1785 – caused the residents
of "Old" Ste. Genevieve on le grand champe to move to the
current location.

1881 –

1903 –
The Ste. Genevieve Herald
122 Years With the Ste. Genevieve Herald
February 5, 2003
75 Years Ago – 1903
Friday morning of last week a three-room frame house came
floating down the Mississippi River and lodged on the sandbar
opposite the County Poor Farm nursing home.  Parties who
discovered it, and rowed over to it, say the house is in good
condition, and as well as can be ascertained is empty.  The
house is still on the bar and about three feet of the roof shows
above the water, which has been steadily rising for the past two
weeks.  It is not known to whom the building belongs, but some
think it may have floated away from some place on the Meramec where
it had probably had been used as a clubhouse.  As far as we
know no inquiries have as yet been made by the owners as to its
whereabouts.
March 19, 2003
100 Years Ago – 1903
The gauge at St. Louis showed 41.4 feet June 27, 1844, when the
water reached the sill of the Little Rock Mill here and boats landed
at the porch of the Baustark rock house.  On May 19, 1892, it
showed 36 feet, and on June 25, 1883, only 34.7 feet.  This
latter stage is expected to be reached or exceeded this year.
April 9, 2003
100 Years Ago – 1903
On the night of Thursday, June 11th, the levee protecting Bois
Brule Bottom below St. Marys broke, and the onrushing water flooded
about 20,000 acres of the most productive wheat and corn land. 
The growing crops are, of course, ruined and the only blessing is
that no lives were lost.  Among the flood sufferers were our
former fellow citizens, Louis Hoog and Joseph Lorch.
Now that we have had so much water at our doors all our farmers are
complaining about drought.  It is very near a month that we had
no good, thorough rain, and the continuous dry weather is doing
incalculable damage to growing crops in the fields.

1943 - 38.94 feet

1944 - 41.39 feet

1947 - 40.26 feet

1951 – 40.28 feet

1973 – 43.30 feet

1982 – 38.50 feet

1986 – 39.20 feet

1993 – The greatest in history (and hopefully ever) –
49.67 feet
The Mississippi River overflowed and spilled over the existing
levies leaving about 20 feet of water across Main Street, and all
creeks backed up.  About 100 families and businesses were
displaced and the water system was unusable.  Missouri National
Guardsmen, youth groups from churches all over the country, and Ste.
Genevieve citizens built sandbag walls and elevated the levies –
several of which sadly ended up failing.  Ste. Genevieve earned
much publicity during this time, even with Jour de Fete being
cancelled for the only time.
In the aftermath of the flood, water and wastewater plants were shut
down, streets and stormwater systems were crushed, City hall’s
basement filled up with sewage; Port-a-Potties were set up on street
corners; the U.S. Army pumped clean water into the high school
locker rooms, where residents took showers for about 40 days. 
Ste. Genevieve was later awarded $4 million in federal relief
monies, more than any other Missouri city.

Sources:

1. Sign on South Main St (picture below as taken by the webmaster)
2. The Ste. Genevieve Herald (see above)