Charrette Creek - Warren County, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 38.009 W 091° 06.089
15S E 665246 N 4277814
Creek photo at the old MKT Railroad bridge, near the original town site.
Waymark Code: WM1C5TK
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 06/10/2025
Views: 0
County of creek: Warren County
Location of bridge: Katy Trail State Park, mile marker 80.0, W. of Marthasville
Date built: assume 1912 as others on this trail were
Built by: Again assumed American Bridge Company, as they built most truss bridges for this line.
Charrette Creek
"Rises in the southwest part of Hickory Grove Township, and flows through the central part of Charrette Township into the Missouri River. The name is also spelled Charette, Charet, Cherrette, and Chorette or Choritte. It also appears as Cherrette River. On the newly discovered Evans (or Mackay) Map of 1795 or 1796, it seems to be written "R. a Chorette," with the English rendering annexed "Charrette's River," though one cannot be entirely sure of the old handwriting. The Perrin du Lac Map of 1802 has "R. Charrette." When the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed on May 25, 1804, Clark writes in his original diary: "Camped at the mouth of a Creek called River a Chouritte," which is corrected in another hand to "La Charrette." As Coues notes in his edition of the Pike Expedition (II. 361), the name is written "Charette's village and creek" in the "Summary Statement of Rivers and Creeks" prepared later by Lewis, which shows it to have been a personal name. A reasonable conjecture may be advanced that this very early name is derived from Joseph Chorette, a French fur trader of St. Louis, who is mentioned in Trudeau's JOURNAL of 1795 as accompanying him on his expedition up the Missouri River, and as being drowned on July 10 of that year while swimming in the river. He was then 37 years old, and had for years been an active trader and trapper. His name as written in old documents has the variant forms Choret, Charet, and Charrette." ~ Brown's Gazette, page 181; Warren County Atlas 1877, pages 5 & 14; History of St. Charles, page 1029; Warren County Atlas, 1901, page7COUNTY ATLAS 1901, 7; Perrin du Lac Map of 1802
Charrette Creek is named for La Charrette, a small French settlement established in 1797. This village was near the town of Marthasville. see a cabin built on village site in Wessel Park.
Most of the bridges existing to day in the Warren County section of the trail were built between 1912 and 1918 because of flooding some were re-built. Not much else I can find on this bridge.
Park at Marthasville (77.7) trailhead and walk the 2.3 miles to the bridge. Or you can park at the town of Peers, and walk back east 1.2 miles.
And, finally, if you choose to, a drive down and along Charrette Creek on You Tube