Est. 1890 · Late Victorian Residential Architecture on St. Charles Main Street · New Orleans-Style Iron Balcony Construction · St. Charles Historic Commercial District Conversion
The building that houses Lewis and Clark's Restaurant was constructed in the 1890s as a private residence, three stories with the decorative iron balconies associated with New Orleans-influenced architecture that appeared in Missouri river cities during the late Victorian period. The house stood as a home through the early twentieth century before the Main Street commercial district's expansion made the stretch attractive for dining operations.
The conversion to restaurant use preserved the residential bones of the structure — notably the central staircase with its landing between the first and second floors, and a doorway at the back of that landing that was subsequently walled over during renovation. That bricked-over doorway features in the most-cited paranormal account at the location.
The building's history between its 1890s construction and its restaurant conversion is not well-documented in available sources. No specific deaths or documented traumas are recorded at the address by name.
Sources
- https://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2013/10/haunted-towns-of-midwest-st-charles.html?m=1
- https://www.passingdownthelove.com/st-charles-is-haunted/
- https://www.startribune.com/history-and-haunts-in-st-charles-mo/280229872
Apparition of mustachioed man and woman in red dress on staircase landingFigures walking into walled-over doorway and vanishingTelevisions shutting off during crowded events
The apparitions at Lewis and Clark's are unusually specific in their description across multiple accounts: a man with a mustache and a woman wearing a red dress, both in Victorian-era clothing, appearing together on the staircase landing between floors. The detail of the mustachioed man appears consistently across the sources, which is unusual for apparition accounts where descriptions tend to blur.
The defining feature of the sighting is what happens next: the couple walks toward — and apparently into or through — the walled-over doorway at the back of the landing. The bricked-over entrance is a documented architectural feature of the building, and the fact that the apparitions consistently move toward it rather than through an open space has been noted as the strangest element of the reports by people who have seen them.
Televisions in the restaurant reportedly shut off without warning during crowded sporting events, a form of electrical interference that is easier to attribute to old wiring than to the Victorians on the stairs, but the building's age makes either explanation plausible. The staircase landing remains visible from the dining room during normal service.
Notable Entities
Unidentified Victorian-era man (mustachioed) — no name in sourcesUnidentified woman in red dress — no name in sources