Saint Michel, Missouri

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St. Michel is an abandoned village in Madison County, Missouri. Today it is part of Fredericktown.

The name St. Michel probably comes from Nicholas Caillot, who was a knight of St. Michel in France, or from a Michael Caillot in the group. Some say a son named Michel and patron saints named Michel also influenced the name.

The village was founded around 1790–1800 as a lead-mining settlement. Thirteen French Creole families from the Illinois Country, with roots in Canada and some native French, started it. Eight families came from New Bourbon. Each family received 400 arpents of land from the Little St. Francis River to Saline Creek, granted by the Spanish authorities of Upper Louisiana.

In 1814 floods from the Saline and Castor Creeks pushed the people to higher ground. The old site became known as “The Village,” and today only Calvary Cemetery marks the spot. The new village had about 50 residents in 1823. Nearby, Germans and settlers from North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia moved in and outnumbered the French.

In 1819, when a county seat was planned, Fredericktown was laid out and gradually absorbed St. Michel. Today the name survives mainly in the Catholic church and in the township.

Architecturally, the St. Michel French Creoles built log cabins in a horizontal log style called pièces sur pièces, rather than the traditional French vertical log style. This may indicate a lower economic level or influence from American building styles.

The Catholic Church of St. Michel was established in 1802, named after the Archangel Michel. The original church was a log building.

Population grew from about 65 in 1804 to around 100 in 1815–16, about 300 in 1818–1820, and roughly 250 in 1830. The settlement’s purpose was to mine lead for the Upper Louisiana colony.

Lead was smelted first with simple log-pit furnaces, but Moses Austin arrived in 1797 and introduced a Scotch hearth furnace, which replaced the log smelters. The new furnace and the need for lumber led to rapid deforestation. The wealth from mining attracted gamblers and adventurers to St. Michel.