Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz.

First permanent settlement on the Missouri River, known as Les Petites Cotes (Fr. Little Hills) until after dedication of Church of St. Charles Borromeo, 1791. Though 1780 is is given as date of founding French-Canadian Louis Blanchette first settled here in 1769.

The area was first settled by the French and later largely by Americans and Germans. Prominent early settlers were Daniel Boone and his family. Some 25 miles southwest is home of Boone's son Nathan. The Boone's Lick Trail and Salt Lick Trail began at St. Charles.

During the War of 1812 military activity in Missouri centered at Portage des Sioux, a 1799 French settlement, 14 miles northeast. In Fort Zumwalt State Park, 20 miles west, stand the remains of one of many family forts on the area erected against Indian attacks.

Here were established the first school of the Sacred Heart in the U.S., 1818, by Mother Duchesne; Baptist and Presbyterian churches, 1818; first Masonic lodge north of Missouri River, 1819; a town academy, chartered, 1820; a newspaper, "The Missourian," 1820; and the Methodist St. Charles College, chartered, 1837.

St. Charles was made the temporary State capital, 1821-1826, by act of the First General Assembly, meeting in St. Louis, 1820. Here the Legislature, by affirming in a "Solemn Public Act" that the rights of any U.S. citizen would not be abridged, met the final Congressional requirement for statehood. Debate over the slavery issue that greeted Missouri's petition for statehood resolved itself in the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Slavery was prohibited north of 36° 30' except in Missouri. On Aug. 10, 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

Near here is the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi. Marquette and Jolliet noted this point, 1673, and here the Lewis and Clark Expedition began its ascent of the Missouri, 1804. Three Bridges cross the Missouri and two the Mississippi in St. Charles County.

Seat of justice for one of Missouri's 5 counties, earlier one of 5 Spanish districts, St. Charles serves a farming and industrial area. Here are the old Capital; Sacred Heart Convent; St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery; and Lindenwood College, chartered, 1835, founded earlier by George and Mary Sibley, one of the oldest schools for women in Mississippi Valley.

Comments (1)

Jim Kuntz: ... In 1978 the state transferred Fort Zumwalt State Park to the city of O'Fallon. The Fort is now a pile of rubble with blackberry bushes growing up through it, 1996. 1 June 07, 2006

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