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CHistory
History · St. Peters

St. Peters’ post office opened in 1841

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #170 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

Most of St. Peters was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1880.

1841first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Shane52sk at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How St. Peters began

When was St. Peters founded?

1841

The St. Peters post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Six Mile House (1875) and Harvester (1881), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 334 in 18802020 census: 57,732185 years

How historic is St. Peters?

C

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first St. Peters post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives St. Peters’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Peters is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #170 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Peters’ overall grade.
Founding era1841, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19401.0% of homes (±0.5) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 30%
NewerOlder
Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 31%

Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so St. Peters’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about St. Peters’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of St. Peters are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s St. Peters, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1841: 185 years of St. Peters.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Peters’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Peters’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

St. Peters, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00018801900192019401960198020002020358 in 1920Low: 248

Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Peters’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Peters
1841–today
Six Mile House
1875–1880
Harvester
1881–1901
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HarvesterSaint Peters
Gone or out of use
Cave Springs SchoolschoolFairmount SchoolschoolSontimer AirportairportSpencer Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How St. Peters came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Peters.

Read it all →

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area that would become St. Peters was inhabited by Mississippian mound builders. The remains of a village were uncovered during the construction of I-70 in 1954 and a street near the site was later named Mound Drive after the mounds built by the villagers.

One of the first documented sources about European settlers in the area is a Spanish census from 1791, which documented a land grant. St. Peters was named for a Jesuit mission established there. In 1895, music was a binding factor for the area, with a well-known cornet band.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Peters, 1841 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1841Post officeThe Saint Peters post office opens
  3. 1875Post officeThe Six Mile House post office opens
  4. 1880Post officeThe Six Mile House post office closes
  5. 1881Post officeThe Harvester post office opens
  6. 1886Born hereManley Ottmer Hudson is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1901Post officeThe Harvester post office closes
  9. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1973Born hereKellie Suttle is born here
  11. 1988Born hereAlex Riggs is born here
  12. 1988Born hereMike Jones is born here
  13. 21st century
  14. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 57,732
By decade

St. Peters, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Fort Zumwalt South High School2009Fort Zumwalt South High SchoolFort Zumwalt East High School2009Fort Zumwalt East High SchoolMaaco center2008Maaco centerStpeterstrafficjam2007StpeterstrafficjamSt. Peters City Centre Park2007St. Peters City Centre Park
On the map

St. Peters on the map, 1954 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Peters. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

St. Peters on the 1954 USGS mapSt. Peters on the 1968 USGS mapSt. Peters on the 1974 USGS mapSt. Peters on the 1982 USGS mapSt. Peters on the 1994 USGS map1954Kampville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Peters.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in St. Peters

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
K
Kellie SuttleAmerican athletics competitor · b. 1973
Alex RiggsAmerican soccer player · b. 1988
Manley Ottmer HudsonLawyer for public international law · b. 1886
M
Mike JonesAmerican soccer player · b. 1988
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

St. Charles15 historic placesACottlevilleIts storyCWeldon SpringIts storyC−O'Fallon3 historic placesC

Questions about St. Peters’ history

What year was St. Peters founded?

The St. Peters post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does St. Peters rank for history?

St. Peters is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #170 of 247 in Missouri. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in St. Peters?

1% of St. Peters’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1988.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.