A STROLL ON MAIN STREET

Imagine it is 1966. You are strolling Main Street in St. Charles beginning at the corner of South Main and Booneslick Road (the colloquial version used at the time). A train can be heard, blowing its whistle as it rumbles down the track. The South Side Market is open and kids are buying penny candy after school. As you survey the view from the corner market, there is a shabby trailer court on the northwest corner, a dilapidated metal processing plant on the northeast corner, and a battered two story brick building to the southeast. A few local alcoholics stumble past as you continue your journey on Main Street.

If you were to walk south, you would find a fenced property with large oil tanks and a large lighted Mobil winged horse sign outside an irregular-cut stone building, and further on, a well-known winery.

The old brick street is patched with asphalt, the sidewalks are a mix of dirt paths, brick and portions of uneven concrete. In the 900 block, you notice a small one story building next to the creek, the yard stacked full of chicken coops. Later, you are told this residence is called “Chicken Lady’s House”.

Though ramshackled, most of the buildings are free of remodeling that would hide the original form. If you were a person of imagination, like Archie Scott, you could see the forms as they had been intended when built a in the early to mid 19th century, hear the beating of horses hooves and the rattle of wagons.

In the 800 block, the city has a large property and industrial building used by the street department, piles of sand and gravel, parked trucks.

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