The Audrain County Historical Society is giving the name “Graceland” back to Elvis Presley.

The house where the Audrain County Museum is has been known locally as Graceland for decades, but when one of the staff members pointed out that the house was listed under a different name in the National Register of Historic Places, Jennifer Prior, executive director of the Audrain County Historical Society, knew changes had to be made.

“If you were to look up, under the national registry, Graceland, you’re going to get Elvis,” she said.

So, it will be returning to the name “Ross House.”

The house on Muldrow Street

Built in 1857 by John Pleasant Clark, the Ross House is one of the oldest homes in Audrain County.

The grand antebellum house is perched on top of a hill, nestled on 1.2 acres of the Robert S. Green Memorial Park, overlooking Muldrow Street.

It is a two-story house with a small attic and four chimneys, built on a cut-stone foundation and framed with clapboards. A widow’s walk rests on the truncated hip roof and the original caretakers' quarters has been expanded to provide an egress to the Missouri Saddlehorse Museum.

One of the Ross House’s biggest claims to fame is that it was a frequent dining spot of Ulysses S. Grant, who was known as Col. Grant at the time, while he was headquartered near West Jackson Street during the Civil War.

After the war, Clark sold the home to C.T. Quisenberry, who named the estate “Graceland,” which Prior said was a common name for grand homes at the time.

In 1874, James E. Ross purchased the home, and his family lived in it for nearly five decades.

The home was then purchased by Elwyn R. Locke, who owned it from 1920 to1958 when it was acquired by the Audrain County Historical Society to use as a museum.

When it was registered with the National Registry of Historical Places as a museum in 1978, it was done under “Ross House.”

“They chose the Ross family because they lived here the longest,” Prior said.

The Audrain County Historical Society has been taking steps to change the name for the last six months, but there is still a lot of work to be done, including changing the big sign on the corner of Muldrow and Hisey streets while the museum is closed for the winter in January and February.

“The community has always known it as Graceland, so that’s a mind change in itself and that will take a while,” Prior said. “Graceland rolls off the tongue better than Ross House, but what I would like to roll off the tongue is Audrain County Museum so they see we are a fully fledged museum, not just a house on a hill.”

And the home’s name isn’t the only thing changing at the historic site.

The Missouri Saddlehorse Museum

The Audrain County Museum is home to the Ross House and Firebrick Museum, as well as the Missouri Saddlehorse Museum, formerly known as the American Saddlebred Museum.

Mexico was once known as the Saddlehorse Capital of the World. It is home to Simmons’ Stable, the oldest known building in the United States that was continuously used for the boarding and training of American Saddlebred horses.

The museum was founded in 1970 as a complement to the Ross House and it features a number of local names such as horseman Tom Bass, trainer Art Simmons and the well-known “invincible Saddlebred stallion” Rex McDonald whose gravestone is on the grounds.

Like “Graceland," the “American Saddlebred Museum” name was in competition with a larger museum in Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington’s museum, located in Kentucky Horse Park, claims to have the largest collection of Saddlebred artifacts in the world

Saddle Horse history runs deep in Audrain County, and Prior said the shift will localize the displays and maximize the little space it has.

The historical society looks to the future

In spring, red, white and blue flowers will adorn the museum grounds.

While the historical society will be celebrating the 190th anniversary of Audrain County, it will also recognize the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“We’re still doing some research and figuring out how we’re going to do different exhibits and really promote that history,” Prior said.

The Audrain County Museum will be closed for the winter until March 4, but the historical society will continue working behind the scenes.

Currently, the historical society is hosting “Preserve our Past” Art & Essay Invitational that ends Jan. 20. Any student in kindergarten through eight grade in Audrain County is invited to create an art piece and/or write an essay about a property more than 50 years old in the county.

“That’s kind of our way of kicking off the celebration that we’re going to do,” Prior said.

The historical society will also host a “kickoff” to Independence Day weekend on June 27 with an old-fashioned box picnic and pie auction.

For the next two months, Prior will be busy improving the Saddlehorse Museum, expanding the gift shop and re-designing brochures and signs to reflect the updated names.

Prior also wants to explore renting individual spaces within the Ross House, make the museum more appealing to children and update the historical fact sheet used by members of the historical society and the docents who give tours, so everything is as fresh and accurate as possible.

“We have all kinds of ideas,” she said as she looked around the library. “We just haven’t honed in on what we’re going to do yet."