Ste. Genevieve Historic District - Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 37° 58.724 W 090° 02.583
15S E 759715 N 4207581
Historic district listed as a National Historic Landmark in Ste. Genevieve features buildings from the French Colonial period of this Mississippi River community.
Waymark Code: WM3X0K
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2008
Views: 70
The date of the first French, settlements in the vicinity of Ste. Genevieve
cannot be determined. The earliest known grants of land were made in 1752, when
27 inhabitants owned about three miles of Mississippi River frontage. The
original site of settlement, probably in the period 1735-40, was in the river
bottom on the west bank of the Mississippi about three miles below the present
town. Floods, notably one in 1785, caused repeated damage, and the town was
moved gradually between 1785 and 1796 to the present site on high ground. By the
latter year, only a few huts of traders remained at the old site. In 1772 the
town had about 70 houses, one church, and a population of 691. In 1795, at its
new location, the inhabitants numbered 839. Ste. Genevieve the principal seat of
government in the region for many years after western Louisiana passed from
French to Spanish control in 1762 thrived under Spanish administration, and by
1800 it had 180 houses and 1,163 inhabitants. In 1803, the Louisiana Territory
passed to the United States and Ste. Genevieve then declined as St. Louis
gradually grew in importance...
There are 49 buildings of historic and/or architectural interest from Ste.
Genevieve French Settlement period still standing in or near the town.... Of the
buildings
cited, thirty-one were probably built in the eighteenth century, the
others before 1825. Seventeen are of vertical log construction/ nineteen of wood
or log, and thirteen of brick or stone. Nine require substantial repair or
restoration, though all but the reconstructed Bolduc House have been altered in
some degree.
Houses in early Ste. Genevieve were preponderantly one-room or two-room
units. Typical exterior dimensions were 12'x 13', 15' square, and 18'x 19'. They
usually were of logs placed vertically into the ground, five or six inches
apart. Such construction was called poteaux-en-terre posts in the ground. Three
houses so built are still standing in Ste. Genevieve. Later houses had rubble
stone foundations on which the logs rested--poteaux-sur-solle posts on a sill.
The walls were tilted inward a few degrees, for unknown reasons. The interstices
were filled with bouzillage a mixture of clay or mud with twigs, animal hair,
straw or limestone gravel.
The roofs were unusual because of their extremely steep pitch, often
exceeding 70° , which was necessary to shed
rainwater from the thatching. The roof was formed by massive Norman trusses,
pegged in place...
Ste. Genevieve , with possibly 31 existing 18th century dwellings, is the
finest surviving architectural example of a French Colonial village in the
United States." ~ National Historic Landmark Nomination Form
The district was accepted as a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and was
automatically accepted to the National Register of Historic Places when the
Register was started in 1966.