It was not until the mid-19th century that much European-American settlement reached this area. In 1848 missionaries established the Bethany Lutheran Mission to serve local American Indians, mostly Anishinaabe-speaking "Ojibwe" (also known in the US as "Chippewa"). Following a Native American path to the mission, the European-American Joseph W. Clapp came to the area in 1853, where he built the first house of present-day St. Louis. Over 150 years later, the Mission still stands near Main Street Bridge across the Pine River.