Cape Girardeau. Two of his sons eventually joined him, creating the firm of Oliver & Oliver.
His contributions extended well beyond the law. Robert helped organize the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society and researched and wrote extensively about the history of the region. His work reflected an early recognition that Southeast Missouri’s history was worth documenting, studying and preserving.
Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver
1854-1944
Marie Elizabeth Watkins was born in Ray County, Missouri, in 1854 and married Robert Burett Oliver in 1879. The couple first established their family in Jackson before moving to Cape Girardeau in 1896.
Marie became active in civic and patriotic organizations and joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1904. Four years later, that involvement placed her at the center of the effort to create an official flag for Missouri.
Her persistence through years of legislative setbacks (and even the destruction of her original flag design in the 1911 State Capitol fire) eventually resulted in the adoption of the Missouri State Flag in 1913.
Marie lived in Cape Girardeau until her death in 1944. She is buried in Lorimier Cemetery.
Today, she is remembered throughout Missouri for giving the state one of its most enduring symbols.
The Oliver Family in Southeast Missouri
Robert and Marie raised six children—five sons and one daughter: Robert Burett Jr., Charles Watkins, John Byrd, Allen Laws, William Palmer and Marguerite Marie.
The family’s influence continued into subsequent generations. Members of the Oliver family became involved in law, civic affairs and professional organizations, while the records they preserved created an unusually rich documentary history of family and community life in Southeast Missouri.
The broader Oliver historical record includes correspondence, photographs, legal and financial records, speeches, writings, genealogical research and materials relating to institutions including the Missouri State Normal School (today Southeast Missouri State University) and First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau.
Taken together, these materials tell a story larger than that of a single family. They offer a window into the development of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri across generations.
The Oliver Family Through the Years
Explore photographs of Robert and Marie Oliver, their children and descendants, Oliver Heights, and the people and places connected to the family’s remarkable history.
Help Preserve the Oliver Legacy
History survives because people choose to preserve it
Through the Oliver Family Collection, the Kellerman Foundation works to ensure that the objects, photographs, documents and stories connected to the Oliver family remain accessible to future generations.
Your contribution helps support the preservation, interpretation and presentation of this important Southeast Missouri collection—from protecting historic artifacts to developing exhibits and educational opportunities that allow new generations to discover the people behind Missouri’s history.
By supporting the Oliver Family Collection, you are helping preserve more than the history of one family. You are helping preserve Southeast Missouri’s place in the story of Missouri.
Visit the Oliver Family Collection
Experience the Oliver Story for Yourself
Discover the Oliver family’s remarkable connection to Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri and the State of Missouri through the Oliver Family Collection at Kellerman-Lorimier Hall.
Visitors can explore the family’s history, learn the story behind Marie Watkins Oliver’s creation of the Missouri State Flag, and encounter photographs, artifacts and stories that bring generations of Southeast Missouri history to life.
