Shrine of St. Ferdinand, Florissant

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Update: See the parish of Sacred Heart here, also in Florissant. Damaged by floods in July of 2022.

In the future, I’ll write more about the Shrine of St. Ferdinand, which possesses some of the oldest buildings in the metro area. For the time being, here are some photographs of the historic complex.

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Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator. Interior, Looking Toward Altar, St. Ferdinand Church, West end of St. Francis Street, Florissant, St. Louis County, MO. St. Louis County Missouri Florissant, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. 
Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator. Looking Toward Front Doors, St. Ferdinand Church, West end of St. Francis Street, Florissant, St. Louis County, MO. St. Louis County Missouri Florissant, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph.
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St. Philippine DuChesne slept in this small room under the staircase for much of the time she lived in the convent. She spoke about the hardships of the frontier, including at one point having to cook with bear fat for grease.

Room of Sister Philippine Duchesne at Sacred Heart Convent (Academy) in Florissant, Missouri. Photograph by Glenn Hensley, 1985. Missouri History Museum Photographs and Prints Collections. N40476.

2 Comments Add yours

  1. Jonathan Wiegraffe says:

    I’m really surprised you don’t have more content on Florissant. There are so many historic buildings but I suppose they are relatively modest architecturally. Unfortunately, the shrine was severely damaged in the flooding of summer ’22 and the Reeb House recently suffered catastrophic fire damage. The Reeb house was particularly architecturally significant too. I recently read that BJ’s Bar, though architecturally bland, was built for the 1904 World’s Fair and deconstructed and transported via the Narrow Gauge railroad to Florissant afterwards.

    1. cnaffziger says:

      It’s a little bit of a drive for me. I will get up there eventually!

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