Tag: News

Ste. Genevieve gets national park designation, but much remains to do before it will open By Leah Thorsen St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 8, 2018 STE. GENEVIEVE, MO. • The iconic National Park Service arrowhead emblem that directs visitors to famous national landmarks, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, will eventually point tourists to a small Mississippi River town where French houses date to the 1700s. The long-sought formation of the Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park was approved by Congress and signed into law March 23. It authorizes the National Park Service to acquire about 13 acres, including historic buildings, for inclusion in the park about an hour south of St. Louis. Getting the national park designation was the culmination of 20 years of effort that local officials hope will bring more tourists to the town of nearly 4,500. Momentum grew in 2005 when Congress ordered the Department of Interior to study whether part of the city and county meet federal criteria to be included in the national park system. The study began in 2010. It was supposed to take three years, but it wasn’t until 2015 that the National Park Service released its findings, which declared dozens of properties as historically Read more…

The Daily Journal published a story about the Octane Tour’s visit to Southeast Missouri during the weekend of September 11 to September 13, 2020. The tour attracts dozens of car enthusiasts in the St. Louis area for weekend getaway drives. This year’s drive featured Ste. Geneviève County and its wine country. Several classic cars stopped in Ste. Genevieve on Friday, September 11, and parked at downtown parking lots. Organizer Matt Burcham was impressed with Ste. Geneviève, telling the Daily Journal: “The response that the Ste. Geneviève businesses had with us coming into town was crazy. Everybody had handmade signs welcoming the Octane Tour. “Some people had even made up some dash plaques and handed them out to us and other people met us, and it was really cool. All these people were taking pictures of these signs and putting them on Facebook. It was nice to see the area wanted us here. We want to try and patronize these places as we can.” Read more…

Monday, December 14, 2021 marks 1,211 days since the Great American Eclipse of 2017, and 1,211 days to the next total solar eclipse for Ste. Geneviève — on April 8, 2024. A solar eclipse did take place on Monday, December 14, 2021 and it was viewable in Argentina and Chile in South America. A photo of the 2017 solar eclipse taken in downtown Ste. Geneviève. Ste. Geneviève was included in the path of totality on August 21, 2017 — the first time that was the case since perhaps the 1400s. The St. Louis area had not previously been on the centerline for a total solar eclipse since 1442, and St. Louis won’t be on the centerline for the 2024 eclipse. The 2024 centerline will cross the United States from Texas to the northeast. The north edge of the centerline will not extend as far up as Festus but it will include Ste. Geneviève County. As the northern end of the centerline, Ste. Geneviève will have about 2 minutes of totality; Cape Girardeau will have about 4 minutes as the midpoint of the centerline. Ste. Geneviève had more than 2 1/2 minutes of totality in 2017 by being at the midpoint Read more…

River Rapids Waterpark at the Ste. Geneviève County Community Center was featured recently on onlyinyourstate.com. The park’s final day of the 2022 season is Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2022. Click here to see the story. Read more…

2019 Ste. Geneviève was featured in this USA Today gallery article about its architectural and historical significance. Read the article HERE. Read more…