Washington County MOGenWeb® Project
St. Joachim Catholic Church, Old Mines, MO
The French population swelled in the 1760s when French settlers of Acadia (now called Nova Scotia) fled the Canadian provinces after the English imposed anti-Catholic laws. Religious needs of the Catholic people of Old Mines were served until the late 1700s by Jesuit priests who visited from Kaskaskia, Illinois. From 1793, priests from Ste. Genevieve served the people of Old Mines.1
St. Joachim Church 1937
St. Joachim Catholic Church was consecrated October 29, 1820.2 The patron of this church is Saint Joachim, father of Mary, who has a great devotion among the Catholic French; and nearby is a church named after his wife, Saint Anne.3 The first church of which there are records is a log church constructed in 1821 by Father Henry Pratte from Ste. Genevieve. Construction of the present brick church began in 1828 under the direction of Vincentian Father John Boullier, the first resident pastor of St. Joachim. The church was consecrated by Bishop Joseph Rosati in October of 1831 and is the oldest church in the archdiocese still in use by a parish.1
St. Joachim Church 1940
The land upon which the present Church rests with the surrounding cemeteries and fields was part of the Old Mines Concession in Washington County comprising Lots 6, 7, and 8. The original Old Mines Grant was 10,548 acres. On January 4, 1803 the Spanish Government authorities gave these three lots to three individuals. The Spanish Government conceded Lot 6 to Joseph Boyer who sold it to Jacob Wise who in turn sold the land to Etienne and Marie Louise Lamarque on June 13, 1836. Marie Louise later donated it to Peter Richard Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, on January 1, 1856. This is the land known as the old graveyard or Cemetery Number 1.4
Interior (before electricity)
The Spanish Government conceded Lot 7 to Alexander Duclus (Declos) (His wife was Julia). Lot 8 was conceded by the Spanish Government to Charles Robert. Lots 7 and 8 were sold on February 21, 1814 to John Smith T., who sold the land to Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis on March 29, 1830 "for the sole use and purpose of erecting a Catholic Church ...Bishop Rosati sold the land to John Timon and John Boullier on April 4, 1836 "upon the express condition of erecting a Catholic Church on the said premises and that the said premises shall be used for the use of the Catholic Church and no other-" John Boullier, on November 10, 1849 sold some of the land giving all "rights and titles to the Church land to Thomas Burke and John J. Lynch. They sold it for $400 to Peter Richard Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, paid for by Madame Lamarque on October 18, 1854 for the "use and benefit of the Roman Catholic members of the congregation of the Church, of St. Joachim." This, however, was not the site where the present church is. The land where the Church is now was sold for $1.00 to Archbishop Kenrick by Thomas Burke and John J. Lynch on December 16, 1850 before any agreement for the rest of the land was made. This plot "containing twenty-two and 50/100 acres, more or less, is understood to be the land on which to build the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joachim, commonly known as the Church of the Old Mines." It is interesting to take note of the fact that the Church was built on the land where it is now before it was owned by the Church.4
The village of Old Mines is the oldest settlement in the State of Missouri, states Father Mark G. Boyer, a retired priest of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau. He is a native of Old Mines and author of “300 Years of the French in Old Mines: A Narrative History of the Oldest Village in Missouri” published by Wipf and Stock of Eugene, Oregon.1
1. St. Louis Review
2. Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, and Eugene L Pleitsch, photographers by Lavack, Theodore, and Piaget-Van Ravenswaay. St. Joachim's Church, Old Mines, Washington County, MO. Documentation Compiled After. Photographs. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
3. Rome of the West
4. History of St. Joachim Catholic Church
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