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Quickfacts:
- Township: Jackson
- Also known as Brickeys Landing
Quicklinks:
History:
John Compton Brickey,
the founder of the Brickeys area, arrived in 1837 at age 21.
He purchased, from Toussant Lakier and Henry Bequette, 83 acres;
later purchasing another 40 from the United States government.
He set up a landing at which many boats stopped. Later, in
1869, John also built a flour mill with stone imported from Ozora.
Sometime after the Civil War, the
area fell on hard times and John had to sell part of his land.
The rest was later foreclosed on by Chad Brooks and the Foster Land
Company. In 1888, the mill and landing closed. (The mill
was again reopened sometime in the early 1930's by a Mr. Doerge and
produced and sold Ste. Genevieve Brand White Flour. Fire
destroyed the mill and a store building on January 12, 1986.)
John's son Franklin later bought back
the land (1897?), but in 1902, he sold it to Justin Potter; sometime
later the land was again sold, this time to Judge E. J. Rombauer.
Early in the 1900's the Frisco
Railroad came through the area, adding to business, Weldon Pinkley
running the depot. John Brickey's home was turned into a
boarding house and a store, post office (abt 1905), quarry, and lime
kiln were also all built. Mrs. Theodore Carron ran the
boarding house while her husband ran the others.
The main road through Brickeys, known
as "String Town," was a long row of houses in Brickey Hollow, later
to which were added a saloon, dance hall, barber shop, and school.
The school, opened about 1908 at the end of String Town ran until
1949 when it was merged into the school at Bloomsdale. Some
early teachers were Armella Peterson, from Ste. Genevieve, riding
the train to Brickeys everyday; Mrs. Morice, Ste. Genevieve; Mr. "Juddy"
Ditch, from Kinsey; Louis Drury, was also a state representative;
Elmer Holst; Pershing Bayer; and Manella Ritter.
Sometime in the 1930's, the trains
stopped getting passengers at Brickeys and the depot was closed.
The post office, having been moved to the boarding house by this
time, remained open with trains only dropping mail at the now flag
stop. This continued until 1951 when the post office was
closed. An early postmaster was Albert Reed who ran the post
office for many years. when he passed away, his
daughter-in-law Dorthey Reed took over, carrying the mail from
Brickeys to Bloomsdale to Lawrenceton and back again.
Also in the 1930's the lime kiln and
rock quarry were also closed. Charles Bussen of Ste. Genevieve
reopened and again closed the quarry and a marble quarry was opened
and closed by a Mr. Weiler. However in 1960, Albert and Velery
Menefee bought and reopened the quarry. The last residents of
Brickeys were Henry and Mamie Aubuchon who were also the caretakers
for Albert Menefee. (I do not know who owns the quarry today,
but it is still in operation and is the only thing in Brickeys).
Other Buildings and Businesses:
The Fair View: Chism's Store
The Fair View was a
store opened by Elijah and Mildred Chism in April of 1940. The
building still stands today, although unoccupied, at the junction of
Brickey Road and Highway 61. (However, at that time there was
no Hwy 61, but a Hwy 25, a bit further east.) The store opened
with $50 and sold bread, ice, soda, beer, cigarettes, and gas.
They later added a feed store, icehouse, and bar, and opened a small
motel in the 1950's. Since business was not booming right
away, the Chisms bought two little black bears from a zoo in
Wisconsin to help - and it did the trick. (Later however,
after one of the bears died, they tried to give away the other bear
to zoos, but none would have it. Their daughter Wilma, age 16,
shot the bear with 50 spectators watching and it was butchered, and
a shooting match held to sell the meat, 120 choices.) The
store had the most business when Interstate 55 was under
construction, but afterwards, it fell upon a slow decline until it
finally closed in 1980. Elijah died in 1972 and Mildred in
1997.
The Fair View as seen by the webmaster January 2005.
The Alice Inn
The Alice Inn was a store, gas
station, and tavern built by William Lewis in the late 1920's at the
junction of Highway OO/DD and old Highway K. Later, he added a
large dance hall. It also served as a bus stop for the St.
Louis-Cape Girardeau bus line. However, in the 1950's it was
destroyed by fire and was torn down by Eunice Grundmeyer who bought
the property. She rebuilt a large tavern and dance hall (one
building) and later a small restaurant that was run by Charles and
Leona Grundmeyer. Later, the building was used as a bicycle
repair shop, a pizza parlor, but is now a private residence and
trailer court.
The Beacon
Built in the 1930's
along Highway 61, north of Brickeys by Charles Grundmeyer, it served
as a gathering place for dance and card playing. Still
standing, it has had several owners and been many businesses since.
Brands Place
Brands place is an
old farm home built about 1850 on Holsts Rd about one mile from 61.
The upstairs at one time served as the office for Dr. Albert Brands
(1856-1909) who was born near Bloomsdale.
Lebanon Baptist Church, 1859
The land for the church was given
by John Lee and his slaves helped build the original building (which
is now gone). In its early days, the church served as a
community meeting house with sermons from different denominations
each week. "Frame, remodeled and joined to church built
1957-1958. In use as educational building. Church
[congregation] organized, 1833, as members of Jefferson County
Baptist Association."2
Various Newspaper Articles:
The Ste. Genevieve Herald
August 13, 2003
122 Years with the Ste. Genevieve Herald
75 Years Ago - 1928
A group of Republican women voters from Brickeys and that
neighborhood met at Brickeys Wednesday, October 31. Mrs. A. P.
Stelter of Ste. Genevieve spoke to them about the value of voting
and demonstrated to them the proper manner of making out their
tickets.
Maps:
1920, Clason
Sources:
1. The Early History of Northern Ste. Genevieve County; Juanita
and Pat Holst
2. Missouri Historic Sites Catalogue; edited by Dorothy J. Caldwell;
published by the State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO;
1963
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