At the Bonne Terre Board of Alderpersons meeting, February 10, the board voted to sell St. Peters Church to a non-profit organization, W-3 Property Group, LLC. The purpose of the purchase is to use the church as an exhibit place for their society to use. Plans call for renovation of the structure to better suit it for historical and other exhibits. With new plans on the horizon for the church, it seems an obvious time to revisit its past.
The history of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church congregation dates to 1879, when W. H. Conover, the manager of the Bonne Terre Farming and Cattle Company Store moved to town and found no Episcopal church or meeting place. To rectify this situation, the Conover family would host the Episcopal bishop, once a month, in their home. By 1908 a formal church was organized which met in the old Harness Shop for the rental fee of $4 from St. Joe Lead. The ladies of the church then began a fundraising drive by selling quilt tops and organized social events until they had raised $400. Later that year, 1908, St. Joe Lead president, Dwight Jones, gave the church a lot and building on Main Street valued at $1,500 and a check for $100.
St. Peter’s Episcopal church, that stands today, was built in front of the donated building and was completed in 1910 at a cost of $1,000 and remained in active use well into the 21st century. It was given to the City of Bonne Terre in 2009 by the Episcopal Dioceses of St. Louis. Pauline Kohler, who was the last living member of the congregation, was buried in the church in 2010 at the age of 102.
The church, on Southwest Main St., remains an iconic and beautiful piece of Bonne Terre history and a reminder of the communities storied past.
Dan Schunks is a staff writer for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at dschunks@dailyjournalonline.com.
