Railroad Yards Illmo Mo

tickle me illmo!

Illmo Missouri goes way back. Ironically, it took me to age 32 before I realized where the name came from. Such an odd sounding name to the outsider, til I got a clue and saw Ill for Illinois and MO for Missouri. Seeing as how the city resided on the Missouri side of the river, Mo-ill makes more sense but that sounds like a Health Plan for Little John and the East Side Boys. West Thebes was also an idea but until someone put a bridge for at least a train to hook up with East Thebes, that didn’t jive either. I have heard the old folk lore about Illmo’s neighbor cities, Fornfelt and Ancell. Those three cities were the triumvirate of Northeast Scott County, a powerhouse to compete with the geographic advantages of rival Northeast Scott County town of Commerce. One day, Josh Fornfelt, grandson of city founder Horatio Fornfelt, and Walter Ancell, grandson of city founder Abner Ancell, were caught in a playing pin the tail on the donkey at their cousins farm and it wasn’t anyones birthday. Ashamed, the city councils for both cities proclaimed to merge the cities and change the name, and pass laws prohibited any descendant of a founder from hanging out with other descendants of founders in “the Romance Barn”. The new name would be Scott City, shows you how much creativity they had, just take the county name. Still, Illmo survived the Ancell-Fornfelt mess. Illmo welcomed Scott City with open arms, the sister cities. Scott City warmed to Illmo at first, even allowing the school to carry Illmo’s name first. ISC sounded much better than SCI. Soon, however, Scott City turned evil. Jealous of Miller Meat Packing, Dr. Roth’s Dentistry/Discotechque, the Rail Yards, and the Baseball fields, the Scott City council put a plan in motion to destroy Illmo. Scott City wanted the cultural area of Illmo for their own, they wanted Illmo dropped from the school name, and most importantly, they wanted to put a toll on the new overpass Illmo had built. The plan was simple, bribe the city’s two largest employers, Wetterau and Bohannon’s Cleaners, to support a merger. They sold the idea to the citizens by claiming, “a merged city would allow us to pass Chaffee as the county’s second largest city, a rural Chicago if you will. We can also fit the school’s name on our letter jackets. Wetterau supports it, let’s do it” The folks from Illmo were duped.

The Southwestern reporter

Awards ... First Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board

Railway and locomotive engineering, a practical journal of railway motive power and rolling stock

Decisions of Railway Board of Adjustment

Annual report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners of the State of Missouri for the year ending ...