Franklin Street Baptist Church [Historic] - St. Charles, MO - Civil Rights Memorials on Waymarking.com

County of building: St. Charles County
Location of building: N 3rd St. & Franklin St., NW corner, St. Charles
Built: 1869
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Classified: C
Frenchtown District Map

"At the turn of the century, two black institutions, St. Paul's Methodist Church and Franklin Public School, located in Frenchtown across the street from each other in buildings which had been erected earlier by white institutions. Although a few 19th century Frenchtown French families were racially mixed, and a few other owned slaves, there is no evidence which suggests any concentration of blacks living in Frenchtown. The 1910 census showed about thirty scattered black families (most employed at ACF); a few lived in the 400 block of Morgan, close to the church and school, and- the remainder occupied houses further north along N. Third and Fourth Streets.

"The small brick Gothic Revival church on the northwest corner of Franklin and N. Third Streets was erected in 1869 on land donated to the Methodist Church of St. Charles by Henry F. Copes, who had inherited the parcel from a relative, Mane Louise Duquette, Francois' widow. Known as the "Working Men's Chapel", the church was Intended to serve the numerous laborers who had settled in Frenchtown for the construction of the railroad bridge. Upon completion of the bridge, declining membership forced the sale of the building in 1871 to the Franklin Street Baptist Church. However, since 1891, (and perhaps earlier) a black congregation has been worshipping in the church." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF page 31

" ... The only Gothic church, now St. Paul's United Methodist at 801 N. Third, was built in the early 1870s by the Methodist Church (North), but sold a few years later to a white Baptist group after many Methodists involved in construction of the St. Charles bridge moved out of town. Since the turn-of-the-century, it has been occupied by a black congregation. Although its brick masonry walls are now stuccoed, the major articulating features such as stepped buttresses and drip moldings are not compromised. ... " ~ Final Report, St. Charles City Survey  Page 15

"At Freedom Church St. Charles, our purpose is to create a family atmosphere which has typically been lost in this generation. Our whole focus at Freedom is that everything we do needs to be all about the relationship: relationship with God, relationship each other, and relationship with our local community. We are not about just having church services. At Freedom, we do life together." ~ My Freedom Church