Drive north from downtown St. Louis on U.S. 67 and you pass through one of the oldest continuously-settled European communities west of the Mississippi. Florissant was founded in 1786, more than 30 years before Missouri became a state, more than 15 years before the Louisiana Purchase, and at a time when the entire region was a remote frontier of the Spanish colonial empire. Walk the streets of Old Town today and you are walking the same grid, past several of the same buildings, that made up the original village.
This is the story of how a fertile valley between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers became Florissant, and how a French-speaking Catholic farming village under Spanish rule grew into one of the largest cities in modern Missouri.
Before the village: the land and its first peoples
The valley that became Florissant had been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European arrival. Mississippian-era cultures left earthworks throughout the region, with the great civic and ceremonial center at Cahokia just a day's travel away. By the time French explorers arrived in the late 17th century, the immediate area was being used by Osage and other Plains-related peoples, with seasonal hunting and trade routes crossing the bluff country between the rivers.
French traders and missionaries reached the broader region in the late 1600s and early 1700s, founding Cahokia (1696), Kaskaskia (1703). The French claim to the territory — everything from the Appalachians west to the Rockies that drained into the Mississippi — was the colony of Louisiana, ruled from New Orleans.
The Spanish era and the founding of St. Louis
French control of the region ended in 1762, when France ceded the territory west of the Mississippi to Spain at the close of the Seven Years' War. (The same treaty transferred the eastern bank to Britain, with the resulting French diaspora moving west to escape British rule.) Pierre Laclède and his stepson Auguste Chouteau founded St. Louis in 1764 as a fur-trading post, just as Spanish administration was being put in place. The new village quickly became the leading European settlement on the upper Mississippi.
St. Louis was a trading town. The surrounding land needed farmers. Spanish authorities encouraged settlement of the agricultural valleys north and west of the city, both to feed St. Louis and to establish a stronger European presence on the frontier.
1786: the founding of Fleurissant
In 1786, a small group of French Creole settlers established a village in the broad, fertile valley about 15 miles northwest of St. Louis. They called it Fleurissant — from the French fleurir, to bloom or flourish — in recognition of the abundance of wildflowers and the productive soil. The Spanish administrative name was San Fernando, after King Ferdinand III of Castile, but the residents continued to use the French name. The two would coexist for decades, eventually anglicized as Florissant and St. Ferdinand respectively.
The original village was laid out on a regular grid, with long, narrow lots running back from the main street — a typical French village pattern reflecting the priority of farming. Residents grew wheat, corn, and tobacco; raised livestock; and traded with St. Louis. Most spoke French at home and were baptized into the Catholic Church.
The Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
A Catholic congregation took shape almost immediately, and a log church was built in the late 1780s. The building that stands today as the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine was constructed beginning in 1819, replacing the earlier log structure. According to local historical records, it is among the oldest Catholic church buildings west of the Mississippi River, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The shrine is still in active use as a place of worship and as a museum. Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne, canonized as a saint in 1988, lived and taught at the adjoining convent in the early 1800s. Visitors can walk through the church, the convent, and the rectory, all preserved largely as they would have appeared in the early 19th century. For locals, the shrine is the architectural and spiritual heart of Old Town Florissant.
The Louisiana Purchase and statehood
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 transferred Florissant, along with the rest of the territory west of the Mississippi, from Spain (which had briefly returned the territory to France) to the United States. The transition was peaceful but transformative. American settlers began arriving in significant numbers; English began to displace French as the primary language of business; the village grew quickly.
Missouri became a state in 1821 as part of the Missouri Compromise. Florissant, as the established agricultural center of north St. Louis County, played a steady if quiet role in the new state. The community remained predominantly Catholic and culturally French well into the second half of the 19th century, with German immigrant families adding to the mix in the 1840s and 1850s.
The Florissant Valley becomes the Florissant Township
For most of the 19th century, Florissant was an agricultural village set in a much larger Florissant Valley township that included most of north St. Louis County. The town itself stayed small — a few hundred residents, a handful of merchants, a couple of churches, the courthouse, the shrine. The wider valley was farms.
Florissant was incorporated in the 19th century, with the modern city charter dating from later in that century. The pace of growth remained modest until the early 20th century — according to U.S. census records, the town's population stayed under 1,000 well into the 1900s.
Continuity in the streets
What makes Old Town Florissant remarkable today is how much of the original structure survives. The street grid traces the 18th-century French village layout. Several of the buildings — Taille de Noyer (1790), the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine (1789/1821), Casa Alvarez (1790), the Aubuchon House — predate the Louisiana Purchase. Walking through Old Town is one of the few experiences in Missouri that puts you on actual ground, in actual buildings, where the colonial Mississippi Valley took shape.
For more on Florissant's most significant historic buildings, see our guide to Old Town landmarks. For the story of how the village became one of Missouri's largest 20th-century cities, see how Florissant grew after WWII.
A Florissant law firm
David Naumann & Associates has practiced in Florissant since 1979, representing North St. Louis County families through estate planning, personal injury, criminal defense, and a half-century of community life in this remarkable old place. For more on the firm, see our Florissant attorney page or our about page.
This article is general legal information for Missouri residents. It is not legal advice. Missouri law changes regularly — statutes are amended, case law evolves, and the application of any rule depends on the specific facts of each case. Do not act, or refrain from acting, based on this article without consulting a qualified Missouri attorney about your particular situation. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice on your specific case, contact David Naumann & Associates at (314) 831-9350. The initial consultation is free. See the full Legal Disclaimer for complete terms.