The History of Kimmswick

Kimmswick was founded by Theodore Kimm in 1859. A successful St. Louis dry goods merchant, Mr. Kimm moved to Jefferson County in 1850 and purchased a large tract of land, extending West and crossing what is now Highway 61-67.

A native of Brunswick, Germany, he probably named the town he founded after himself and his birthplace by combining the words into “Kimmswick”. Our definition of the word “wick” means a town or a village. Or maybe he knew that a salt works had been established in the area before 1779 by Thomas Jones, and that another definition of “wick” is a salt-spring or brine-pit. However, hostile Indian raids had put an end to that early salt works endeavor 70 years before Mr. Kimm arrived.

In the late 1700s the Mississippi River provided a wide highway and was the easiest way to travel. Inland trails were those of wild animals and Indians. The Spanish had used these trails on their way upriver from New Madrid and Ste. Genevieve to St. Louis. They called the route El Camino Real. It is the oldest road in Missouri and passed near what would become Kimmswick. To mark the route, a red granite boulder was erected by the Missouri Daughters of the American Revolution in 1917. The marker can be seen on the East bank of Rock Creek, 30 feet back from Highway K and ¼ mile before entering Kimmswick. Many goods were hauled over El Camino Real by two-wheeled ox carts and later by wagons.

Spanish control of this land was relatively brief, from late 1762 until 1801, officially. Then Napoleon Bonaparte, by treaty, re-acquired the land from Spain. Only two years later he sold the French lands West of the Mississippi River to the United States government during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. By March of 1805 the Territory of Louisiana was organized by Congress and Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, was appointed Governor in 1807. An official act of the legislature was an order to widen the old road, Rue Royale to the French and El Camino Real to the Spanish, by removing trees to a width of 25 feet.

An early settler here was Captain George Washington Waters from Massachusetts. Upon graduation from the Military Academy at West Point, he was sent to Jefferson Barracks, outside of St. Louis. Later he was appointed Jefferson County Surveyor. From this position, he was able to purchase on the courthouse steps for the sum of $20.00 a large portion of the Labarge land grant. It was from Captain Waters’ Family that Theodore Kimm purchased land on October 4th, 1850.

The St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad came through in 1858 and a stream of settlers, tradesmen and farmers came with it. In those early years Kimmswick flourished with an iron forge, grist mill, limestone quarries, brewery and large greenhouses that shipped fresh flowers to St. Louis.

Mr. Kimm laid out his town in a grid pattern of blocks subdivided by lots and alleyways. He sold vacant lots and even built some houses and sold them on trust deeds to encourage many tradesmen to settle in Kimmswick. By 1876, Kimmswick was the second largest town in size in Jefferson County

There were several hotels, saloons, mercantile stores, a lumberyard, a slaughterhouse, butcher shops, a bootery, a jewelry store, a barbershop, a drug store, doctors, a blacksmith and three schools, one for whites, one for blacks, and the St. Joseph Catholic School that is still here today.

The post office for the area was located in Kimmswick in 1858 with Mr. Kimm serving as the first postmaster. Mail arrived five time a day. Four trains going North and five trains heading South stopped each day.

In 1872, Mr. Kimm retired at the age of 61. At an