Maeystown, originally known as Maeysville, was founded in 1852 by Jacob Maeys, a German immigrant from Bavaria, who purchased 100 acres and had the land surveyed and subdivided into streets and lots to attract German craftsmen and tradesmen and create a self-sustaining village. His timing coincided with the arrival of nearly one million German immigrants to America in the decade after the unsuccessful German revolution of 1848; many traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans, stopped briefly in St. Louis, and then spread into surrounding areas of Missouri and Illinois. Maeys' lots sold rapidly, and early settlers included a blacksmith, cobbler, cooper, medical doctor, furniture maker, undertaker, miller saddler, tailor, wagon maker, tavern owner, hotel owner, horse trader, vinter, as well as butchers, carpenters, masons, merchants, and farmers. They built much of the village in the German style using local limestone and brick. The stone building was erected in 1852 as a water-powered sawmill, later converted to a steam power flour mill, and ultimately owned by Anton Zeitinger; it burned in 1868, was rebuilt in 1880, and afterward housed many businesses before the Maeystown Preservation Society bought it in 1983 and converted it into the village museum. Cultural and language differences between Maeystown's German immigrants and non-Germans in neighboring communities caused conflict. Because oppression was one of the main reasons Germans migrated to America, most German immigrants were abolitionists, and during the Civil War pro-slavery renegade groups came to town and on one occasion rode into Maeys general store on horseback, stealing all guns and ammunition in stock. Anti-German sentiment during World War I also brought fear and harassment, prompting villagers to post guards at each entrance to the town. Maeystown remained exclusively German through the First World War, with residents speaking German at home, on the streets, in shops, and in church, and the German service of worship took place at St. John's Church on Christmas morning in 1943. Many descendants of the original settlers still reside in or near the village.