County of building: St. Charles County
Location of building: 500 S. Main St., St. Charles
Built: 1866
Built by: Francis X. Kremer
This was the first double house in the county. Built by Mr. Kremer, a wealthy mill owner, in 1866. his wife was homesick, so the house was built so that her mother could be near, but she [the mother] had to agree to stay on her side of the house.
"If the story of the Mother-In-Law House is inaccurate, then whose ghost is supposed to be haunting the restaurant?
"As local tour guides usually tell the story, the house at 500 South Main Street was the first "double house" in St. Charles. It was built by Francis X. Kremer in 1860. Because his young bride from Germany missed her mother, Kremer built a house with one side for himself and his wife and the other side for his mother-in-law, who came over from Germany.
"To welcome her, Kremer invited the residents of St. Charles to a street party with a brass band. He publicly presented the mother-in-law with a key to her half of the house.
"The story is partly repeated in the 1993 version of "McElhiney's Guidebook: Historic St. Charles, Missouri." It was published by Richard Sperandio, grandson of Edna McElhiney Olson, who published the original guidebook in 1967. The writings of Olson are often used as the basis of other histories of the area.
"Sperandio wrote: "During the 1860 public housewarming, Kremer made a dramatic presentation of the house key to his mother-in-law to her half of the house with the `humorous' provision that she stay on `her side.' "
"Sperandio said the information for the story came from an 1860 newspaper in the archives of the St. Charles County Historical Society." ~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Peggy Bradbury
Was the Mother-In-Law Restaurant, which closed...permanently in 2019. The owner, Donna Hafer, has been pleasing guest here since 1981.
Today a new restaurant is in this old Victorian Building. Tompkins by the Rack House Fine dining, but temp. closed because of Corona Virus.