Folks: Had an interesting conversation with a consultant at work yesterday. Her mother grew up in Seventy-Six, MO on the St. Louis Sub; it sounds like her grandfather (or father; can't remember which) took care of having mail ready to go on the mail hook in town. Our talk turned to how the town got its name. Obviously it's not a MP reference and the trackage came through in 1902. I'm wondering if Karl or others might know its genesis. As a corollary, there's not much left in the town apparently, save the dilapidated, vacant house in which her mother lived. Apparently they had also found the old, rotting blind depot sign.
Chris, I have no Idea about Seventy Six, maybe something to do with the river, but your post brings back memories of my great grandfather Sanders', a Frisco engineer, tidbits of info. He told me Hayti got its name because thats where the trains would tie up for hay. As you know southeast Missouri is known for growing lots and lots of mellons and shipping them all over the country. According to him they would layer the cars with hay and mellons before shipping. Hayti was a central area for this operation. I don't know if his story is true but it does make sense. You might know this one. If you look on some River Division timetables in the bootheel area you will see a point named Grab approx mp 216 or 217. That is short for GrassyBayou. It is listed in older timetables with the full name. Maybe this site needs a section for names and origins of names along the Frisco Lines. Some of them are quite interesting. Tim
I have seen a picture on the internet showing the depot and town. I think it was on the "Cape Rock" web site. I had heard that the river pilots named it 76 because it was the 76th crossing on the river north of Cario. Same reason 96 was named. This was all before the Corp of Engineers began the channelization program. Dwain
Good lead, Dwain. A quick Google found this... http://webpages.charter.net/patrice1/76.htm Note the fourth picture down with the train/XMs in the lower right-hand corner. Quaint little town that would make an interesting "layout design element." ETT 29A shows an 84-car capacity siding and 25 or 26 car capacity "other." Tim - I like your idea on town names. Seventy-Six goes to show that it could be anything (Chaffee's one - "General Chaffee" of Spanish-American War Fame or the "Chaffee Real Estate Company" of St. Louis? I've never heard anyone be 100% certain). I think I read years ago that Risco, MO received it's name from an old turn-of-the century boxcar with the large, billboard-type "FRISCO" on the side where the "F" had faded away. Can't remember if this boxcar was the temporary depot or not.
my great grandfather,"john e. faulkner" and 2 other frisco men were killed at milepost 94.3 just north of seventy-six in 1949 caused by a washout..the chaffee historical society has photos and articles of the accident
I found out tonight about the origin of the town name "76". An ancestor of the original land owner family told me they bought "76" acres thus the name.
Tim, That "ancestor of the original land owner family" who told you about the purchase must be really old. I'll bet he has lots of stories to tell. Just kidding you. Ken McElreath
