Our History

The Foundry Art Centre resides in what was once a train car factory owned by American Car & Foundry (ACF). Manufacturing and the railroad industry on the site began in the 1850s, when the first Foundry & Shops were constructed on the river by the North Missouri Rail Road Company. This was at the beginning of railroad fever. The first locomotive arrived in St. Charles in 1856.  These original shops were dismantled just a decade later in 1867 and moved to Moberly, MO. 

After the Panic of 1873, the city decided to raise money for a manufacturing company. This became the St. Charles Manufacturing Company and the original facility was constructed in 1874. The site of our present day building was the “Machine & Iron Finishing Shop,” the first building to be constructed for the new manufacturing company.

The original foundry for the St. Charles Manufacturing Company was located south of Clark Street, where the FAC’s parking lot is now. The building labeled as “Machine Shop” is located where the Foundry Art Centre is now located. Notice that Main Str…

The original foundry for the St. Charles Manufacturing Company was located south of Clark Street, where the FAC’s parking lot is now. The building labeled as “Machine Shop” is located where the Foundry Art Centre is now located. Notice that Main Street used to continue north of Clark Street at this point, since the manufacturing company did not spread west across Main Street until 1887.

By 1886, the company had begun building passenger cars for steam railroads. At this time, the St. Charles Manufacturing Company was building new manufacturing space as it was needed. The future site of our building consisted of a series of buildings constructed together, almost like additions on a house.

In 1893, a Planing Mill was constructed to the west of the FAC’s future site. This addition spanned from the current Foundry Art Centre’s building north to beyond the boundary of what is now ClimbSoILL. By this time, the name of the facility had changed to St. Charles Car Works and the future site of the FAC was now just used as a Machine Shop and a location for scrap iron.

1886

1886

1893

1893

1909

1909

1917

1917

Over the next 15 years, construction continued and some buildings were rebuilt or clad in brick. In 1899, the Car Company was sold to a conglomerate along with 12 other small companies.

In 1899, with a capital of $60,000,000, the Milton Car Works and 12 other railcar builders led by William Keeny Bixby of Missouri Car and Foundry formed…the American Car and Foundry Company. (American Railcar Industries Inc.)

Click here to see a historic ACF Facility Pamphlet

After the American Car & Foundry was formed, it wasn’t just the management that changed on site in St. Charles. Physical changes soon followed as the old buildings were town down to make way for brick structures, some of which remain today. The company began to construct steel railcars for all around the world. This was also the height of ACF’s influence over St. Charles, as it employed over 1,600 people.





“The Foundry Art Centre is modeled after the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, one of only two similar projects in the country.” - Forging

Map of the Frenchtown Historic District

NRHP Form Frenchtown Historic District 

The information in the above narrative comes from Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and from resources created by the St. Charles County Historical Society listed below.

  • American Railcar Industries Inc. “About American Railcar Industries Inc.” http://americanrailcar.com/Home/About.

  • Flynn, Cleta. A.C.F. American Car& Foundry: Its beginnings, evolution, survival as a classic American Manufacturing Business. “St. Charles Short Story Series.” St. Charles County Historical Society. 2013.

  • Flynn, Cleta. A.C.F. American Car& Foundry: Its beginnings, evolution, survival as a classic American Manufacturing Business. St. Charles County Historical Society. 2013.

    • Comprised of 4 articles on ACF published in the St. Charles County Historical Society’s Heritage Quarterly Journal in January, April, July, and October 2013.

  • Flynn, Cleta. The Car Shop: The Evolution of St. Charles Riverfront from Early Settlers to the Railroads to ACF. Part Two: The Search for Business. “St. Charles County Heritage: The Bulletin of the St. Charles County Historical Society.” April 2013.

  • Forging a Cultural Landmark in St. Charles. Foundry Art Centre. 2002.

Images from the B-3: The ACF Industries Archival Collection at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.