Fredericktown

Courthouse

The first courthouse was constructed of handmade bricks in 1822, of the local 'four square' courthouse style. The 'four square style' was usually 40 to 50 ft. on side, a square or sometimes rectangular 2 story brick structure, with regularly spaced windows, and a central hall with 2, 3 or 4 entrances. This courthouse lasted until 1899, when it was torn down. In 1899, the second courthouse was begun, and construction finished in 1900. Theodore C. Link, of St. Louis, designed the building, and it was built by Lewis Miller. While the original estimate was $18,000, the final cost was $22,000. The red brick building is rectangular, 66 ft x 76 ft. P.O. 1827-date.

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St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church

James Maxwell, from Ste. Genevieve, serviced the Fredericktown parish beginning in 1800, and also parishes in New Bourbon and Old Mines. The first church was a log cabin plastered on the inside, built by Father Henri Pratte, who had taken over at Ste. Genevieve after Fr. Maxwell had died from a horse fall in 1815. After Fr. Pratte died in 1822, Father Francis X. Dahmen, C.M. order took over Ste. Genevieve and the mission churches at St. Joachim (Old Mines) and St. Michael. The first resident pastor was Anthony Potini, C.M. in 1827.

The first frame church, 35 by 55 feet, and 20 feet high, was begun by Fr. Francis Cellini in 1829 and finished in 1831. It was built in part from recycled timbers from the 1794 log church. The brick church was built by Lewis Tucker, who had been born in Perry county, and went to the Perryville seminary for his training. The church initially had straight walls, square windows, a rounded ceiling, and elevated galleries along the side walls of the sanctuary (one loft for the choir, and one for slaves). The cost was $1722, including $377 to two local parishioners for making the brick, $92 to another local parishioner for the mortar, $119 for plaster, $180 for lumber, $42 for stonework, $465 to another local for the roof, and so on. In 1873, Fr. Tucker, who was still priest there, oversaw an addition which included almost doubling the size of the original church, and adding a small spire to the front of the church. In 1883, Benjamin A. Tannrath over saw the erection of the main alter with the statue of St. Michael the Archangel, and in 1897, Father John Rothensteiner oversaw the construction of a new tower with three bells. P.O. 1827-date.

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Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot

Constructed in 1917, this is a one-story rectangular brick building with a low-pitched hipped roof extending over the passenger waiting areas at both ends of the long axis. A limestone belt course emphasizes the buildings horizontal axis. The facade is broken by the projecting dispatcher's bay in the north half of the east elevation. The bay, which divides the building into two sections, extends five feet, and is topped by a dormer containing a decorative window with crosshatching. The bay also features a transomed triple window with a limestone keystone centered in the header, which is a flat arch consisting of one course of bricks set vertically. Another row of vertical bricks at the roofline divides the upper and lower portions of the bay. P.O. 1827-date.

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