Hands-on History Room
History You Can Play With
Please touch and explore everything in our Hands-On History Room (located in the Bolduc-LeMeilleur House) at your own pace.
This is a work in progress to make French Colonial Missouri History accessible and fun for the children who visit us.
A multi-purpose space, the Hands-on History Room will also provide classroom space and an art gallery.
Follow the French along the Mississippi River and see the various animals they would have encountered—It’s a felt board so you can move the pieces

Guess which items in the Museum collection came from
- deer
- birds
- bear
- plants
- minerals
- trees
Explore an interactive time-line and connect important French Colonial American people with their pictures and accomplishments

Play with the Bolduc Dollhouse or with the reproduction Bolduc kitchen tools and baby dolls

Trace the Bolduc family tree...........
Follow Dr. Connally’s architectural drawings and try to make a Norman Truss using blocks.....
Figure out what happened when a shipment of French Colonial furniture was damaged on the way from Montreal, Canada to Sainte Genevieve, MO in 1957
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Parlez-vous français?
Learn to speak a few French words while you are here
- Chat - cat
- Histoire - history
- Bonjour - hello
- comment vous appelez-vous? - what is your name?
- Je adore les chats - I adore cats
- Je déteste les écureuils. - I detest squirrels.
Play some colonial games like dominoes or continental checkers in French!
Cook pretend corn on the cob using tools that look like the ones in the Bolduc House Kitchen

Put one of the baby dolls on a re-created version of the potty high chair that you can see in the Bolduc House bedroom

Our Hero Hard at Work at History

How You Can Help
Help us to make the Hands-on History Room a reason to visit Sainte Genevieve by becoming one of our business partners.
To learn about how you can sponsor one of the activity centers in this room, please call
573-883-3105
Or
Or you can use one of those email forms that randomly appear on this site.
.
The Bolduc House Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.
SPONSORED BY:
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MR. & MRS. RONNIE INMAN
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LAKENAN INSURANCE AGENCY
890 Rozier, Ste. Genevieve, MO
Phone: 573-883-7446
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JOE & MARY CLAIRE ROZIER
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OBERLE MEATS
21529 Hwy 32, Ste. Genevieve, MO
Phone: 573-883-5656
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MISSISSIPPI LIME COMPANY
21958 US Hwy 61, Ste. Genevieve, MO Phone: 573-883-2960
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DR. FRANK NICKELL
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VERN BAUMAN CONTRACTING
About French Colonial Missouri History
1720s – French entrepreneurs arrive in this region and open the lead mines. They live on the east side of the Mississippi River
1730s – French colonial Americans living in Kaskaskia begin farming on the west side of the Mississippi River in the Grand Champ (Big Field)
1740s – Ste. Genevieve becomes a town on its first location east and south of where it is today 1760s – Louis Bolduc arrives in Ste. Genevieve, from St. Joachim, New France, a refugee from the French and Indian War
1763 – Louisiana is transferred from France to Spain and Great Britain becomes the colonial ruler east of the Mississippi River and St. Louis becomes a village
1780-1785 – Ste. Genevieve experiences repeated Mississippi River floods
1792 – Ste. Genevieve relocates to its present site
1800 – France reacquires Louisiana from Spain
1804 – Louisiana is purchased by the United States
1821 – Missouri becomes a state
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