Mapping out the oldest houses in St. Louis County

Across St. Louis County, there remain a number of precious sites and buildings that can paint for us a picture of our region’s pioneer era. These early residents included French and Spanish residents, but these populations in St. Louis County were quickly outnumbered by migrants from the Northwest Territory and upland south states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Many of these migrants brought with them enslaved African Americans. By 1840, there were over 3,000 within the boundaries of present day St. Louis County, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the total population.

Some early homesteads were built from quarried limestone and brick, but more commonly from logs, using techniques borrowed from migrant’s areas of origin. Most of these early settlers devoted themselves to transforming the land for farm use, but they also built the foundations of communities in the form of post-offices, churches, and general stores.

St. Louis County is lucky to still have a number of historic buildings that provide character and depth to our neighborhoods and cities—though their numbers continue to dwindle. More than that these resources can connect us to the origins of our communities, helping us better understand past choices and the roots that tie us all together.

Since 1970, an advisory body of the St. Louis County Council called the Historic Buildings Commission (HBC) has designated sites of architectural, cultural, and community significance as County Landmarks. This list has grown to 252 sites, and while far from encyclopedic it is intended to recognize places worthy of preservation, and ones that tell an important part of our story as St. Louisans. In this post, I wanted to share some information on just a handful of these landmarks that speak to the experience and contributions of St. Louis County’s pioneer generation.

If you are interested in exploring all of our County Landmarks, and seeing which ones are in your neck of the woods, check out our new interactive map here.

Casa Alvarez, 1790, 289 Rue St. Denis

Hidden from view by the trees and brush that run along Rue St. Denis in Florissant, Casa Alvarez provides a rare link to the often forgotten Spanish heritage of the St. Louis region. It is often cited as the oldest house in St. Louis County. However, accounts differ on the early history of the property. Most say that the first portion of the house was built for Eugenio Alvarez who came to the community of St. Ferdinand (now Florissant) around 1770 and served as military storekeeper to Captain Pedro Piernas, the first Spanish Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory.¹ However, some archival evidence casts doubt on this narrative. Most notably the swore in testimony of Joel Musick before the United States Land Commissioners that a man named Baptiste Presse had built a home on the lot which had fallen down around 1810.²

Whoever built Casa Alvarez did it in a frame style of construction known as “Maison de poteaux sur sole” or “sur une solage.” Meaning it has vertical supports that are placed on a sill instead of directly into the ground like many pioneer dwellings. This was a rare style of construction that would have been more difficult to achieve. It’s also less likely to rot and decay, which helps explain why it survived.

By 1840, the home can be definitively said to be the property of Augustine Alverez, Eugenio’s son. The property remained in the Alvarez family until it was purchased by Humphrey J. Moynihan in 1905. Moynihan had served as an early Mayor of Florissant, elected in 1894.

By 1914, the property had been sold to Dr. Herman von Schrenk, a wildly successful plant pathologist who invented a wood preservation process used by the American railway industry. Von Schrenk hired architect Harry Hellmuth in the 1930s to expand the house to its current size.³

The Sappington Houses, as early as 1808, Crestwood and vicinity

The Sappington name is well-known today as the namesake of Sappington Road, the Sappington-Concord Area, and the Thomas Sappington House, a public museum along Grant’s Trail in Crestwood. The family, whose landholdings defined a large portion of south St. Louis County, was led to St. Louis by the family patriarch John Sappington around 1806, after purchasing an initial grant of land along Gravois Creek the year before. John was a veteran of the American Revolution, reportedly serving under George Washington at Valley Forge in 1778. For his service he was given a land grant in Kentucky which he ultimately leveraged to acquire his initial land-holdings in St. Louis. John and his wife Jemima had 17 children who, through marriage and social activity, tied themselves deeply into the early fabric of St. Louis. Sappington descendants would play crucial roles in the development of St. Louis County. For example, Thomas Jefferson Sappington, a grandson of John and Jemima, was one of three men on the commission that chose Clayton as the County seat after the City/County spit in 1877.⁴

A number of homes built by the children of John and Jemima Sappington still remain. The Thomas Sappington House mentioned above was constructed around 1808. Two of the Sappington homes have been moved from their original location but still stand. They are the Mark Sappington House, sometimes known as the Arban House (originally built near Watson and Old Sappington Road, now located at 8659 Pardee Lane), and the Zepheniah Sappington House (originally built at 11145 Gravois Road, now located at Lindenwood Park in St. Charles County). Even the original portion of U.S. Grant’s White Haven was built by the husband of Elizabeth Sappington, William Long. Another of William and Elizabeth’s homes, constructed circa 1820, is located at 9385 Pardee Road and is maintained by the St. Louis County Parks Department. The final Sappington House that is still extant is the Joseph Sappington House, a horizontal log home built around 1816. Unlike the others, this structure was not built by a child of John Sappington. Instead, it appears that Joseph was either a cousin or nephew of John who relocated to the area around the time the home was constructed.⁵

Taille De Noyer, beginning in c. 1800, 1 Rue Taille de Noyer

In 1798, the Spanish Government granted a 340-acre piece of property near the village of St. Ferdinand to Hyacinth Dehetre. Dehetre was a founding father of the nearby village, and later a leader of the Missouri Militia during the War of 1812.⁶ It is believed that he built the original log cabin that forms the basis for this pioneer home known as Taille De Noyer, so named for a grove of Walnut trees located on the property.⁷ Dehetre sold the property in 1804 to George Gordon, who in 1809 was murdered by his stepson John Long Jr. When John Long was executed in 1809, he was the first white man to suffer that fate in St. Louis County.⁸ In 1805, the property was sold to John Mullanphy, an Irish immigrant famous for his mercantile and philanthropic activities, including funding the development of the Sacred Heart Orphan Asylum and what became DePaul Hospital.⁹ He is often cited as St. Louis’s first millionaire.¹⁰ Mullanphy used the site as a hunting lodge and trading post before he sold it in 1817 for $1 to his daughter Jane and her new husband Charles Chambers. They would build onto the house and turn the property into a working farm.¹¹ The Chambers family would remain on the property for almost 140 years adding additions in 1830, during the 1840s, and in 1922. In 1960, the property was purchased by the Ferguson-Florissant School District and threatened with demolition. A community effort led to the building being moved 200 yards to a new location. Today it is open for tours and managed by the Florissant Valley Historical Society.¹²

General Daniel Bissell House, 1815, 10225 Bellefontaine Road

General Daniel Bissell was an important figure in the early military history of the St. Louis region.¹³ As a boy of 9, Bissell he enlisted in the Connecticut militia as a fifer during the Revolutionary War. Some sources suggest he carried secret dispatches for the Continental Army. Bissell returned to the military when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1788, and he rose quickly through the ranks. In 1791, both Daniel and his brother Russell survived the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair’s defeat. This was one of the worst military defeats the United States Army ever suffered against Native American tribes. Daniel eventually was appointed as commander of Fort Massac in Illinois, where he presided over the transfer of the Upper Louisiana Territory at New Madrid in 1804. In 1809, he replaced his brother as Commandant of Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, the first American fort built west of the Mississippi River. While serving in the War of 1812 Bissell received a promotion to Brigadier-General.

It is believed that construction of his brick home, now in Bellefontaine Neighbors, was begun in 1815, after Bissell returned to the St. Louis area from the war. He would have constructed the house around a stone kitchen that dated back to 1812. Likely using slave labor, the house was constructed in stages, the final addition coming in the 1890s, many years after Bissell’s death. In 1821, General Bissell left the military and retired to his estate which he called Franklinville Farm. He built up the estate to 2300 acres and became a prominent community leader in the early affairs of the St. Louis area.¹⁴ General Bissell’s family remained in the home for nearly 150 years, each successive generation contributing to the house and its furnishings.¹⁵ In the early 1960s, the house was donated by the family to St. Louis County. The site was restored to its 19th century look and has been maintained as a public house museum since that time.

Thornhill (Governor Frederick Bates Estate), 1817, Faust Park, 15185 Olive Blvd

In 1806, Frederick Bates came to St. Louis after being appointed to serve as secretary of the Board of Land Commissioners, an important role that also had him serving as the Acting Governor in the absence of the Governor of the territory.¹⁶ He was the brother of Edward Bates, who would serve as Lincoln’s Attorney General during the Civil War. Frederick was born in Virginia in 1777, and served a number of years in the territorial government of Michigan before coming to St. Louis. 1808, he published a book of laws for the Louisiana Territory, the first book published in Missouri.¹⁷ In 1824, Bates became the state of Missouri’s second governor, following the term of Alexander McNair.

Shortly after arriving in St. Louis, Bates purchased roughly 493 acres from Ezekial and Rebekah Rogers. On the site, in what is today Chesterfield, he eventually built a large Federal style home, beginning around 1817. He called the property “Thornhill," and it stands today as the oldest governor’s home in Missouri, and one of the oldest timber framed structures in the state.¹⁸

Bates developed his estate into a Virginia-style plantation, a purpose made possible through the labor of a number of enslaved African Americans. Following his death, Bates property passed to his sons Frederick Jr. and Lucius Lee. Lucius farmed the property until his death in 1898, when the home was leased out and eventually sold in 1900.¹⁹ By 1930, the property had been purchased by Leicester Busch Faust, the grandson of Adolphus Busch and Tony Faust the restaurateur. In 1968, Faust donated the house and surrounding property to St. Louis County Parks and Recreation.²⁰

Fairfax (James C. Marshall House), 1841, 2800 McKnight Road

James and John Marshall acquired over 800 acres of property in the 1830s. The property extended from Brentwood into present day Webster Groves. However, much of the property, including the homestead of James Marshall known as “Fairfax,” is in Rock Hill. The house was named for where James was born on the east coast in 1804.

In the 1830s, James operated a mercantile business along Manchester Road. It was in this log structure that he first lived with his wife Elizabeth McCausland after they were married in 1840.²¹ She was the daughter of James McCausland, a larger farmer and the namesake of McCausland Avenue. Additionally, her sister married Ralph Clayton, who donated 100 acres to establish the St. Louis County seat after the City of St. Louis seceded in 1876.²²

As some of its earliest, and most prominent residents, the Marshalls were key to the development of the community of Rock Hill.²³ Their mercantile store served as the area’s first post office, and in 1845, they donated land for the construction of the Rock Hill Presbyterian Church. They then employed enslaved African Americans to quarry stone and build the church.²⁴

In 1941, the house was threatened with demolition but was saved after the Rock Hill Improvement Association succeeded in moving the house 300 feet to a new location. It was moved again in 1997 to make way for a shopping center. ²⁵ In 2012, it was moved yet again, to its current location to make way for a U-Gas gas station.²⁶ The house, property of the City of Rock Hill, currently sits vacant waiting for new life.

Thomas Mason House, Between 1809 and 1818, 1400 Thomas Mason Place

The Thomas Mason House is one of the oldest stone buildings in the State of Missouri. It was constructed at some point after Mason relocated from Kaskaskia, Illinois around 1809. Mason was a successful farmer, an enterprise he ran through the enslavement of a number of African Americans. These enslaved people likely contributed to the construction of the home. A number of these men and women were granted their freedom by Mason upon his death in 1829. Mason Road runs right through what was his estate, which by 1810 extended over 765 acres.

Mason and his wife Mary were active in the community including the development of Bonhomme Presbyterian Church. The family donated land for the construction of a church building in 1819.²⁷

By the 1850s, the property had been sold to another St. Louis County civic leader, James C. Sutton.²⁸ Sutton’s farm made up much of what is now Maplewood, and his home was the first center of St. Louis County governance.²⁹

Since the 1960s, two additions have been built on the east and west side of the building, but the main home remains well intact, surrounded now by a modern subdivision bearing the Mason family name.³⁰ 

[1] United States of America. Department of the Interior. National Parks Service. National Register Nomination for Casa Alvarez. By Nancy B. Breme, 1976

[2] Davison, Rosemary S. Florissant, Missouri. Donning Co. Publishers, 2002

[3] Ibid 86-87

[4] Thomas, William Lyman. History of St. Louis County, Missouri: a Story That Attracts by Its Recital of Past Achievements, Its Record of Earnest Endeavor and Sure Development to Present Greatness and Its Future Filled with Roseate Promise. County Living Publications, 2011. S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911, reprinted

[5] The Past in Our Presence: Historic Buildings in St. Louis County. St. Louis County Dept. of Parks and Recreation, 1996.

[6] Dupre, E. Atlas of the city and county of St. Louis: by congressional townships; showing all the surveys of the public lands, and of the confirmed French and Spanish grants, New-Madrid locations, and entries of public lands, up to the 1st day of January, 1838: with the names of the original claimants, and number of acres claimed by each. St. Louis: E. Dupre, 1838; Houck, Louis. A History of Missouri: From the Earliest Explorations and Settlements until the Admission of the State into the Union. III, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1908. 103-105

[7] The Past in Our Presence, 11

[8] Davison, 81

[9] United States of America. Department of the Interior. National Parks Service. National Register Nomination for Taille de Noyer. By Noelle Soren, 1979

[10] Davison, 21

[11] United States of America. Department of the Interior. National Parks Service. National Register Nomination for Taille de Noyer. By Noelle Soren, 1979

[12] Davison, 83

[13] Kramer, Gerhardt “The Bissell House: A Study of its Architectural History” Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, July 1966.

[14] Brockhoff, Dorothy Adele, “The Bissell Saga”, July 1962; Zell, Carl John “General Daniel Bissell” Dissertation Saint Louis University 1971.

[15] Kramer

[16] Rothwell, Dan A. A Guide to Chesterfield's Architectural Treasures. City of Chesterfield, 1998,124-126.

[17] United States of America. Department of the Interior. National Parks Service. National Register Nomination for “Thornhill” Governor Frederick Bates Estate. By Stephen J. Raiche, 1973

[18] Rothwell, 124-126.

[19] Konzelman, Ethel “The Governor Frederick Bates House” St. Louis County Municipal History Records, St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department

[20] Terry, Elizabeth. Oysters to Angus. Bluebird Pub. Co., 2014.

[21] Thomas, 85, 336-338;

[22] Magnan, William B., and Marcella C. Magnan. The Streets of St. Louis. Virginia Pub. Co., 2004. 77, 82

[23] Thomas, William Lyman. History of St. Louis County, Missouri: a Story That Attracts by Its Recital of Past Achievements, Its Record of Earnest Endeavor and Sure Development to Present Greatness and Its Future Filled with Roseate Promise. County Living Publications, 2011.

[24] Little, Judy, Historic Inventory Sheet for Rock Hill Presbyterian Church, 1992

[25] Harris, Marty “Public Gets Glimpse of Rock Hill’s Fairfax House, Webster-Kirkwood Times, December 14-20, 2001

[26] Gillerman, Margaret S. “Rock Hill's Fairfax House Is Moving on, with a New Role.” Stltoday.com, May 9, 2012, www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/rock-hill-s-fairfax-house-is-moving-on-with-a/article_efb4f1dd-eba6-5af7-81d3-0ec57dcc8879.html.

[27] Draft National Register Nomination for the Thomas Mason House, 1983, St. Louis County Municipal History Records, St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department.

[28] Lindenbusch, John, Historic Inventory Sheet for Mason House, 1981

[29] Thomas, 318

[30] Plat for Thomas Mason Place Subdivision, June 13, 1988, St. Louis County, Missouri, Plat Book 277 page 12, Recorder’s Office, Clayton, Missouri.