City of St. Charles Historic Preservation Commission

The purpose of preservation is not to freeze history but to encourage a new humanism. 
What we need is an historical way of thinking.
Our source material is all around us.  It is our landmarks.
They tell stories about society, politics, culture, economics, and life.
But up to now they were the most unexplored archives.
If they are lost, they tell us nothing.  If there is no past, there is no future.