The original village of Chesterfield remains intact, on Olive Street Road. A tidy row of houses marks the spot.
Many of the houses now seem to be businesses and offices, judging from the parking lots.
Olive Street Road came all of the way out from the city, and I think it was a plank road that went over to Howell Island and then crossed the Missouri River.
My parents’ neighbor, who grew up in the area when it was rural, said the building above was originally a bank, which makes sense.
The Ascension Roman Catholic church, once a humble little country church, has now blossomed into a much larger congregation.
The little brick building, just out of sight to the left of photo #1 was once the telephone exchange for C-field (it is now Mainini Tile). Every time there was a good rain, our service was cut off – the water ran down the hill into into the building – bad planning on SWB’s part. I moved to an early subdivision there in the ’60s, long before it became Weste Countye (fortunately long back in Kirkwood).
This was at the original intersection of Wild Horse Creek and old US40, in front of the houses. WHC was relocated East some years ago and the old US route became Old Chsterfield Road.
I see that the fireplug in front of what used to be the feed and grain store has been relocated; I backed into the original one in my ’69 VW Bus and left it bent at a 20º angle – I looked out the back, expecting to see a geyser, but nothing happened, so I skedaddled, but fast! It remained that way for years. The building is located immediately across from the row of houses.
The bank that occupied the building moved sometime around 1960 to a brick building, long vanished, in front of what became the Mall. Then it moved around 1980 or so to a more modern building alongside original Clarkson Road (dunno if still there). Along the way it morphed from C-field Bank to Boatmens (?) to ? and now to US Bank (I think).
I work in the building in picture #3 (the one on the right). We also rent the building behind us, which used to be a carriage house. I think this whole street is on the National Historic Registry – ours was built in 1925. There also used to be a historic building called the Brickyard across the street, which was torn down to make way for a “park.” For the past 2 years, however, it has been a gravel parking lot where trucks drive through when it’s raining and muddy.
From what I hear, the building on the corner of Baxter and Old Chesterfield (the one that used to be a bank) is now an architect, and they have a lot of info on this history of this street and some historical photographs. Might be something interesting to look in to!
Just a heads-up, this is not the original village of Chesterfield. It is the second one. The original village laid out by Justus Post was up on Wild Horse Creek Road west of Baxter where Wild Horse Elementary is. There is an historical marker there in front of the school. The old one room school was just across the street. It had been converted into a home and then (as happens all too often in Chesterfield) was torn down to build a new home.
Interesting! Thank you!