Callao was laid out in 1858, a year before the railroad was extended to that point. The town most likely took its name from the port city of Callao, Peru. Townsfolk did not know what to call the new town. They hung a map of the world on the wall, blindfolded a man like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, aimed him at the map and his finger landed on Callao, Peru. A post office called Callao has been in operation since 1859.
The Johnson Morrow House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Passages that mention Callao, cut from the printed page as they were published.
General history of Macon County, Missouri1910 · page 599Read the page →
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zation by turning his attention to the ])edagogic profession, in which connection he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of his native state for a period of four years. In 1882 he located in the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was associated with F. Theodore Mayhew in the general merchandise business for three years, at the expiration of which period, in 1885, he became traveling representative for the Brogher, Force & Goodhuyer Hat Company, of St. Louis, with which inqtortant concern he continued for the long inter-
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General history of Macon County, Missouri1910 · page 142Read the page →
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school at Callao fifty-five months; at Bevier, fifty-four months; Smoot schoolhouse, near Bloomiugtou, seventeen months; Oak Gi'ove, near Callao, five months ; Brammer schoolhouse, near Bevier, three months ; Forrest schoolhouse, near Callao, four months ; White Oak schoolhouse, north of New Cambria, eleven months, in all making 149 months or twelve years and five months.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Callao, 1858 to 1942
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![zation by turning his attention to the ])edagogic profession, in which connection he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of his native state for a period of four years. In 1882 he located in the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was associated with F. Theodore Mayhew …](https://images.townratings.com/story/9640/bk-f1cd36d65b9b7196-l.jpg)
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