Krekel House Model On Display at O’Fallon City Hall

Have you ever wondered what O’Fallon might have looked like when it was first founded?

You can get a glimpse of what the first O’Fallon home looked like in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  A model of the Krekel House circa 1875-1905 is on now display at .

O’Fallon resident Jim Pepper spent a couple of months and nearly 300 hours piecing together the one-inch to the foot scale model.

The model opens on the sides and top so you can see the kitchen as it may have appeared in the beginning, complete with a coal stove, ice box and breadbox.

Along with the bedrooms, dining room and sitting room, you can also see the first O’Fallon store, which operated from the home.

Nicolas Krekel was the city’s first railroad station master, postmaster and owner of the general store—all of which he ran out of his home.

Pepper said to build the model from scratch, he researched general stores and buildings from the time period.

He also had help from other O’Fallon residents. Suzanne’s Dollhouses and Miniatures supplied the right furniture and other small historic pieces and Pat Lewis, who made the tiny curtains.

Pepper also credits John Griesenauer, an O’Fallon resident and descendent of Nicholas Krekel, for helping him make sure the home was as historically accurate as possible.

O’Fallon Patch talked with Griesenauer, who shared what he knows about his family’s legacy.

A Look at the History of the First Home in O’Fallon

Nicholas Krekel ‘s family, including his parents and four siblings, immigrated from Germany to the United States in 1832. The family arrived in New York and came down the Ohio River to Louisville, KY, where his mother died.

The Krekels soon settled in St. Charles County.

According to Griesenauer, his great-great grandfather Nicholas Krekel, arrived in O’Fallon around 1856. He and his wife Wilhelmina Moritz, walked from St. Louis.

Nicholas’s brother Arnold, was friends with North Missouri Railroad President John O’Fallon, so he bought property near the railroad, which Nicholas purchased from him.

It was on this land, located on North Main Street across from today, that Nicholas built the first house in what was platted as O’Fallon.

Although Krekel died in 1910, the home remained in the family until 1960s, according to Griesenauer.

Krekel’s daughter Mary married William Westhoff, who ran the Westhoff Mercantile, that is today .

When Nicholas Krekel died, the Westhoffs moved in and lived there until Mary Westhoff’s passing in 1964.

“My grandmother, she was actually born in the Westhoff store in 1904, but then I guess she would have been six when they moved across the street and she lived there until she was married, Griesenauer said.

After Mary Westhoff’s passing, the Krekel House was home to the daycare Happy Time Nursery, for nearly 40 years.

Griesenauer said the Krekel House had two rooms below, a sitting and a dining room and four bedrooms upstairs.

“If you’ve seen the model that’s how it was. The business was on the west side and the residence was on the east,” he said. 

According to Nicholas’ journal, the Krekel house was first built as a log cabin then eventually became a story and half with a gable to the south.

“The house as it stands now, was built around these other houses, and it’s pretty much from 1872 is what you see now,” Griesenauer said.

The Krekel House Present Day

The home, located on North Main Street across from , was purchased by the city in 2007.

Pepper said he built the model to help increase interest in O’Fallon’s first historic home, and possibly encourage moving forward on a plan to rejuvenate portions of the house.

“I’d like to see it on display until an area of the Krekel House is rehabilitated and we can display it over there,” Pepper said.

O'Fallon Patch previously reported, in December 2011, the City Council voted to so council members could discuss the project in more detail.

Since then, several residents have

At a , Ward 4 Councilman Jeff Schwentker said the city is currently working on a five-year plan addressing several issues, including the Krekel House.

Other Interesting Facts About the Krekel House and Family:

• While some mistake the front of the house as the side on Civic Park Drive, it is actually the side that faces Main Street.
• There are still original logs in the floor of the west end of the home where the general store was located.
• Nicholas Krekel once chased a burglar from the store. The burglar took a shot at Nicholas and the bullet lodged in one of doorframes and may still be there today.
• The flat roof seen today on the Krekel house was once a full peak. It was struck by lightening in the early 1900s and destroyed.
• In the early days, the only heat in the home came from two stoves on the first floor. Griesenauer’s grandmother told him stories about doing chores as a young child. If the dishes were not dried properly at night, they would be frozen together in the morning.
• At least three Krekel/Westhoff family members were born in the home.
• The Krekel House was one of the first in O’Fallon to have electricity. The Westhoff family ran the power and light plant in town.
• Nicholas’ daughter Bertha Krekel was one of the first reporters in O’Fallon. She used the pen name Cleo, which is a Greek muse for history. She wrote columns about the comings and goings of people in town in the early 1900s.
• There are nearly 150 descendents of the Krekel family still living in O’Fallon today.  

To read more about local history, check out the O’Fallon Historical Society and the City of O’Fallon websites.