CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Louis Houck is most remembered for having a football stadium named after him, said Dr. Joel Rhodes. But Houck left a much larger legacy, spanning transportation, education and the economy, Rhodes said.

Rhodes recently penned a book about Houck called "A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: The Life of Louis Houck." The assistant professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University spent four years researching, writing and publishing the book, which was released in April.

"If you look at all the major events that transformed the region historically, Houck's fingerprints are all over them," Rhodes said.

He originally titled the book "The Father of Southeast Missouri," but the title was changed during the editing process. Houck is remembered historically for building 500 miles of railroad track through "the wilderness of wetlands known as 'Swampeast Missouri'" between 1880 and the 1920s. The development in turn sparked population growth and an economic boom.

In addition to being a self-taught railroader, Houck was also a lawyer, journalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, according to Rhodes. Rhodes originally became interested in writing about Houck during research for a 2004 book, "Historic Cape Girardeau: An Illustrated History."

"He seemed to be the most colorful character in Southeast Missouri history, just from the perspective of what he did for the region," Rhodes said.

As president of Southeast's Board of Regents for 36 years -- then called Southeast Missouri State Teachers College -- Houck was a primary force behind the rebuilding of Academic Hall. Rhodes said the construction "forever positioned" Southeast in Cape Girardeau.

The book also focuses on how Houck made art, culture and formal education "available to all social classes." Rhodes studied the Houck Papers in the university's archives while researching for the book. The Houck collection, which consists of business papers and correspondence, is the second-largest collection in the archives, Rhodes said. He also met with the Juden family of Cape Girardeau, descendants of Houck.

"There was a book Mr. Houck had written just for the family, some letters and some photos," said Jeanette Juden, the husband of Andy Juden Jr., who is Houck's great-grandson. Jeanette Juden has read Rhodes' book and said it is "probably the definitive word on Louis Houck."

She said the book managed to dispel some family legends, including one about a locomotive that sunk in a swamp in Scott County. "It never happened. But it was told for years in the family," she said with a laugh.