The
history of O'Fallon can, in
large part, be told as a history of its two earliest religious
congregations; the Catholics largely made up of German immigrants, and
the Methodists, the majority of whose earliest members were the Irish
and English who moved to St. Charles County from Kentucky.
The Catholics
Eighty some families, Catholics
of French descent, lived in and around St. Charles, existing as fur
traders, trappers and hunters. These people came as
far west as the site now known as O'Fallon as early as
1769. In about 1818, a log church was built at
Dardenne. Five years later, in St. Peters, All
Saints parish was established and its parishioners were a combination
of the earlier French settlers and the newly-arrived German immigrants.
The Germans began to arrive in
1838. The predominance of the German element in the
latter sixties brought a German priest, Father Conrad Tintrup, to Dog
Prairie, which was later renamed St. Paul.
Weary of traveling the
distances to St. Peter's and St. Paul's churches and school, some
members of both parishes met in the fall of 1869 to discuss the
organization of a new parish. 
Pledges were raised, an anonymous St. Louisan
donated the bricks, and Judge Arnold Krekel donated the
land. The new church was dedicated on September 17,
1871. In 1876, Rev. Henry Brockhagen was appointed
pastor of Assumption and under his lead, the log school that had been
built the same time as the first church was replaced with a brick
building to accommodate the increased
enrollment. Two new bells were installed in the
church tower in 1878. Along with the original bell,
all three remain in service to this day.
Father
Brockhagen is known for the first newspaper in the area, the
"Katholicher Hausfreund" (Friend of the Catholic Home), a weekly
publication that ran from 1882 to 1895. It was
written in German and its purpose was to help the German Catholic
immigrants adjust to life in their new home. Many of them spoke German
even until the early 1900's. In 1900 it was revived
as the "O'Fallon Hausfreund" and ran until 1909.
Because of the congregation's
expansion, a newer and larger church was needed. The
wrecking of the old church began on September 22, 1930 and the new
church was dedicated on July 4, 1931. This church
has served the Assumption Parish ever since and remains today alongside
the brand new church built in 2005.
The Methodists
The Methodists were the first
organized religious group in the vicinity of the present city of
O'Fallon. They can trace their founding back to the
historical walls of the house of Jacob Zumwalt. In
1778, "the hard riding, shouting, long-praying sons" of John Wesley
came to St. Charles County as well as to other parts of Missouri as
circuit riders. Though Rev. John Clark, a circuit
rider or traveling preacher, led the first service at Zumwalt's Fort,
Rev. Jesse Walker is said to have been the first
pastor. As early as 1807, services were held at the
Fort to a congregation that called itself the Mt. Zion
Society. Their church, the first Methodist church
west of the Missouri River, was built of logs only a few yards east of
the Fort. Wine for communion services was made from
pokeberry juice and the bread was cornbread
crusts. Rev. John Travis, Missouri's first
accredited Methodist minister, held regular services at the Zumwalt
home the latter part of the same year.
As the group increased in
numbers, it became necessary to build a new
church. In 1853, the Methodists built a new stone
church on Mt. Zion. A front porch offered the ladies
protection from foul weather and muddy roads. The
grounds behind the church were reserved for burying the dead and Mt.
Zion Cemetery is still in use to this day.
By 1882 the congregation had
outgrown the stone church that, by now, was in need of
repair. The question was whether to raze the church and 
rebuild on the same site or build a new church within the city limits
of O'Fallon. Many felt tied to Mt. Zion since their
own lands surrounded the church but the businessmen of O'Fallon lobbied
for the congregation to move to within the city's
boundaries. When the time came to vote, the decision
was made to move the church to a place where it could serve the greater
number of people. In 1883, Rev. J. H. Pritchett
dedicated the new church at the corner of Wood and Church
Streets. The congregation flourished at this
location and became an integral part of the
community. Then, in 1953, the Public School building
at the corner of Pitman and School Streets was purchased by the
Methodists at public auction for $12,500. The old
church was sold to the newly organized Christian Church.
Again needing a larger
facility, the new church was built in 1958 adjacent to the existing
building and was renamed Williams Memorial Methodist
Church. In 2000, that building was sold to the Fort
Zumwalt District for the Hope High School. The first
phase of the congregation's newest church, again renamed to Cornerstone
United Methodist Church, is on Tom Ginnever Blvd.