Mick Maurer.com > Sr. Mary Andrew (Klara Katherine) Maurer, C.PP.S.

Sr. Mary Andrew (Klara Katherine) Maurer, C.PP.S.

Born in St. Louis 8-11-1895, fourth child born, but only the third to live - she was in religious life for sixty years

O’Fallon’s history began with Arnold Krekel (1815-1888), a German immigrant who invested
in property in the heart of what became downtown O’Fallon.

Krekel, who lived in St. Charles, also founded a German-language newspaper, the St.
Charles Democrat, invested in the North Missouri Railroad, and held a number of offices,
including U.S. District Court Judge and Missouri state legislator. During the Civil War he
served as a lieutenant colonel in a Union regiment of Home Guards.

In 1854, Arnold Krekel granted the North Missouri Railroad a right-of-way through his
property, and in 1855 he laid out the town of O’Fallon. Krekel was on the railroad’s board of
directors. When the railroad came through, he named the town O’Fallon after John O’Fallon,
the railroad’s first director and a popular St. Louis businessman and philanthropist.

Arnold Krekel never moved to O’Fallon. It was Nicholas Krekel, Arnold’s younger brother by
ten years, who is considered O’Fallon’s first citizen. He built the first house and store in
1856 (which is still standing) and in 1857 became the first postmaster and station master of
the O’Fallon depot. Nicholas Krekel is also the father of O’Fallon’s first park, Civic Park. In
the early 1900s, he donated land to Assumption Parish. For years, the site of Civic Park was
used for church socials and picnics. In the late 1930s, the church sold a portion of the land
to the city for $1.

Less than a decade after the railroad came through (1855-1857), the Civil War broke out.
Most people are aware of fighting at Fort Sumter, SC in 1861, the so-called first shots of the
Civil War. Fighting broke out in St. Louis at about the same time.

Seeking to protect their homes and businesses, German immigrants formed a Union
regiment to defend the North Missouri Railroad line through O’Fallon. The railroad was a
popular target for the Confederacy. Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Krekel led the regiment, called
Krekel’s Dutch, which successfully defended the railroad here.

In 1870, the North Missouri Railroad Company published a brochure, Facts for Emigrants.
“O’Fallon, thirty-three miles from St. Louis, is a small town, first settled in 1856. It has a
population of about 100. It has two dry goods and a grocery store, a hotel, boarding house,
steam flour mill, brick yard, broom factory, depot and stock yard, post office and express
office. Farmers do well here, and there is a good chance for all kinds of manufacturers.”

About 50 years after the town was first laid out, the City of O’Fallon was incorporated as a 4th
class city. In 1912, 107 householders petitioned the state for City status. The population was
about 600 residents.

In 1956, O’Fallon’s 100th anniversary, the census showed the population to be 1,327
people, and the town measured about 20 blocks square. By 2000, the U.S. census put O’
Fallon’s population at 46,169 people, and the city had grown to 26 square miles. Today, O’
Fallon’s population is over 70,000.

As for the railroad, the Norfolk Southern Corporation operates on the original line laid out
150 years ago.

In 1997, the City of O'Fallon purchased three wings of the
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood Convent for use as
O'Fallon Municipal Centre (City Hall). Services accessible to
the public include:

* Building Safety
* Citizens First Center
* Municipal Court
* Police Department
* Offices of City Administration
* Offices of Mayor and City Council