Sister Cities Program

The St. Charles Sister Cities Program was incorporated in 1994. The mission of the program is to encourage and implement high quality programs that foster mutual understanding, friendship, and goodwill through cultural, social, business, and educational exchanges between St. Charles and her Sister Cities.

Current Sister Cities

Currently, St. Charles has 2 sister cities: Ludwigsburg, Germany; and Inishowen, Ireland.

Ludwigsburg

Ludwigsburg was selected because:

  • An American Army base (Pattonville) had been located just outside Ludwigsburg from 1946-93. A good relationship existed between the soldiers and the citizens, and Ludwigsburg was looking for a way to continue its American contacts.
  • Correspondence with Ludwigsburg City officials in 1993 brought an invitation from then Lord Mayor (Oberbuergermeister) Hans Jochen Henke to then-St. Charles Mayor Grace Nichols and Joe Daues to visit the German community.
  • It is comparable in size to St. Charles and located near a larger city, Stuttgart, which is a Sister City to St. Louis, and also across the Neckar River from Marbach, a Sister City with Washington, Missouri.
  • It was seeking an American city as its 4th Sister City, hoping to complete the cycle of partnerships with communities in each of the four Allied countries that were Germany's opponents during World War II.

    To learn more about our German Chapter:  

Inishowen

Inishowen was selected because:

  • Carndonagh has a large community school that was interested in starting a student exchange with one of our local high schools and is where exchanges began. An additional school in Buncrana was found to add to the student exchange.
  • St. Charles and the St. Louis metro area has a large population of people with Irish roots.
  • The area is a complete opposite of St. Charles thus allowing adult delegations and students alike to experience a rural area lifestyle as well as the Irish culture.
  • Inishowen, in the Northern part of the Republic of Ireland, is much like St. Charles and the Midwest.  Most travel to Ireland to see Dublin and most traveling to the USA travel to New York or California.  By being sister cities, Inishowen and St. Charles showcase and promote their areas to visitors from across the pond.

To learn more about our Irish Chapter:  

St. Charles Sister Cities Task Force

On September 11, 1956, President Eisenhower brought Americans representing all walks of life to Washington D.C. to attend a White House Conference on Citizen Diplomacy. This conference formed the capstone of the People-To-People program, which later evolved into Sister Cities International. St. Charles Sister Cities was incorporated in 1996. 

The Saint Charles Sister City Task Force was established in 2022 to define ways of creating a greater mutual understanding and friendship between Saint Charles, Missouri, and its sister cities, based on shared heritage, culture, industry, and technology.

 Objective:
This Task Force will seek creative and mutually beneficial ways to engage the cities via economic development, foster city collaboration in cultural experiences and tourism which connect and enrich schools, individuals, and communities on both sides of the Atlantic.

 Current Sister Cities:
Ludwigsburg, Germany  1996
Inishowen, Ireland,  2016
Montbeliard, France  LOI 2022

 Cartagena, Spain  overture 2022

 Saint Charles Sister Cities Task Force members:
Mary Johnson, Chair and St. Charles-Ludwigsburg Sister Cities President
Joan Koechig, Vice-Chair and St. Charles County Historical Society President
Carla Bray, Secretary and City of Saint Charles representative
Sandi Swift, Swift Travel & Cruises, representing the Irish chapter
Marsha Adams, Frenchtown Heritage Museum and CVB, representing Frenchtown
Carla O’Dell, representing the Irish chapter
Patricia Lang, business owner, entrepreneur 
Cindy Fricke, former tour operator

Learn more about the historical ties St. Charles has to France and Spain.