McCracken is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Christian County Christian County is the name of several counties in the United States: * Christian County, Illinois * Christian County, Kentucky * Christian County, Missouri Christian County is located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. It is about 3.3 miles east of Ozark, Missouri.

History

The McCracken area got rail service when a subsidiary of the

St. Louis–San Francisco Railway The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway , commonly known as the "Frisco", was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central United States from 1876 to November 21, 1980. At the end of 1970, it operated of road on of track, not includ ...

(Frisco) extended a line from Ozark, Missouri to

Chadwick, Missouri Chadwick is an unincorporated community in eastern Christian County, Missouri, United States. The total population of Chadwick Township per the 2020 census was 403. It is located approximately six miles southeast of Sparta along Missouri Route ...

, in the Spring of 1883. A post office called McCracken was established in 1896, and remained in operation until 1932. The community was named after Samuel McCracken, a local merchant. McCracken in the 1890's was a thriving community with a general mercantile store, a blacksmith shop, several other business establishments, and even a mobile photography studio parked on the rail siding offering portrait pictures at $3/dozen. But passenger service on the Frisco line was discontinued in March 1933, and in 1934 the line from Ozark to Chadwick was abandoned entirely.

References

Unincorporated communities in Christian County, Missouri Unincorporated communities in Missouri {{ChristianCountyMO-geo-stub