The St. John Nepomuk Church in the LaSalle Park neighborhood is the oldest Czech church in the United States. The parish was established in 1854 after Czech immigrants began to move into the Soulard neighborhood, along with the German immigrants who had begun to settle in the area in the decade prior. Along with Soulard, many immigrants settled in the area west of the church in an area known as Bohemian Hill. The original church was a wooden structure, and it was fairly modest in size. However, as Soulard grew into a densely populated urban neighborhood by the time of the Civil War, a larger church was needed. The wooden church was replaced by a brick Gothic Revival structure in 1870, that was designed by Adolphus Druiding, who was a Chicago based architect who was known for his designs of Catholic churches in the late 19th century. Along with the church, a large school building was constructed in 1869, and the rectory in 1887. In 1896, a devastating tornado heavily damaged the church, removing the steeple and destroying most of the church outside of the main brick structure. The church was subsequently repaired, and the restoration was completed in 1897. In 1929, the church received new stained glass windows for its 75th anniversary, along with several other upgrades. However, the mid 20th century was unkind to the neighborhood surrounding the church, and almost all of Bohemian Hill was demolished for the construction of the highway 44 and highway 55 interchange. The neighborhood was restored in the 1980s with the funding of Ralston Purina, and many of the remaining historic structures were saved. Despite the tough times for the area, the church remained open and still serves the Soulard area today.
St. John Nepomuk in 1890, photo by Emil Boehl
School building, built in 1869