Missouri American St. Louis County & St. Charles County

Missouri American St. Louis County & St. Charles County Municipal Water Report Info
In 1769, French explorer Louis Blanchette established a hunting and trading post at what is now St. Charles, naming it "Les Petites Cotes" (The Little Hills). The settlement grew along the Missouri River, situated advantageously above its confluence with the Mississippi. By 1791, the Spanish Lieutenant Governor Manuel Perez officially designated the growing community as "San Carlos Borromeo."

The early settlement was predominantly French-Canadian in culture and language. The 1790s brought a wave of migrants from Kentucky and Tennessee, including Daniel Boone. His son Nathan built the Boone family home in western St. Charles County, which remains standing today as a historical landmark.

When Lewis and Clark visited in May 1804 following the Louisiana Purchase, they documented "a town of about 100 houses and 450 inhabitants, mainly French." The name was anglicized to St. Charles by 1806, when the United States established the third post office west of the Mississippi here.

Education began in St. Charles in 1818 when four nuns led by Mother Philippine Duchesne (later canonized) arrived from France to establish the Convent of the Sacred Heart, the first free school west of the Mississippi. Lindenwood College was founded in 1827 under the guidance of Major George Sibley and his wife, Mary Easton Sibley, with public education beginning in 1846.

From 1821 to 1826, St. Charles served as Missouri's first state capital, with both houses of the State Legislature meeting at what is now 212 and 214 South Main Street. The first governor, Alexander McNair, maintained a temporary residence here while his brother David established Missouri's first ice house in the town.

Between 1830 and 1849, German immigration dramatically transformed the area. Initially attracted by Gottfried Duden's writings comparing the Missouri valley to the Rhine, German immigration surged as political dissidents fled their homeland after the failed Revolution of 1848. This influx changed St. Charles from a frontier settlement to a predominantly German town in architecture, culture, and industry—a character it maintained until well into the 20th century.