From Richard Crabtree on the Frisco Rails Across Missouri Facebook group: Here we are at the Frisco depot in Elsinore Missouri in Carter County, Johnson Township. The site of the town of Ellsinore was originally patented on April 15, 1857 by Robert Patterson just two years before Carter County was organized. The land was later sold to a Mr. Cook, who in October 1876 sold the land to Charles Hearin. Charles Hearin cleared the land and raised corn and pumpkins on it. In 1888 Charles Hearin gave the Houck Railroad a right of way across his land, laid out the town, and built a railroad depot on the south side of the creek. On March 2, 1889 the Current Local printed the following: “Over in the kingdom of Carter, on the land of the Cape Girardeau and Southwestern Railroad (Houck Railroad), at a point eleven miles distant from Williamsville, there is in process of evolution a little town bearing the name of Ellsinore …” It is not exactly certain how the town came to be called Ellsinore, but the most widely accepted story is that Mr. Brooks, the chief engineer of the Houck Railroad, named the town after Elsinore Castle in Denmark, the setting of Shakespeare's “Hamlet". The post office however added an extra “l” making the spelling “Ellsinore.” In 1888 John Carr opened the first store in Ellsinore which catered largely to the men who were building the railroad. Dewy Melvin Stratton pictures outside and in the station had just taken over as station master. Photo 1) Frisco Depot Elsinore, Missouri. Dewy Melvin Stratton pictures outside and in the station had just taken over as station master 1926. Photo 2) Frisco Depot Ellsinore, Missouri. Dewey Melvin Stratton ~ Station Agent 1926. Photo 3) Frisco Depot and town of Ellsinore Missouri around 1905. On June 25 2017, there was a dedication of the Max Jahn depot at the Railroad Historical Museum, Grant Beach Park, Springfield, MO. The replica Frisco depot there was based on the one built in Elsinore Missouri.
