Research related to St. Charles County, Missouri
The Daniel Boone Chorus in the 1970s
The singing in fledgling barbershop chapters is not always the best, but there is a fun camaraderie that can be formed in singing together. In 1970, the Daniel Boone Chorus marked its seventh anniversary. The chapter experienced some ups and downs in the 1970s but survived the decade in preparation for what lay ahead next.…
Mariamne and Mary
It was a research project that suddenly hit a snag. Those doing the research decided to quit. The project fell to the rest of the committee. The St. Peters Historical Focus Group was tasked with providing new research on Main Street in St. Peters, Missouri. I decided to start running some of the chains of title on the properties…
Misadventures in Historical Scholarship
“I am not religious.” I have heard that said so many times. All human beings are religious, even if they are not connected to an organized religion. Everyone has a belief system, a system of faith. We all operate based on certain assumptions that we believe to be true. The same can be said in dealing with historical works. We can…
Daniel Boone Chorus in the 1960s
The current St. Charles Chapter of the S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A., Inc. was founded in 1963, when a call went forth with the colorful introductory statement: “Calling all bathtub baritones.” Announcement of the formation of a barbershop chapter in St. Charles (AOH Archives) The first meeting of the new Daniel Boone Chorus occurred 22 January 1963 at…
Barbershop Harmony (1890-1963)
The earliest reference to a barbershop quartet appears to have been in 1892. The Decatur (IN) Daily Democrat comments, “Foreman’s barber shop quartette is getting to the front very rapidly. On Tuesday and Friday evenings they will entertain those who can stand it to listen.”[1] Decatur (IN) Daily Democrat, p. 1, 8 April 1892…
Precursors to Barbershop Music
NOTE: This is part one of a series of articles based on the original, which was published at http://www.aoh.org in October 2013. The material below has been revised and updated by the author beginning in July 2020 to reflect new research and developments that have occurred since the fiftieth anniversary of the St. Charles Chapter…
Sage Chapel Cemetery and Rev. Jefferson Franklin Sage
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a larger research project concerning Sage Chapel Cemetery in O’Fallon, Missouri. The name Sage Chapel has been much debated. The name may have come from the sage fields that grew behind the church near Sonderen and Pitman.[1] Naming patterns of African Methodist Episcopal churches of the time suggest…
719 South Main Street – The “French House”
Have you ever wondered what the oldest building in St. Charles, Missouri, is? Maybe you have not, but the debate has raged on several posts on Facebook. One such candidate routinely mentioned is 719 South Main Street. It is billed as a French colonial duplex that dates from about 1790. Karen Lewis and Larry and…
Louis Blanchet and Les Petites Côtes
NOTE: The below narrative reflects the various versions of the article that appeared in the St. Charles County Heritage in April 2019. A huge help in the research process was the previous writeup on Blanchet done by Mitzi Riddler (now Mitzi Smith). There is some additional information below that I took out for the sake…
The Western House Story
Standing at the corner of Boone’s Lick Road and South Main Street, 1001 South Main is built at an intersection which is arguably the Gateway to the West. There are many questions about this building which are not the easiest to answer. A lot of the story of this building comes from the 1960s…
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Historical Projects of Justin Watkins 