St. Charles County Historical Society

Looking back on women's history month, we are thrilled that 77 people were able to hear Patti Dickherber's enthralling presentation on so many ordinary women who did extraordinary things during the American Revolution 🤩💪

Thank you to Gingham's Homestyle Restaurant for sponsoring this FREE America250 lecture series, and to St. Charles City-County Library for hosting these lectures!

We had a BLAST at Rock 'N' Roll Bingo this Saturday! Thanks to everyone for coming out to play!

We had 60 people attend the first lecture in our America250 lecture series this past Saturday! Thanks to everyone who came out to honor Black History Month by learning about Free and Enslaved Black People during the American Revolutionary War in the West.

Thank you again to Gingham's Homestyle Restaurant for sponsoring this lecture and for providing the delicious coffee and pastries! We also thank the St. Charles City-County Library for hosting!

We are putting on a FREE history lecture series this year because 2026 is America250! Lectures will be held the second Saturday of the months listed on the flyer at rotating Library branches around the county!

Huge Thank You to Gingham's Homestyle Restaurant for sponsoring this event and to the various St. Charles City-County Library Branches for hosting the lectures!

Red, White, and Who Knew: The backstory to how Matson and Defiance got their names --
Many small towns in St. Charles County began because of the railroads coming through. Matson was named for the farm that was on both sides of the Katy Railroad track that was built through St. Charles County in 1888. Two miles north a gentleman named Craig insisted that the railroad build a station and the government locate a post office where he lived and name them Craig. When he was unsuccessful in this endeavor, he named the town Defiance, in defiance of Matson.

Hope you enjoyed this weekly fun fact for our America250 history fun fact series!

Due to the snow this weekend, our January Quarterly Luncheon has been postponed to January, 31 at 11:30am-1:30pm at Piazza Messina! Hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

Have you ever wondered how the early French inhabitants constructed their houses and outbuildings? If so, come to the January 24 luncheon and hear Ste. Genevieve historian Bob Mueller share all the answers!

REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 3PM ON MONDAY, 1/19. Call (636)946-9828 to get tickets, OR register online here: https://www.scchs.org/eventdetail/236/january-2026-quarterly-luncheon-french-colonial-architecture

Luncheon Details:
🗓️January 24, 2026 at 11:30am-1:30pm
📍Piazza Messina (5535 State Highway N, Cottleville, MO 63304)
🎟️$30 per ticket: includes lunch and lecture
Open to the public - SCCHS members and non-members alike!

𝓙𝓪𝓷𝓾𝓪𝓻𝔂 2026 𝓠𝓾𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝔂 𝓛𝓾𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓸𝓷: 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓱 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓐𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮

𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓓𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓢𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓭𝓪𝔂, 𝓙𝓪𝓷𝓾𝓪𝓻𝔂 24, 11:30 𝓐𝓜 - 1:30 𝓟𝓜

𝓛𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓟𝓲𝓪𝔃𝔃𝓪 𝓜𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓪: 5535 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓗𝓲𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓝, 𝓒𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮, 𝓜𝓞 63304 𝓣𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽

𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓬𝓮(𝓤𝓼𝓮𝓻/𝓝𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻) $30.00 𝓜𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹 𝓣𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓬𝓮 $30.00

𝓐𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽 “𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓓𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓑𝓾𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓶 𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓐𝓷𝔂𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮, 𝓐 𝓢𝓾𝓻𝓿𝓮𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓜𝓲𝓭-𝓜𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓹𝓹𝓲 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓱 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓐𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮”

𝓑𝔂 𝓖𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓢𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓻: 𝓑𝓸𝓫 𝓜𝓾𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓻, 𝓢𝓽𝓮. 𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓷

$30 𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽; 𝓻𝓮𝓰𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮! 𝓞𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓾𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓬 - 𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓷𝓸𝓷-𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓟𝓲𝓪𝔃𝔃𝓪 𝓜𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓪 5535 𝓗𝓲𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓝 𝓒𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮, 𝓜𝓞 63304

𝓜𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓸𝓷 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝔀𝓮𝓫𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓮. 𝓢𝓮𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓸𝔀

https://www.scchs.org/eventdetail/236/january-2026-quarterly-luncheon-french-colonial-architecture

Red, White, and Who Knew? | Happy 2026, aka America250!
For this week's history fact, we are excited to share a glimpse into the Spanish support of the American Revolutionary War, specifically in the Louisiana Territory where St. Charles County is located today. The Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain preserves original records like the ones pictured below detailing local Spanish requests for financial support and permission to sail up the Mississippi River with troops.
Huge thanks to The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute for partnering with us last year to showcase these amazing original documents as part of the America&Spain250 Initiative!
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At SCCHS, we are kicking off this semi-quincentennial year with a new social media series to share fun facts from local history throughout 2026. Follow along each week to discover bits of St. Charles County history you may not know (or if you do, congratulations you are officially a history buff)!

Come for the book DISCOUNTS! This Ansel Adams book is $140 on Amazon but we just sold it for $10!

The Used Book Sale is hopping! Stop by the Foundry Art Centre today before 3pm!