1 rue St. Francois, Florissant, Missouri, and is owned, preserved, maintained, and protected by the non-profit organization, Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, Inc.

(See Hanson House (Florissant, Missouri) article's sources...MRA doc) The convent, church, and rectory may be visited for historic tours and religious pilgrimages.

Around 1767, just a few years after Pierre Laclede and August Chouteau established the fur-trading village of St. Louis, French plantation owners settled in an area they called "Fleurissant."

In 1782, August Chouteau named François Dunegant the "Commandant of Fleurissant" and charged him with protecting the settlement from Indian attacks.

While the church was used for sacramental and devotional purposes, the area outside its doors was used for proclamations, business and real-estate transactions, and meetings of a public nature.

[6] He went a long way to attract Catholic missionaries and educators to settlements throughout the territory, serving both pioneers from Europe and Native Americans.

Duchesne established the first Catholic school for girls west of the Mississippi in St. Charles, Missouri, in 1818, then in 1819 relocated to Florissant.

Later, she founded nine schools in the Louisiana Territory and received the vows of the first American women to enter religious life in the Midwest.

The convent was built in the Federal Style under the supervision of Father Duran, a Trappist monk who was serving as pastor.

[3] The sisters arrived in time for Christmas 1819, where Father de la Croix offered the first Mass in the chapel at midnight on December 24.

[5] The Sisters of Loretto convent was enlarged but the addition was removed, preserving only the original part known by St. Philippine Duchesne.

DeSmet traveled 180,000 miles visiting almost every Native American tribe the West and crossing the Atlantic a total of nineteen times to solicit financial support from nearly every European nation.

DeSmet arranged peace between warring tribes, calmed uprisings and negotiated a treaty for the U.S. government eventually befriending the famous chief, Sitting Bull.

DeSmet returned to St. Ferdinand regularly to minister to the parishioners, seek Mother Duchesne's help, and consult fellow Jesuits.