Local History

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nce home to Native American tribes, St. Charles County’s history abounds with famous events and individuals as diverse as Daniel Boone, the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, and St. Louis Cardinal Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock.

 

Along the way, the community played a crucial role in the western expansion of America in the 1800s, served as the first state capital, set the bar for population growth and progress in the Midwest during the last three decades, and grown to be the third largest economy in Missouri.

 

Here are some local highlights:

 

1673 – The first recorded Europeans in St. Charles County are Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary, and his French Canadian explorer companion Louis Joliet who discovered that the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River.

1767 – The first Europeans to live in St. Charles County are 15 Spanish soldiers stationed at a blockhouse to ensure boats going up the Missouri River have a trading license from the Spanish Government.

1769 – Louis Blanchette establishes a settlement called Les Petite Cotes (“Village of the Little Hills”) at what is now the South Main Historic District in St. Charles.

1791 – The first church in the territory was dedicated to San Carlos Borromeo and the town became known as San Carlos del Misuri (“St. Charles of the Missouri”), which was later anglicized to St. Charles.

1799 – In response to an invitation from the Spanish, Daniel Boone and his family move from Kentucky to St. Charles County where he spends his last years serving as a regional leader and judge.

1804 - Following President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase from France, the Corps of Discovery Expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departs from St. Charles on their journey westward to the Pacific Ocean.

1809 – The city of St. Charles is incorporated.

1815 – A treaty between 19 Indian tribes and the U.S. Government is signed at Portage des Sioux

1818 - Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne from of the Society of the Sacred Heart establishes the first free school west of the Mississippi in St. Charles.

1820 – Daniel Boone dies at age 86 at the home of his son Nathan in St. Charles County, near Defiance.

1821 – 1826 – Missouri is admitted into the Union as the 24th state under terms of the Missouri Compromise and the city of St. Charles temporarily serves as Missouri’s first state capital.

1827 – George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley found The Linden Wood School for Girls, the second oldest higher education institution west of the Mississippi River, which later becomes
Lindenwood University.

1830s – St. Charles County experiences a large influx of German immigrants, thanks in large part to the glowing published reports of the area by Gottfried Duden and Friedrich Muench.

1833 – A cholera epidemic hits the residents of St. Charles County

1853 – The city of Cottleville is incorporated.

1871 – The second railroad bridge to cross the Missouri River opens in St. Charles. The first was in
Kansas City, Missouri.

1872 – The city of Wentzville is incorporated.

1876 – A cyclone causes much destruction to the city of St. Charles

1885 – St. Joseph Hospital was opened in St. Charles by the Sisters of St. Mary.

1894 – The Missouri Kansas and Texas Railroad is completed through St. Charles County.

1899 – The St. Charles Car Company merges to form American Car & Foundry

1912 – The city of O’Fallon is incorporated.

1919 – Missouri is the second largest wine producing state in America until the enactment of Prohibition leads to the destruction of all the vineyards and wine producing equipment in the area.

1937 – The Daniel Boone Bridge spanning the Missouri River opens in southwestern St. Charles County.

1940 – The U.S. Government purchases 17,239 acres in St. Charles County to build a plant for the production of TNT to support the World War II effort.

1947 - The August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area is established when the Missouri Department of Conservation purchases 6,987-acres from the federal government aided by a $70,000 donation from
Mrs. August A. Busch, Sr. in memory of her late husband.

1956 – Construction begins on Interstate 70 in St. Charles, the first portion of interstate highway built in America after President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid-Highway Act.

1958 – The first span of the Interstate Highway 70 Bridge opens and becomes known as the
Blanchette Bridge.

1959 – The city of St. Peters is incorporated.

1960 – The U.S. Census estimates St. Charles County’s total population at 52,970.

1970 - The U.S. Census estimates St. Charles County’s total population at 93,628.

1980 – The General Motors Assembly Plant opens in Wentzville. The U.S. Census estimates
St. Charles County’s total population at 145,250.

1981 – The city of Dardenne Prairie is incorporated.

1984 – The city of Weldon Spring is incorporated.

1985 – The University of Missouri opens the 180-acre Missouri Research Park for high-tech and research facilities along Highway 40 in southwestern St. Charles County.

1986 – St. Charles Community College is established and begins classes the next year with about 400 students.

1987 - Mid Rivers Mall, a regional shopping center opens in St. Peters.

1990 – The U.S. Census estimates St. Charles County’s total population at 212,907.

1992 – The Discovery Bridge on the north side of St. Charles connects Highway 370 to St. Louis County.

1993 – The Great Flood of 1993 hits the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the American Midwest, including parts of St. Charles County.

1994 – The U.S. Olympic Festival holds its national aquatic competitions as the inaugural events at the new St. Peters Rec-Plex. The Ameristar Casino opens on the Missouri River in St. Charles. The new
Clark Bridge opens between St. Charles County and Alton, Illinois.

1999 – The 1,100-acre master planned, new urbanism community of WingHaven opens along Highway 40 in O’Fallon and ground is broken there for MasterCard Worldwide’s new 540,000-square-foot Global Technology and Operations office center which opens two years later.

2000 – The U.S. Census estimates St. Charles County’s total population at 286,163.

2002 – Citigroup opens its 350,000-square-foot office building in O’Fallon’s Progress Point Business Park at Highway 40 and Highway K.

2003 – The Highway 364 Veterans Memorial Bridge (Page Avenue Extension) opens and is the fourth Missouri River crossing linking St. Charles and St. Louis counties. The master planned, new urbanism community of New Town at St. Charles opens off Highway 370 in St. Charles and is designed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), the same firm behind the Florida community used in the popular
Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.

2007 – BJC Healthcare opens its new $75 million Progress West Healthcare Center on Highway 40 in O’Fallon, the first newly built acute care hospital in metro St. Louis in two decades.

2008 – Lindenwood University opens its $32 million, 135,000-square-foot J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts in St. Charles.

2009 – From July 1, 2008 to July 1, 2009, St. Charles County welcomed 5,772 new residents, the most of any county in Missouri, according to federal and state census reports.

 

For current history in the making in St. Charles County, visit our News page.

 

Note: Sources for this historic overview include Crossroads – A History of St. Charles County, Missouri by Steve Ehlmann (Lindenwood University Press, St. Charles, MO 2004), the St. Charles County Historical Society, the St. Charles City-County Library District, Wikipedia.org, and the EDC of St. Charles County.