Maeystown...
Step back in time as
you enter this picturesque 19th century
German village tucked neatly into the
surrounding landscape.
Maeystown...
where three streams
descend the bluff, was founded by Jacob
Maeys in 1852. The original
settlers were German immigrants
predominately from the former Bavarian
Rheinpfalz. The village is unique
in manner with structures integrated
into the landscape. The original
stone church, built in 1865-67, held
services intermittently in German until
1943. Sixty significant buildings
still exist, including Maeys' log house,
the original church, the stone bridge
entry into town, Zeitinger's Mill, and
various outbuildings, barns, and
smokehouses made of limestone, brick,
and wood. These buildings, built
in the mid to late 1800's, form this
quaint little village.
...Because of its
outbuildings, stone walls, flagstone
gutters, structures built into the
landscape, and common nationality,
MAEYSTOWN, in its entirety, was listed
on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1978 -- one of only a few
villages in the State of Illinois to be
so honored.
Maeystown is truly one
of the hidden treasures of the
Midwest. In its description of
Maeystown, the St. Louis Riverfront
Times stated, "the most impressive work
of art is the village itself, a warren
of narrow lanes and nineteenth-century
storefronts surrounded by green
hills. Visitors approach the
pocket-size town on an arched stone
bridge so weathered you'll expect to
find trolls living underneath it.
Maeystown's natural and man-made vistas
go beyond mere 'quaint' or 'picturesque'
into the realm of the truly beautiful."
Although Maeystown's
population continues to be small, people
from throughout the St. Louis
metropolitan area support Maeystown's
many activities. These events
include: FASTNACHT, German pancake
and sausage dinner (Tuesday before Ash
Wednesday); FRUEHLINGSFEST, antique and
garden show (first Sunday in May);
MAEYSTOWN HOMECOMING (Friday and
Saturday before Memorial Day);
OKTOBERFEST, arts, crafts, and antique
fair (second Sunday in October);
OLD-FASHIONED GERMAN CHRISTMAS (first
Sunday in December).
For more Maeystown
information, please open the associated
links on this Home Page.
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