9 Homes in Midtown Found to be Historically Significant

City completed Phase 2 of a survey of the Midtown neighborhood.

A survey of a portion of the Midtown neighborhood found nine homes which may be individually eligible for the recognition on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, Main Street and Frenchtown are on the federal list. The city is in the middle of a four-part study of the Midtown and Commons neighborhoods. On Monday, City Preservation Planner Brenda Rubach presented information about phase two of the study, which focused on a portion of Midtown.  These homes listed below may be eligible to apply for inclusion on the National Register, either because they are associated with an important person, or embody the distinctive characteristics of a period or construction: See additional photos of these homes on our Facebook page.  The …

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Community Celebrates New Trail in St. Charles

Section of trail connects New Town to Frenchtown and is a piece of the Great Rivers Greenway.

Community members gathered on Friday for the grand opening of the new section of the Boschert Greenway trail which runs between New Town and Frenchtown.  See more photos from the grand opening on our Facebook page. The entire route now provides riders and runners with 10 miles of trail throughout the area, said Mayor Sally Faith.  Susan Trautman, director of Great Rivers Greenway, said she's excited to make a major connection along the Boschert Greenway. "What is unique about this project is the living wall. We're working really hard to develop sites that are sustainable and good for the environment," she said.  St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann challenged governments and community leaders to make sure bike paths are a part of a …

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Boschert Greenway Trail To Formally Open June 15

Trail connects New Town with Frenchtown in this joint-partnership between the city and Great Rivers Greenway.

The newest section of the Boschert Greenway trail connecting New Town to the Katy Trail will be dedicated June 15.  The trail was a joint project between Great Rivers Greenway and the city of St. Charles, with GRG paying for 90 percent of the project and the city paying the rest.  For more news about St. Charles Parks, follow us on Facebook. Phase 2 of the Boschert Greenway is a 2.1 mile trail that runs between Fox Hill Park and Eco Trail Park running in between the Little Hills Expressway and Highway 370. From there, bikers follow a bike path along the Fifth Street Extension, turning left at Olive Street which take them to the Katy Trail.  Phase 1 of the trail runs between New Town and Fox Hill Park along Boschert Creek and was completed …

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Tony Caruso

9:05 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012

KTVI will be looking for bicyclists to film riding the new Boschert Greenway section along highway 370 tomorrow morning. Meet at Little Hills Expressway and Mel Wetter Parkway in St. Charles between 6:45 and 7:00am this FRIDAY. KTVI will also be interviewing Patric Owens of The Great Rivers Greenway about the opening of this beautiful new section of trail. This connector links together The Katy …   more ›

Pump Track Park Proposed for Frenchtown

Local business owner has proposed the city build a dirt bike track near Blanchette Landing.

Tony Caruso has a vision for making St. Charles a biking destination in the region. Caruso, who owns the 2nd Street Bike Stop Café in Frenchtown, pushed for inclusion of 10-acre BMX track in the plans for the 110-acre park in north St. Charles. That project could cost close to $7 million and will take many years to develop. In the mean time, he’s hoping to work with the city to build a smaller pump track in the Frenchtown neighborhood. A pump track is a sculpted dirt loop with berms and bumps. Caruso said he hopes it would give local kids a place to go and get off of couches and into the outdoors. He said many of the bikers coming out of the St. Louis area excell at cross country riding, but not trick riding. Much of that is because St. …

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30 under 30: Book Shop Owner Enjoys the St. Charles Community

St. Charles Patch interviews 30 people younger than age 30 who live, work or play in St. Charles.

Francis Howell Central graduate Kayla Schneider, 21, opened her bookstore, Sage Books, on June 15. Schneider is currently attending St. Charles Community College and plans to attend Lindenwood University to major in French and Computer Science. Schneider opened Sage Books with the help of a family inheritance. Located on North 2nd Street in Frenchtown, Sage Books also carries incense, fair trade bags and jewelery. Schneider hopes to eventually expand and sell movies and video games at Sage Books. Schneider is currently running Sage Books by herself, but hopes to get her friends to help out when school starts back up. St. Charles Patch: How did you get to open your own bookstore so young? Kayla Schneider: It's always something I wanted to …

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Frenchtown's Eco Park Trailhead Gets a Makeover

Annual Friday Night Flicks will be held this week although the park isn't completed.

A small rather non-descript green space tucked into a southwest section of St. Charles’ Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Park is emerging as an interactive area with the moniker “Eco Park Trailhead.” With access to the Katy Trail, the one-acre Trailhead area at the end of Olive Street has a new gazebo, a rain garden area and a statue of children playing on a log. DuSable Park, along the Missouri River, has four sections—the Eco Park area, Blanchette Landing, the French August Regot Area and Ed Bales Park, explained St. Charles Parks and Recreation Director Maralee Britton. The Eco Park actually has two sections—one from the boat ramp along the riverfront on the east side of the levee and the other is the Eco Park Trailhead in the 1800 block …

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Relocation of Mary Rents Offers Opportunity for City Welcome Center

Business location on Fifth Street had long been targeted possible welcome center for the city.

A familiar mainstay of S. Fifth Street will be on the move next month as Mary Rents prepares to relocate to new digs in Frenchtown. “We’re not moving far away from our neighborhood,” said Todd Hoerman, owner of the tool rental facility that provides equipment for homeowners and light contractors. “We’re still keeping it in our community, our town.” Mary Rents put up banners this week announcing the impending move. Todd Hoerman got approval for the new location in Frenchtown last fall, but delays prolonged the move, which is set to take place over the 4th of July weekend. The business' current location at the corner of Boone's Lick and S. Fifth Street has long been discussed as a perfect location for a new tourism center for the city. …

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Faith Matters

Lindenwood Student Launches New Church

St. Charles is the site of the first Impact Church.

Start it and they will come. Each Sunday at 2 p.m., members of Impact Church gather inside St. Paul United Methodist Church in St. Charles to worship.The church started just six weeks ago, but was the result of many months of prayer by lead pastor Joshua Lewis. Lewis, 31, is the lead everything for the church - almost. Misty Lewis, his wife, plays keyboards and leads the rest of the musicians and the congregation with her singing. This is not his first position as a pastor, but it is the first time Lewis has started a church- a brand new church without a parent church or larger denomination behind his effort. Lewis said the decision to create a new church took much prayer. Is this what God wants? After eighteen months of preparing, meeting…

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Kemery Baldwin

2:17 pm on Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Thank you for your message of the importance of this church and its ministry upon your life. It's my privilege to write about the work of the people of the many churches I visit. I so appreciate your experience with one one them.   more ›

Wedding Gallery Continues to Expand With Frenchtown Location

Owner Nagwa Abdelghfour takes great pride in St. Charles, personal service.

Nagwa Abdelghfour vividly remembers relocating her 2,000-square foot bridal salon from a shopping center near Friedens Road and Highway 94 to a spot at 5th and Clark streets. The space was certainly impressive. The new digs were three times as large as the old. “We said, ‘Oh, this is big,’” she recalled. “We’re not going to need more.” She was right – for about a year and a half. Today, the Wedding Gallery still has that 6,000 square feet – plus 10,000 more at a facility a few blocks away in Frenchtown. Square footage issues don’t tend to dominate most people’s retirement thoughts. Then again most people don’t spend their retirement founding an enterprise that’s grown to gross more than a half-million dollars annually after just four years…

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DIYStyle Moves to Winghaven

The relocation ends a nearly two-year run in Frenchtown.

After nearly two years in Frenchtown, DIYStyle has packed up its needle and thread and moved west to O’Fallon, MO. The business, a growing outlet for lessons in fashion sewing, relocated to the Winghaven area last month after signing a lease on its new site in December, said owner Cindy Cummins. “We moved in the middle of all this mess,” she said, noting the recent spate of winter weather. A number of factors made the move to 7322 Village Center Dr. desirable. For one thing, the relocation was necessary to cater to the enterprise’s core 18-to-35-year-old demographic. “We’re hoping to have access to a younger clientele,” she said. “Our typical customer is definitely a bit younger than what is normally thought of in the sewing world.” The 1,…

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