 The Ellinger official website states that this change happened "when the railroad came through".According to Lotto's book, Ellinger was laid out in 1883.The oldest local businessmen at the time of writing (1902) were Messrs. J. and B. Wacker, who owned a general store selling "staple and fancy groceries, hardware and crockery, and especially a fine assortment of pistols, guns, and ammunition".