Latest
-
With a New Year comes Freedom
On January 1st, 1863, thousands of enslaved black Americans would find freedom! The Emancipation Proclamation of the President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, had been issued on September 22,1862, stipulated that if the Confederate States didn’t lay down their arms, it would go into effect at the beginning of 1863. But not…
-
Franklin School
For over half of a century, this was the only African American High School available in St. Charles County. Student came from as far as Wentzville. This is a very special place that needs to be understood, recalled, and preserved.
-
Giessen Emigration Society
So much of the origins of the German American heritage of St. Charles County is found in the story of the Giessen Emigration Society that arrived in 1834…
-
Martin Boyd
Many of St. Charles County early settlers came from the states of Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee, with their enslaved property. The Boyd family at Flint Hill is a story of the resilience of one such man named Martin Boyd… read more
-
May 27, 1815
This is the earliest reference to the Cottle family I’ve found, and it tells the story of what history books refer to as the battle of the Sink Hole….
-
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone and his family arrived in the fall of 1799. And while, the Spanish, the French, and then the United States “granted” these lands, no one took into account, those people who had considered it their “home” for centuries.
-
A Summer Picnic on Dardenne Prairie
The Muschany family’s summer picnic on a warm summer day in August…
-
Smith Chapel at Snow Hill
There is no other place quite like Smith Chapel in St. Charles County. Here lies several freedom seekers, brave men who fought in the U.S. Colored Infantry for the Union Army.
-
Story Maps
If you love maps, and if you love history, you’re gonna love Story Maps. Here’s two important Story Maps for St. Charles County History…
-
Pond Fort on the Boone’s Lick Road
A goodly settlement around the site of present day Cottleville in 1800 and 1801, and establishment of mill on the Dardenne by 1803, probably as early as 1801, widened the trail to a trace from the Upper Commons to the Dardenne. At any rate, by May 31, 1805, in a deed transferring land …was enough…
-
Arnold Krekel
The Krekel family were part of the huge wave of German immigrants that came in the 1830s. Their journey was a difficult one. Arnold Krekel’s brother Nicholas recalled the journey “In the fall of the year 1832 we sailed from Bremen…
-
Archer Alexander
Imagine yourself trapped between two hostile forces during the Civil War in Missouri. Caught in this huge conflict the enslaved Archer Alexander would earn his freedom, because of his brave act at the Peruque Creek bridge in St. Charles County. When he learned of his enslaver’s plot to destroy the vital railroad bridge, he rushed…
-
A run away named Sam
On the 22nd of August in 1819, an enslaved man named Sam, who was about 36 years old, ran away from his enslaver, Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the famous trailblazer Daniel Boone. Daniel Morgan quickly advertised that a reward of $100 would be given if Sam was secured in any jail, out of the…
-
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Corps would await Meriwether Lewis who was in St. Louis attending to some business. Everyone would enjoy themselves for one last time with the village, waiting for the expedition to begin. St. Charles Missouri is celebrating its 250th birthday in 2019. In St. Charles visit the Lewis and Clark Boathouse for an excellent museum…
-
William Eckert
The story of St. Charles’ Main Street resident William Eckert, like that of Catherine Collier, helps us know St. Charles in the early 19th Century. This blog is a long one, and includes lots of photos.
-
O’Fallon, Missouri
O’Fallon, Missouri was founded 165 years ago by two brothers from Germany, Arnold and Nicholas Krekel.
-
Captain Campbell’s House
It was the huge labor force of area slaves including Archer Alexander that built Captain Campbell’s house in 1838, on the Boone’s Lick Road.
-
Nicholas Krekel founds O’Fallon
The third in a continuing series on the Krekel family of O’Fallon: “In the fall of the year 1832 we sailed from Bremen. It took about three months, we landed at New York, on the ship Isabella, on November 1st, 1832. We went up the Hudson River to Albany, and from Albany to Erie by…
Trending
Archives
O’Fallon.
Wentzville.
Foristell.
You must be logged in to post a comment.