A Brief History of Elsberry, Missouri

On May 5, 1879, what was then the Clarksville & Western Railroad Company reached the farm of Robert T. Elsberry in Lincoln County. With the coming of the railway arose the ambition to found a town which should bear his name. In August of that year, the depot was built, and soon after the town site was plotted.

Many businesses and homes were moved to the present location from the river town of Falmouth, three miles east on the Mississippi River, and from the nearby villages of Nelson and Cross Roads.

Elsberry grew rapidly. Lost Creek, the city's most southern boundary, originally ran where the Bank of Lincoln County stands and up Third Street.  It was diverted several blocks south of that location so that businesses could be established on the Broadway, the main east-west street through Elsberry.  The first businesses included a harness shop, a grist mill, a newspaper, grain elevator, and bank.  Soon after, a post office was established.  Previously, the nearest post office was located in Nelson, but many businesses in that community had now moved to the new railroad town.

In the History of Elsberry, 1673-1955, the late Congressman Clarence Cannon wrote that R. T. Elsberry was bitterly opposed to the sale and use of liquor and inserted in all deeds he executed in the new town a provision forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors on the premises conveyed, under penalty of reversion of the title to the grantor and his heirs.     However this made little difference in 1879 as two saloons were opened just across the town limits at either end of Broadway, shortly after the building of the depot. The saloon across the railroad track at the east end of Broadway was the firm of Watts and Elsberry. the saloon just across the Bluff Road at the west end of Broadway, known as "The Elsberry Saloon" was owned and operated by the firm of R. T. Booth and Company, consisting of John Singleton and R. T. Booth.     An early copy of the Elsberry Advance advertised, they were resorts where "one can wet his whistle when it's dry, heat himself when he's cold or cool himself when he is warm." The western pub was known locally as "Glory" and the eastern as "Hallelujah" and a large part of the masculine population of the city circulated with an uninhibited and unrestrained ardor between Glory and Hallehujah.

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Elsberry's founder, Robert T. Elsberry, built his home at the top of the hill on North Fifth Street.  It still stands and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. William L. (Sonny) Taylor.

The town did not lack for representatives of all trades and professions, doctors, lawyers and merchants establishing themselves in the now rapidly growing town. By 1881, the new city had two hotels,one jewelry store, several grocery stores, two general merchandise stores, one dry good and clothing store, restaurants, poultry house, butcher shop, blacksmith shops, barber shops, wagon makers, a large flouring mill and two saloons.

This grain elevator served as a vital part of the Elsberry and surrounding farm economy for over 120 years. Its construction actually pre-dated the incorporation of Elsberry (the original building is shown in the inset at lower left). It began as the Elsberry Milling Company in 1880 and was operated as Galloway Brothers since the 1940s. Sadly, the oldest building in Elsberry burned to the ground in 2003.

The old calaboose is an intriguing part of Elsberry history. City records reveal absolutely nothing about its construction. Built circa 1896, its history is derived from a compilation of people's memories. The Junior Elsberry Community Betterment Association is presently working to preserve this bit of antiquity as a part of Elsberry history, as they had previously done with restoring the Old Hall..

Elsberry is the home of the late Congressman Clarence Cannon, who served in the United States Congress from 1923 until his death in 1964.  Congressman Cannon was noted for his expertise in Parliamentary procedure and served as Chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Robert T. Elsberry's brother also settled a town named Elsberry in North Dakota.  However, in 1939 the Highway Department by-passed the town, and the few buildings soon deteriorated and it no longer exists.  This leaves Elsberry, Missouri as the only town in the United States with the name "Elsberry."