Over 200 years ago,
Don Manuel Perez visited the village of Les Petites Cotes, or the "Little Hills." As the Spanish lieutenant governor
of Upper Louisiana, Perez signed a petition granting inhabitants of the village permission
to build a church. According to area historical records, the meeting took place at the home of
French Canadian fur trapper Louis Blanchette, who founded the village
in 1769. The church Perez authorized was San Carlos Borromeo, later anglicized to
St. Charles
Borromeo. When Perez dedicated
the church on November 7, 1791, he named it after the Cardinal of Milan, Charles Borromeo. At the same time, he changed the name of
the village to San Carlos, which then became St. Charles in 1803.
St. Charles Borromeo in St. Charles, Missouri is the third oldest parish in the St. Louis Archdiocese, behind Ste. Genevieve and the Old Cathedral in downtown St. Louis. Several buildings have served the parish since the original church, a typical French log church with a vertical post, was erected at South Main and Jackson Streets. In 1828, a second Borromeo Church was built at North Second and Decatur Streets. The tremendous growth of the Catholic community necessitated yet a new church, which was built in 1869 at the present site of St. Charles Borromeo. On July 7, 1915, a wind storm destroyed the main body of the brick church. The church was reconstructed, and the cornerstone for the fourth and existing church was laid on April 16, 1916 by Archbishop John Glennon. Click here for more information about St. Charles Borromeo in English or Spanish or read about him below.
