New Melle developed on the ridge dividing the Missouri and Mississippi River watersheds, where St. Paul Lutheran Church stands and where Friedens (Peace) United Church of Christ's bell tower occupies the highest point of any incorporated municipality in St. Charles County. In 1839, German immigrants from Melle, Germany, began arriving and named the settlement New Melle. By 1845, general stores operated by Rudolph Dercus, Koelling Bros. and Sudbrock and Co. were in business, and in 1849 Philip Klippel built a small hotel and bar room. In 1850, Conrad Mallinckrodt laid out and surveyed a rectangular town of 16 lots, and a post office opened with John F. Dierker as postmaster. Work began on the Charles E. Meier General Store in 1857, and the family continued the business until the 1930s; the restored building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That same year, Dr. Theodor Borberg established a medical practice and also became prominent in grape growing and wine production, with 48,000 grapevines growing in the area at one point. An oxen mill began operating in 1858, the first public school opened in 1860, and a steam-grinding flour mill was built in 1868; its flour was recognized as the sixth best in Missouri. In 1868, St. Paul and St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Churches united and used the native-stone building erected by St. Peter's congregation, and today the church and school building are on the National Register of Historic Places. Fritz Kamphoefner's house was built in 1871 and is now the home of the Boone Duden Society's Archives/Museum; the site also included the Kamphoefners' blacksmith shop and the Auping wagon-making shop. That year, the Stahlhuth Brick Factory was in operation, and John Kessler built a general store and tin shop in Market Square. By 1880, Ed Karrenbrock's Creamery was in operation. In 1992, Dr. Oscar Muhn, MD, set up his medical practice, and the first telephone exchange in the area was established in John Kessler's General Store.