County of building: St. Charles County
Location of building: N 5th St. & Decatur St., NW corner, St. Charles
Built: 1870
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Architectural Style: Italianate
Original Occupant: Jane (Mudd) Kirkpatrick
Historic District Map
Marker Text:
Circa 1865
701 N. 5th St.
1815 - Wallace Kirkpatrick, of Scottish nationality, arrived in St. Charles from South Carolina. He was
one of the first merchants in St. Charles, later residing on property near St. Charles and
becoming a successful farmer. He married Miss Jane Mudd, a daughter of another successful
farmer.
1830 - This property was part of the Nathan Boone survey of the Commons.
1835 - This property was part of Dr. Andrew Wilson's Lease of part of the Commons.
1838 - Wallace Kirkpatrick died on his farmstead.
1852 - Census shows Jane Kirkpatrick (nee Mudd) raised her children on the homestead along with 6
slaves (1 male and 5 females).
1857 - Matilda Kirkpatrick, on of Jane's daughters, married a James F. Mudd.
1860 - Census lists Jane Kirkpatrick as head of household with daughter, Elizabeth, aged 32, and son
William, age 23, and a James Gorman of Ireland, age 15. They were residing near James F. and
Matilda Mudd (nee Kirkpatrick) with Francis F. Lamonte.
1865 - Approximate aate of construction of this Romantic Italianate style home.
1868 - Fire Insurance records lists Jane as owning a brick house at this location.
1870 - Census reports list Jane residing here with her daughter, Elizabeth.
1878 - Records list Elizabeth as the owner. The mother must have died.
1892 - City directory list the children of James R. Mudd living here with Elizabeth.
1907 - Edward Trask and his wife Margaret (nee Mudd) have purchased the property.
[the rest is unreadable]
1923 - Felix Trask, and his wife, Lillie became the next owners. Felix was employed as a clerk at the
post office. The Trask family owned the property until 1963. The historic name of the house is
given as the Kirkpatrick-Trask House.
"Built: circa 1870
Style/Design: Italianate
The house was built after 1869. It is not shown on the 1869 Bird’s Eye View of the city; only one house was situated in this block and it
faced Benton Avenue. Information provided on a plaque in the yard states that the 1870 census records list Jane (Mudd) Kirkpatrick as
residing here with her daughter Elizabeth, who had become the owner by 1878. (Jane was the widow of Wallace Kirkpatrick, who settled in St. Charles County in the 1810s and died in 1838). The first available city directory was published for the years 1891-92, and at that time the home was occupied by Elizabeth Kirkpatrick and Lee Mudd, who was employed by the St. Charles Car Company (later the American Car and Foundry Co.). In 1907 Edward Trask, a saloon operator, and his wife Margaret (nee Mudd) purchased the property.
Their son, Felix, and his wife, Lillie became the next owners. Felix was employed as a clerk at the post office. The Trask family owned the property until 1963. The historic name of the house is given as the Kirkpatrick-Trask House.
"This corner lot is slightly elevated above the public sidewalk that spans the front of the property. A concrete sidewalk with stairway
having three steps leads from the street to the gallery’s stairway. Shrubs line the front and each end of the gallery and two trees are on
the south side of the lot. In the rear yard is a front-gabled, frame shed that was built in 2013. It rests on concrete piers, is clad with
vertical board siding and has a corrugated metal roof. It is noncontributing due to its date of construction. Along the rear of the lot is a paved parking lot accessed from the alley." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase IV, PDF pages 34-38