The small town of St. Paul takes its name from the Catholic church at the crossroads of Hackman and St. Paul roads, just to the west of Route 79, which follows the bluff line up along the Mississippi River in northern St. Charles County. There is no street grid but rather houses and businesses lining the roads in and out of town.
The church was built in 1897, but the parish existed before that. The Latin on the cornerstone reads “Glory to God alone!”
It is a beautiful church, in the Romanesque Revival style, but with Gothic Revival tendencies, we might say. You can see pictures of the interior here.
The apse, which has an octagonal shape, must hold a high altar in the back.
A large cemetery spreads out to the south of the church.
There is also a large parish school north of the church.
A cross similar to what I would expect to see in Bavaria sits out to the front of the church at the busy crossroads.
While what I suspect is the rectory also lies nearby.
The Latin date on that cornerstone is 1897.
You’re right. I’ve gotten bad at reading Roman numerals.
I hope you won’t mind a little Coda here about St. Paul. While the Church gave its name to the settlement, the people there were German Catholics who had come to the U.S. beginning in 1834 with the Giessen Emigration Society, many of whom settled in St. Charles County and were familiar with Gottfried Duden’s book. Many of these were from Belecke, who had joined the group at the last minute, and for many years, historians didn’t realize that they were actual members. For more about them and the GES read the book Utiopia – Revisiting a German State in America which is available on Amazon.
Thanks, that’s so interesting!
For a years long ago 1897 completed rural parish that is now located in outer Saint Charles, it’s a miracle that it still there like the 1875 improve building materials modified Outer Dutzow’s Saint Vincent’s Church when what is now Missouri Route 94 was a very long rocky road with allot of macadamized rocks
Hochdeutsch Missouri architecture, similar to Cajun Country’s French Creole architecture and Lower Ontario’s Upper British Canada’s variation of colonial architecture