In 1811, Henry Marie Brackenridge wrote in his journal that a limestone building was being constructed at Ste. Genevieve, but those who were setting up the building weren’t receiving the support they needed. Brackenridge is generally regarded as Missouri’s first career author. He was writing in his journal about the building of the Ste. Genevieve Academy. Three years earlier, the territorial legislature had incorporated the academy and established a board of trustees which numbered twenty-one people. It was still many years before the education of women became widely accepted. As Brackenridge noted, the money was slow coming in.
