In 1854, Samuel McCorkle platted the town of Somerville. When the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (a line whose founders included the father of Mark Twain and which was to deliver the first mail of the Pony Express) proposed coming through the area, the line claimed the area around Somerville was too steep for the rail, so he platted a new community 1.5 miles to the west in what is now “Olde Towne” Cameron. The town platted in 1855 was named for the maiden name of his wife, Malinda Cameron. McCorkle Park is still Cameron’s centerpiece park.

During the 1860s, as fierce competition raged for the starting point of the First Transcontinental Railroad, there was competition to get the Hannibal & St. Joseph (which at the time was the farthest west railroad connected to the main rail network) to cross the Missouri River. Omaha, Nebraska was to win the fight when the Union Pacific started the railroad west from there. However, there was no bridge connecting it to the rest of the network.

Kansas City, Missouri was able to convince the railroad to bypass its rivals in St. Joseph, Leavenworth, Kansas, Atchison, Kansas and Parkville, Missouri to create the “Cameron Branch” of the railroad. The construction of the Hannibal Bridge in Kansas City (which was to beat Omaha in any bids to cross the Missouri) was to propel that city into being the dominant city in the region.

Cameron was to enjoy a surge in its population because of the cutoff, with its population growing from 100 in 1859 to 3,000 by 1881.

Cameron was a college town from 1883 until 1930. Founded as the Cameron Institute, it became Missouri Wesleyan College, operated by the Methodist Church until 1930. A building on the campus would become Cameron High School (the Dragons) until being torn down in the 1960s, when a new high school was built on a site a few blocks south; the campus grounds are now used as parking for the nearby football field.

Just a little bit of the history of Cameron, the town we call home. We welcome you to Cameron and to Robyn’s. We know you will enjoy both.