COTTLEVILLE CELEBRATES 225 years

By Brett Auten

The city of Cottleville marks the 225th anniversary of it’s founding, making it one of the oldest cities in the state of Missouri

NOR TOO LONG BEFORE its now-familiar sputter of golf carts and restaurants bustling, the city of Cottleville had its salad days.

“It was kind of run down,” Scott Lewis, Cottleville historian, said. “It needed to be cleaned up. It needed redevelopment. It needed some reason to encourage people to locate here.”

When not the official historian for Cottleville, Lewis has a side gig as sheriff of St. Charles County. He was chief of police for 18 years, beginning in 1997. He was also a city administrator for 15 years. As one of the oldest cities in St. Charles County, Cottleville has been working to preserve and enhance its historic downtown district which it is becoming noted for. It plans to celebrate the 225th anniversary of its founding throughout 2023, beginning with the selling celebration spirit wear, including shirts and hats that can be found on its website.

If you build it they will come, goes the famous quote from “Field of Dreams” and that proved true here as well. The revitalization can be credited to the city leadership and planners. Cottleville launched a $1.2 million StreetScape project in 2011 to add 120 parking spaces, lighting and sidewalks to the historic downtown area along Highway N. From the years 2015 thru 2019, similar streetscape improvements were made to Fifth Street and Main Street. Additional streetscape improvements are coming to Chestnut Street and the remaining portions of Main Street.

Before there was anything, there was St. Joseph Parish and School. It was established in the mid-1800s by 35 Catholic families living nearby on one acre of land. Now, it has more than 5,000 families and is the largest parish in