Old St. Peters, St. Charles County

The historic Main Street of St. Peters has a substantial number of architecturally significant buildings. We start at the northeast corner of Main and Depot streets and work our way west, looking at the north side of the street.

While the area was originally settled by the French, the story is similar to much of Missouri history in the years before the Civil War: the town was flooded with German immigrants and the influence shows in the simple gabled houses so common in early St. Louis.

Approaching National Street, there are two interesting houses, both of considerable age.

The red brick building was constructed in 1872 by Bernard Taubler as a wedding gift.

It actually functioned as the police station for St. Peters and even its city hall until 1982. It surely illustrates how St. Charles County was largely rural until late into the Twentieth Century!

Next up, at the northeast corner is Ifrig Mercantile established in 1901.

The balcony is probably original to the store, which I suspect is from the late Nineteenth Century. It was certainly designed to have the store downstairs with the residence upstairs.

It is fortunate for the balcony to survive with its original wrought iron details.

Crossing the street, there is a simple Italianate storefront, with a pressed metal cornice, which is unique to this street.

Moving along to the west, there is a hardware store that is still in operation.

There is also this interesting duplex with three bays on the right, and two on the left.

The building on the left has an interesting history, as well.

It was built by George Radell in 1865 and sold to Reinhold Kunderer in 1886. It served as a dance hall, saloon and eventually burned in 1913. The front façade is clearly from the rebuilding after the fire.

At the end of the street is the levee of sorts at Dardenne Creek, which overflows on a regular basis due to poor drainage planning.

On the southern side is the American Legion Hall, with a restaurant called Hobos. The 1870 building was converted into the hall after the founding of the chapter in 1920 after World War I.

On the quiet sides streets to the north are typical small houses that German immigrants would have built in the Nineteenth Century.

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