Janis - Ziegler House - "The Green Tree Tavern"

Considered the oldest surviving building in Missouri according to tree ring dating, this historic home was built in 1790 by Francois Janis or his father, Nicolas Janis. It was the first tavern in the Louisiana Territory and later the first tobacco store and the first Masonic meeting hall west of the Mississippi. The first meeting was held there as Lousiana Lodge No. 109 in 1807. Nicolas, a trader and justice of the peace at Kaskaskia, Illinois before moving to Ste. Genevieve and receiving a land grant in 1789, was born in Canada in 1720 and died in Ste. Genevieve in 1804. His son Francois inherited the house and continued to run the tavern. In 1833, Mathias Ziegler purchased it and operated a tobacco store while living in the house. The building was restored in the 1960s and is again being carefully restored following extensive flooding in 1993.