The Starter Home of Francois and Marianne Valle

In 1749 they arrived here and started their own Trading Post out of this house, a wedding present from the Mayor of Kaskaskia, Marianne's father.

They bought lead until, in 1754, they had to flee with their new children to Sainte Genevieve as the French and Indian War began.

Known later on in Ste. Genevieve for being the parents of Jean Baptiste Valle I, their Valles Mines grew. Well managed now, this allowed Jean Baptiste I, a Frenchman of the First Republic to liove over 90 years, and later, his son, J.B. II, ultimately one of the first citizens of the State Of Missouri, to take over operations, first transporting their lead ingots overland by horse and then by special ox wagons, 35 miles east to Ste. Genevieve, which by now established itself as a river port on the Mississippi. Delivering ingots upriver to George Washington and his Continental Army and to markets on the east coast and south to New Orleans via pole boats was tremendously successful.

Jean Baptiste II started the Valle Mining Company, one of the first Missouri corporations (Charter No. 123b), in 1869.