Crocker, Missouri. Population: 1,033. Total Area: 1.2 square miles. Founded: 1854 - 1868 - 1875 - 1911...it's complicated. Claim to fame - the Frisco Railroad and Jake Simpson.
Okay, so before I go any further, you're probably wondering a couple of things:
1) Why did I go and explore a 1.2 square mile town?
2) Who is Jake Simpson?
The answer to the first question lies in my new volunteer job at the Loving Paws Adoption Center, where I have spent the past couple of days getting to know the cats and dogs of Pulaski County who are looking for a home. I've been spending my mornings taking the "kids" out for walks, cleaning up their kennels, and giving them some much needed love and affection. In the span of 48 hours I've become totally smitten with just about each and every one of them. They've officially "sunk their claws" into me.
Since I spent my Wednesday morning at the shelter I figured that I might as well spend my afternoon there too, exploring my new city of venture. Granted, Crocker is not normally the kind of city you write home about, but it is the kind of town you blog about!
I suppose that I write about towns like Crocker because they wrench at my heart; I don't want them to be lost to the pages of time. Much like Devils Elbow, Crocker has been left to its own devices since the lifeblood of the village went elsewhere - in this case, the railroad. And much like Devils Elbow, there's such a small population that keeps dwindling away with each census that I wonder if the two places will even be inhabited in 150 years.
It's hard to say when Crocker was established, as no two sources say the same thing. What I have pieced together is that the beginnings of the town started with a small trading post to the north of the present-day city, named Humboldt. In the mid-19th century Humboldt had "a small store, a few log cabins and a boarding house/inn." Given my understanding of history and trade routes at the time, and thanks to my friends at Wikipedia, I would surmise that while Humboldt was not directly on the Santa Fe trail, it was within a days journey by wagon (only 30 miles away). Thus began the area's history as a depot for trade and commerce.
When rail began to take off in the 1860's, many companies began dickering about how to best connect the Eastern seaboard of the country to the Western coast, and no matter which way you sliced it almost all rail lines came through the middle of America, across the Mississippi, into St. Louis, and right across Missouri. Whether heading to the northwest via the Union Pacific or Central Pacific Railroad systems, or southwest along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF RR) or the South Pacific Railroad systems, Missouri was in the cross-hairs.
In 1868 a depot was struck at the present location of Crocker for a stop on the St. Louis - San Francisco ("The Frisco!') Railroad line. In 1875 the town received it's official name, christened after a major stockholder of the railroad - Eurilis J. Crocker. Then finally, in 1911, the village was legally incorporated. Thus my consternation in figuring out when it was established!
Through it all Crocker maintained its stop on the railroad, acting as the central shipping hub in Pulaski county. But with the railroad came all of its economic successes and failures for the better part of a century. Stuck in the middle, Crocker went through boons and downfalls as the St. Louis-San Francisco succeeded, went bankrupt, sold their lines to competitors (Southern Pacific, Atlantic-Pacific, Burlington Northern), and finally - in the 1980's - went belly-up. Since then, Crocker's been in a depression.
Still there's a glimmering of hope for the city. Perhaps some rich celebrity will see its charm - much like Kim Basinger saw for Braselton, GA - buy it, revamp it and revive it. Maybe it will be Crocker's own son...Jake Simpson!
So, to tackle the second question that I know has been weighing on your mind since the beginning of this post, I will now answer: "Who is Jake Simpson?"
In 2003 CBS revived the 1980's predecessor to American Idol: Star Search. You remember Star Search - Ed McMahon's other job when he wasn't sitting next to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show? It was HUGE in the 80's and early 90's! I still remember watching LeAnn Rimes perform on Star Search and winning Best Junior Vocalist. But, unlike LeAnn and the original amateur hour reality show - Jake Simpson (the Season One and Season Two Grand Champion) of the New Star Search (which only ran for two years) were non-existent to me before tonight. I didn't know CBS had tried to bring back my child-hood dream! Of course until The Big Bang Theory came along a few years ago, most of CBS's primetime shows were barely keeping the network's EKG above a flatline.
So, I was skeptical about Jake Simpson...and then I "You Tube'd" him. The guy has talent! Unfortunately, since his 15 minutes of fame back in '03 and '04, he's been relatively underground. I found out he was living in LA between 2006 and 2009, performing at the "Upright Cabaret." But the airwaves have been silent for the past few years as to his whereabouts, or if he's working on an album. He did have a record deal with Sony a few years back, but the album didn't do too well. Still, I have hopes that for Crocker's sake Jake is in Germany, singing electro-pop-dance tunes, putting David Hasselhoff to shame, and saving up enough money to come back to the Ozarks and save his city from economic despair!
Despite it's lackluster downtown, Crocker does have some bright-spots. It's on a beautiful drive through the mountains, it has a very nice community park and municipal pool, and it has a group of citizens who do care about their small town, their people, and their pets. So, whether it's Jake or a patriotic group of Crocker-ites, I hope that the future of the town isn't as doomed as I had previously made it out to be, and that 150 years from now Crocker will be going through it's fifth birth: incorporation as a city.
Refereences:
Santa Fe Trail
"Ship it on the Frisco!"
Superpages - Crocker
Wikipedia - Crocker
Jake Simpson
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