Historic Westland Acres

Historic Westland Acres. c.1879. This predominantly African-American community, whose history is linked to that of the Union Baptist Church and the families of former slaves, was settled c. 1879, but its future inhabitants had a much longer history in the area. In 1797, Daniel Boone relocated from Kentucky to St. Charles County, Missouri by first transporting his slaves via the Missouri River. Lawrence Long, and approximately fifty settler families and their slaves, made the trip as well. While Boone settled on the west side of the Missouri River, Long's family and slaves settled on the east side in the Bonhomme Creek Area. William West and Polly Ellis were included in that group of slaves owned by Lawrence Long. Antioch Baptist Church was formally established along Wild Horse Creek Road, west of Eatherton Road, in 1841 by white Baptist planters, mainly from Virginia, who owned slaves and had large plantation holdings in today's Wild Horse Creek Valley Area. After the Civil War, the plantation owners deeded the old church building and one acre of ground to several of the newly freed slaves. The plantation owners then constructed the current Antioch Baptist Church and Cemetery further to the east on Wild Horse Creek Road. The "colored" church became Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in 1872. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church congregation began a slow decline and the building was eventually abandoned. However, the roots of the present Union Baptist Church in Westland Acres include descendants of former slaves of the Tyler and Coleman Families and the membership of the Mt. Pleasant Colored Baptist Church. In 1879, William West purchased 133 acres of land from John Long and Joel Frazier and donated a part of it as a burial ground for family members of freed slaves. This acreage was next to the land originally transferred to a new Colored African Baptist Church three miles east of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Matilda and William West settled the land and raised seven children. The name 'Westland Acres' originated decades ago and became commonly known in the early 1990s when Clifford and Doris Frazier, and other prominent African-Americans of the area, worked to assure the heritage of the area is preserved. Westland Acres was designated as a "Wildwood Historic District" in 2005.