April 6th was the birthday of Carl Heinrich Wichern in 1892.  His parents were Daniel and Maria (Leimbach) Wichern.  He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  Here are photos of the parents.

Daniel Wichern had purchased some property along the Mississippi River in the 1880’s.  The area where he purchased this land was at one time called Holschen’s Landing.  It was named after Fredrick Holschen who was the postmaster for that area.

That post office operated from 1891-1898.  Here is a map of that area with a red arrow pointing out the Wichern property in 1915.

Daniel would go on to operate a store at this location.  The 1900 census already shows Daniel as a merchant and one of his sons as a salesman.

Here is a fairly early photograph of the Wichern home and store.  It was about this time that this landing became known as Star Landing.

The railroad began operating in 1904, so this photo must have been taken after that date.  Carl would have been 12 years old when the railroad began rolling past the Wichern homestead.  Here is an ad for the Wichern Store.

After a fire and a flood, both of which caused damage to Wichern buildings, the family built a new structure which became both their home and store.  Here is a photo of that.

Here is a photo of Daniel standing in front of that store/home around 1930..

Back in the 1890’s, Daniel also operated a ferry that ran from Star Landing to Estel Landing in Illinois.  People traveling from Perry County, Missouri to Jacob, Illinois would likely have used this ferry to travel back and forth.  By that time, several families from Perry County had already settled across the river in Illinois.

In the 1920 census, we find Carl Wichern living with his parents, but his occupation is listed as “Engineer – Steam Boat”.  I am not exactly sure what that meant, but it is not surprising that a young man who grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River would find employment on that river.

Here are some photos taken over the years of boats that landed at Star Landing.

In 1931, Carl married Henrietta Worsham.  Their marriage license application says that Carl was living in Cairo, Illinois and Henrietta was from Belleville, Illinois.  However, they were apparently married in Missouri.

Here is a Wichern family photo, showing the parents with four of their children.  Carl is standing on the left in the picture.  His parents are seated in front.

Carl Wichern died in 1946, and his wife, Henrietta, died in 1967.  They are both buried in the Home Cemetery in Perryville, Missouri.

If you take the gravel road out to Holschen’s Landing (Star Landing) these days, it takes you right to the Mississippi River, but you will not see any buildings there.  However, there was once a time when it was quite a lively place.