First St. Joseph's Hospital MO206

This home was built in 1839 by Benedict Buehler. It is of a lovely French design and has a fine wine cellar of 16' X 23'. The floor is of brick laid in a beautiful pattern. The building was sold to Franz Schultz in 1874, who, in August, 1885, donated the property to the St. Peters Catholic Church to be used for a hospital with the stipulation that the Nuns of St. Mary would run the hospital. Thus it was that this home served as the first St. Joseph Hospital until 1891 when a new hospital was erected at 218 First Capitol Drive, nearer to the church.

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Missouri's Origin in St. Charles MO200

MISSOURI'S ORIGIN
With the advent of the Louisiana Purchase, St. Charles became part of the Missouri territory. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark started out from St. Charles in 1804 to explore the rest of the Louisiana Purchase. St. Charles County was one of the first counties formed in the new territory in 1812, and originally extended as far west as Montgomery City and as far north as Hannibal. In 1821, the state of Missouri was admitted into the Union, and the city of St. Charles served as the state's first Capitol until 1826. St. Charles soon came to be known as 'a right smart little town.'

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Illinois IL241
ILLINOIS

The fertile prairies in Illinois attracted the attention of French trader Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette as they explored the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673. France claimed this region until 1763 when it surrendered the Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. During the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark and his small army scored a bloodless victory when they captured Kaskaskia for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Illinois became a county of Virginia. This area was ceded to the United States in 1784, and became in turn a part of the Northwest Territory and the Indiana and Illinois Territories. On December 3, 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state.

The markers that designate U.S. Highway 36 in Illinois as the 33D Division Highway were dedicated on Memorial Day, 1963. The 33D Division was organized in August, 1917, from National Guard units of the State of Illinois. It became famous in the Muse-Argonne offensive and by November 11, 1918 was poised for a break through the Hindenburg Line. In World War II the Division fought in the Pacific Area and liberated Baguio, the summer Capital of the Philippines.

U.S. 36 passes through Pittsfield, were John Nicolay and John Hay, President Abraham Lincoln's private secretaries, formed their friendship. Stephen A. Douglas studied law and taught in Winchester, and held his first elective office in Jacksonville. Lincoln's home, tomb, and the Old State capitol are in Springfield, and a courthouse where Lincoln practiced is in Mt. Pulaski.

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History of St. Charles - 1894 MO305
History of St. Charles

1894..................

ARRIVAL OF THE KATY
Katy Trail State Park was once the rail bed of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy). Under the name of the Missouri, Kansas & Eastern, tracks were built between Franklin and Machens in 1892-93 to enable passengers to reach St. Louis. The first Katy train rolled through St. Charles on April 1, 1894. Once the new segment opened, a passenger could ride "The Katy" from St. Louis to Galveston, Texas.

In 1921, thieves stole $110,000 from the St. Charles Katy depot in one of the largest station and mail robberies in U.S. history. After World War II, highway travel became more popular than rail travel. The Katy's ridership slowed until passenger service was discontinued in 1956. By the 1970's, the Katy railroad was too small to compete with larger rail companies. On April 11, 1986, the last Katy train rode the tracks to St. Louis.
[Top Photo: During the 1903 flood, boxcars were placed on the Katy tracks to keep the wooden ties from floating up and destroying the tracks.
John J. Buse, Jr. Collection, 1860-1931, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia, Mo.
Middle Photo: In 1899, the Katy Railroad stretched from Texas to Missouri (map).
Courtesy of St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis.]

TROLLEYS TO INTERSTATES
In 1904, the St. Charles Bridge Co. constructed a trolley and vehicle bridge across the Missouri River. This bridge was the first iron non-railroad bridge to cross the Missouri River. Automobile travel numbered the days of the railroad and the trolley. One of the first automobile routes to cross the United States, highway 40 (US-40), crossed the Missouri River in St. Charles using the 1904 bridge. The first interstate highway, interstate 70, began in St. Charles in 1956.
[Bottom Photo: The first trolley crosses over the 1904 trolley and car bridge.
John J. Buse, Jr., Collection, 1860-1931, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia.]

REBIRTH OF ST. CHARLES
Around 1960, St. Charles began a movement to preserve its historic district. Visionaries began restoring the First State Capitol and other historic buildings on Main Street, leading St. Charles to become home to one of the first historic districts in the nation. Today, over 100 historic buildings are within St. Charles historic districts.

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History of St. Charles - 1769 MO162
History of St. Charles

1769...................

Les Petites Côtes, River Gateway
St. Charles stands on the banks of the Missouri River as the gateway to the Missouri River valley. First known as Les Petites Côtes (Little Hills), it was founded by Louis Blanchette in 1769 as a French fur-trading outpost. Located on high ground upriver from the Missouri-Mississippi confluence, the settlement became known as San Carlos (St. Charles) when the Spanish built San Carlos Borromeo Church in honor of the patron saint of their king.

In 1800, Spain transferred Louisiana Territory back to France. Three years later, the French sold Louisiana to the United States for $15 million or around three cents per acre. The Louisiana Purchase immediately doubled the size of the country.
[top photo: The French style Chouteau House, now demolished, was similar to those of colonial St. Charles.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs division, HABS MO, 95-BONFL 1-1.
Photo #2: An early home still stands today.
DNR File Photo.]

Springboard to the frontier
When the United States purchased Louisiana Territory, St. Charles became the edge of the U.S. frontier, Lewis and Clark used St. Charles in 1804 as their final departure point before heading west. After the War of 1812, settlers flooded into Missouri Territory, using St. Charles as the springboard to outfit and re-supply before reaching their new homes farther west.
[Third Photo: The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed St. Charles on May 21, 1804, in a keelboat and two pirogues.
Courtesy of the Gary R. Lucy Gallery.]

1821, First Missouri State Capitol
In 1819, the first steamboat on the Missouri River made its appearance in St. Charles, ushering in a prosperous era. Two years later, St. Charles began serving as the temporary state capital. Along with the First Capitol, several buildings from the period, including Stone Row, the Millington Buildings, and Eckert's Tavern, can still be seen today on Main Street. At Eckert's Tavern in 1827, three surveyors (including George Sibley) defined and approved the official route of the Santa Fe Trail from Fort Osage to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The same year, during a time of booming growth for St. Charles, George Sibley and his wife, Mary Easton Sibley, opened Lindenwood College as a women's academy.
[Bottom Photo: From 1821 to 1826, Peck Row served as the first Missouri State Capitol.
DNR File Photo.]

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Farmer's Home MO153
FARMER'S HOME
circa 1805

Named Farmer's Tavern by innkeeper John Frazier on premises... originally owned by Alexander McNair, first Governor of Missouri who had a 27 vat tannery at rear of property. Popular hostelry favored by early legislators and officials when St. Charles was the First State Capitol. Renovated by Waye family in 1854 as their home and inn.

[Farmer's Tavern, built in 1805. Lodging 25¢ a night. They advertised good food....corn bread and common fixins, 2 bits; white bread and chicken fixins, 3 bits (37½¢). The only "coin of the realm" in these early days was the Spanish Peso, which was cut evenly into four or eight parts called "bits" and used as currency (i.e. Spanish Pieces of Eight). In addition, furs were used for currency, as was tobacco, beeswax, maple syrup, salt, feathers, bear oil, fish, wood and lead.]

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Maryland State House MD31

Built 1772-1779
Capitol of the United States
November 26,1783 - August 13,1784

In this state house, oldest in the nation still in legislative use, general George Washington resigned his commission before the Continental Congress December 23,1783. Here, January 14, 1784, Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary War and, May 7, 1784, appointed Thomas Jefferson Minister Plenipotentiary. From here, September 14,1786, the Annapolis Convention issued the call to the state that led to the Constitutional Convention.

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Vandalia, Illinois IL94
For twenty years this city on the west bank of the Kaskaskia River was the capital of Illinois. In 1819, a year after Illinois gained statehood, the General Assembly voted to move state offices to Vandalia from Kaskaskia. The Second General Assembly convened at Vandalia, December 4, 1820, in the first state-owned capitol. A second statehouse was used from 1824 to 1836. A third, built by Vandalia citizens in 1836 in an attempt to retain the seat of government at Vandalia, is still standing. Ownership of the building was accepted by the state in February, 1837, only a few weeks before the assembly voted to relocate in Springfield, nearer the center of the state. Officers of the first six administrtions served in Vandalia. Here in 1836 Abraham Lincoln was admitted to the bar of Illinois. Here also he began his political career in 1834 as a member of the General Assembly. Other prominent Illinoisans at Vandalia included legislators Stephen A. Douglas and James Shields, and James Hall, State Treasurer, 1827-1831, and editor of Illinois Monthly Magazine, the first literary magazine in the state. The Illinois artist James W. Berry made his home here. Vandalia was the terminus of the National Road, which began in Cumberland, Maryland. Authorized during Thomas Jefferson's administration, the National Road was the first highway built with Federal funds. Vandalia is today the principal city and county seat of Fayette County. The restored third capitol is owned and maintained by the State of Illinois.

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Third State Capitol IL93
THIRD STATE CAPITOL
Erected in 1836

The third capitol building owned by the State was restored as a memorial in 1933. It was the capitol from December 3, 1836 to July 4, 1839. Abraham Lincoln was a member of the House during the three sessions of the legislature held in this building, and was the leader in the removal of the capital to Springfield. Stephen A. Douglas was a member of the 1836-1837 session. The Fayette County Courthouse occupied this building 1839-1933.

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Second State Capitol IL92
SECOND STATE CAPITOL
1824-1836

The second state capitol owned by the State was a two-story brick building erected here in 1824, using the walls of the first State Bank which burned January 28, 1823. Abraham Lincoln was a member of the House in the 1834-1835 and 1835-1836 sessions . Vandalia paid one-fifth of the total cost of $15,000. Torn down in 1836, the salvage was used in the third capitol building.

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