CONSTRUCTION INFO BELOW

In the fall of 2022, an unassuming two-story log house tucked away in Affton nearly vanished from St. Louis County’s landscape. Built in 1816 by Joseph Sappington—cousin to Thomas Sappington, whose 1808 brick home still anchors Sappington Park—the 210-year-old structure stood quietly on Clearwater Drive, hidden behind modern siding and the passage of time. When the property’s owner began clearing the lot, the future of one of Missouri’s oldest homes suddenly came into question.

Local historians, preservationists, and neighbors quickly rallied. Leading the charge was the Sappington House Foundation (SHF)—a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the region’s early architecture and educating future generations. With support from community donors and volunteers, the group launched an ambitious plan: dismantle, relocate, and reconstruct the entire home five miles away, beside Thomas Sappington’s brick house in Historic Sappington Park in Crestwood.

It wasn’t just about saving old logs—it was about protecting a rare, physical connection to the people who helped shape the early St. Louis frontier.

Joseph Sappington built his home around 1816, only eight years after his cousin Thomas completed his brick residence a few miles west. The Sappington's were among the first pioneer families to settle in the area, building with whatever materials were close at hand—oak and walnut logs cut from Missouri forests, stone from local quarries, handmade bricks for chimneys and hearths.

The Joseph Sappington Log House embodied the rugged yet practical craftsmanship of the early 1800s: thick timber walls, multiple fireplaces, and a modest footprint suited to family life on the frontier. Though later generations added clapboard siding, electricity, and indoor plumbing, the core of the original home survived more than two centuries of weather and change.

Placed beside the stately brick house of Thomas Sappington, the log structure will soon offer visitors a powerful side-by-side comparison—two cousins, two homes, two visions of frontier living—revealing how quickly the region evolved from wilderness cabins to permanent communities.

When demolition permits loomed, the Sappington House Foundation hired Mark Pratt of Antique Logs Unlimited, a specialist in historic timber structures, to perform a surgical disassembly of the home. Each log, joist, and beam was numbered, cataloged, and removed by hand, a painstaking process designed to preserve every original element possible.

“The log house itself was remarkable in that, one, the condition because it’s been modified and lived in for the last 200-plus years,” Pratt explained. “The logs were in magnificent condition for the most part.”

The team discovered that much of the underlying structure was still sound—a testament to the craftsmanship of early settlers and to the generations who maintained it. Over several weeks, the home was reduced to a carefully labeled puzzle of oak and walnut, ready for transport to its new home in Crestwood.

The rescue wasn’t just an act of nostalgia. As SHF President Dyann Dierkes, a direct descendant of Thomas Sappington, put it: “History means a lot, and if you tear down buildings or don’t fix them so they can stand, then we’re not learning. The next generation has no opportunity to see this.” By winter’s end, the disassembled home was safely in storage—its pieces waiting for a fresh foundation and a second life.

Two hundred and ten years after Joseph Sappington first stacked those hand-hewn logs, his home is rising again—this time in the heart of Crestwood. The new site sits within Historic Sappington Park, at 1015 S. Sappington Road, just a few steps from the 1808 brick house built by his cousin Thomas. Together, the two will form what many are calling the “Sappington Pioneer Campus”—a small historic village that captures the evolution of early Missouri settlement.

By mid-2025, site preparation was well underway: crews removed aging trees, rerouted utilities, and poured the new foundation that will anchor the reassembled log structure. The same team that dismantled the house in Affton is handling the reconstruction, fitting each labeled beam back into its original position like a centuries-old jigsaw puzzle.

The building’s authenticity is being preserved down to its original chimneys and hearthstones. Each of the three large stone fireplaces—one for every downstairs room—will be rebuilt using material salvaged from the original site. Once enclosed, the project will move into modern upgrades: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and ADA-compliant restrooms, ensuring the space meets today’s safety and accessibility standards while maintaining its early-1800s character.

The result will be both historically faithful and functionally modern—a structure that honors its past while fully serving the community around it.

When the doors reopen in 2026, the Joseph Sappington Log House will be far more than a static museum piece. The Sappington House Foundation envisions it as a vibrant, multipurpose community center—a living piece of history that continues to serve the people of Crestwood and beyond.

The five-room layout will accommodate educational programs, historical exhibits, concerts, and small events. Local schools are already expressing interest in using the building for immersive history lessons about early Missouri life—where students can see firsthand how families cooked, worked, and survived two centuries ago.

Mark Pratt, who dismantled the home, summed it up best: “I’ve always felt that a building needs to be serving the community, working for the community, so it becomes an integral part of a place to meet or a place to have an event, or a place to educate schoolchildren about how life was 200 years ago. When it becomes a working part of the community, then it just makes a better place for all of us to live.”

By integrating the new log house with the existing Thomas Sappington House, Tea Room, and Library of Americana, Crestwood is creating a cohesive historic campus—a blend of education, culture, and local pride.

Preserving and relocating a 210-year-old home is no small feat, and the cost reflects that challenge. The Sappington House Foundation’s total project budget sits around $800,000, divided into three main phases:

Estimated Cost

$200,000 Disassembly and storage

$450,000 Move, foundation, and reassembly

$150,000  Interior finish work, HVAC, plumbing, ADA upgrades 

The Foundation has already raised about $350,000 through private donations, grants, and fundraising events, with additional support pledged from the City of Crestwood, which plans to reimburse part of the final construction phase—especially the utility relocation and finishing work.

The project depends on a mix of volunteers, preservation experts, local contractors, and civic partners, all committed to keeping the house as authentic as possible while ensuring it can thrive in a modern city park setting.

Fundraising continues through community drives, local events, and online donations via the Foundation’s website. Every dollar raised helps bring the house one step closer to its grand reopening in 2026.

Preserving the Joseph Sappington Log House isn’t just about saving an old building—it’s about keeping St. Louis County’s story alive in a way that people can actually see, touch, and experience.

The project offers a tangible link between Missouri’s frontier past and the families who live here today. By relocating the house to Crestwood’s Sappington Park, the Sappington House Foundation is creating an educational and cultural resource that future generations can explore without leaving their community.

Local schools—especially in the Lindbergh, Affton, and Mehlville districts—are expected to use the site for history field trips and student projects. Visitors will be able to compare the modest, hand-hewn log house of 1816 with the refined brick home of 1808 built by Thomas Sappington, witnessing firsthand how one family’s story reflects the rapid transformation of the early American frontier.

It’s also a story of community pride. Dozens of local volunteers, donors, and civic partners have contributed time, money, and expertise to protect a shared piece of local identity. As SHF President Dyann Dierkes said:

“If you tear down buildings or don’t fix them so they can stand, then we’re not learning. The next generation has no opportunity to see this.”

This project ensures that opportunity won’t be lost.

1808 – Thomas Sappington builds his brick home on what is now Sappington Road.
1816 – Joseph Sappington constructs his log home in Affton, Missouri.
1982 – The Joseph Sappington House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Ref #82000589).
Fall 2022 – The home is dismantled, log by log, and moved into secure storage under the direction of Antique Logs Unlimited.
2024–2025 – Construction begins at Historic Sappington Park: site prep, utility relocation, and foundation poured.
2025 – Reassembly of the log house begins in Crestwood, adjacent to the Thomas Sappington House.
2026 – Grand reopening as an educational and community center within the Sappington Historic Campus. 

When the Joseph Sappington Log House reopens to the public, it won’t simply be a restored structure—it will be a living classroom, a gathering place, and a reminder of the values that built St. Louis County in the first place.

The move and restoration demonstrate what can happen when a community decides that history still matters. Through cooperation between the Sappington House Foundation, the City of Crestwood, and countless donors and volunteers, this 210-year-old building has been given a new life and a new purpose.

By 2026, families will be able to step through its hand-hewn doorway and feel what life was like two centuries ago. Students will learn not just from textbooks, but from the smell of aged wood and the warmth of real stone hearths. And the legacy of the Sappington family—one of the region’s earliest and most influential—will continue to inspire future generations.

In saving this one house, Crestwood isn’t just preserving history—it’s building a stronger, more connected community around it.