County of structure: St. Charles County
Location of building: E. Main St. & S. Linn Ave., SE corner, Wentzville
Built: 1860
Phone: (636) 856-0193
They are Old Town Smokehouse, and they've been a restaurant here in Wentzville since 2021. They're locally owned and operated. They specialize in quality barbecue and offer unique, authentic cocktail options. They'd like to personally invite you to stop by for your next meal!
"We are a family owned and operated smokehouse located in Wentzville, Mo.
With our fun and friendly atmosphere, we provide a dining experience that is full of laughter, great BBQ, and unique cocktails.
Best ribs in town. Burnt ends that melt in your mouth! We have something for everyone. Smoked shrimp for our pescitarian friends." ~ Old Town Smokehoue
Their Facebook page.
"The Masonic Hall Building
"The Masonic Hall Building was a three-story frame building situated on the northeast corner of East South Main Street and Linn Avenue. Erected c.1858, it burned shortly after and was rebuilt of brick in 1866. The 1866 structure standing today is the oldest surviving building in the City of Wentzville. Through the years, the Masonic Lodge occupied the third floor, with the Wentzville public school on the second floor, and a drug store owned by D.B. Van Huffle on the first. This iconic building had balconies on the second and third floors, a wood sidewalk and hitching rails on Main Street." ~ Wentzville Historic Sites
:Built: 1860
Style/Design: Two-part Commercial Block
This building is dated by the assessor as having been built in 1860, and it does show as a white painted , 3-story building in a ca. 1870 photo (Bowman p.10). Early in its history the building served as a school on the first floor, a church on the second floor and the Masonic Lodge on the third floor. By the 1890s, the first floor was being used as a store front (Bowman p. 10 and 75), D. B. VanHuffle's drug store. It originally had a two-story gallery porch across the facade, which is still clearly visible in the 1908 photo (Bowman p.122), but the store front was updated and the gallery porch removed, probably in the 1920s since the 1935 photo (Bowman p.63) shows the storefront display windows had changed and the porch was gone. There is one other photo in Bowman (p.69) taken in 1962 that shows the current storefront framing and configuration is intact by that point. Since the cornice has been removed and the upper floor windows have been replaced, the building is probably not individually eligible for the National Register but it would be a key building in the proposed historic district since the Wentzville Main Street Historic District has potential for listing as a historic district. ...
"A three-story commercial brick building has a flat roof with stone coping on the parapet. In the early historic photos it appears that the parapet originally sported a projecting cornice, but that has been removed and the base of the parapet has a row of recessed brick friezes, which may be original to the building design, but the rows of brick above appear to have been relaid. The central recessed wood framed storefront with the large plate glass on either side of the central recessed entry seems to date from the 1920s, given historic photos, while the earlier storefront had display windows divided into 4 lights on either side of the recessed doorway. The full light glass door appears newer, but the transomed opening seems to date to the 1920s storefront. One-over-one sashed windows with stone sills and arched brick lintels fill the outer bays of the second and third floors, while the central bays are boarded in door openings (he third floor door is not visible in the 1908 photo (Bowman p.122) apparently added later, but both doors opened onto the two-story gallery porch that originally spanned the facade (still intact in the 1908 photo). The second and third floor of the side elevations have one-over-one sashed windows as well. In the early historic photos these windows are two-over-two, but the current widows are more recent replacements with panning around the brickmold. These are replacement brick steps up to the entry door. A one-story brick addition is located on the eastern side of the building. It may be a rebuilt facade of a much older 1-story wing that is shown on the 1927 fire insurance map as open to the interior of the 3-story building. Square pane metal windows and door imitate the design of and overhead garage door in the single by facade.
"The building sits at street level at the southeast corner of East Main and South Linn. The building fills the majority of the street front property line, with a small alley to the east." ~ Wentzville Historic Survey PDF pages 134-137