ST. LOUIS HISTORY IN BRIEF
On the Banks of the Great Mississippi River, St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Liguest who had received a land grant from the King of France, and his 13 year old scout, Auguste Chouteau. They selected the site in 1764 as a fur trading post. Perfect for the fur trading business, it was not subject to flooding and was near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The village was named after the great king and saint, Louis IX of France. St. Louis transferred to the Spanish in 1770, returned to France in a secret treaty with Napoleon and, following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, became part of the United States. According to legend, St. Louis flew under three flags in one day – French, Spanish and American after the transfer of the territory to the United States in 1803.
We gained fame as the jumping off point for the Louisiana Purchase Expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1803. After 1804, many more emigrants and New Englanders settled here, but the population remained predominantly French until well into the 19th Century. St. Louis incorporated as a city in 1823. And during the 19th Century, St. Louis grew into an important center for commerce and trade, on the edge of the frontier.
Between 1840 and 1860, the population exploded with German and Irish new immigrants. During the Civil War, St. Louis remained firmly under Union control. Later waves of St. Louis settlers included Italians, Serbians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Greeks, who settled here by the late 19th Century.
St. Louis’ current boundaries were established in 1876 when voters approved separation from St. Louis County and establishment of a home rule charter. St. Louis was the nation’s first home rule city, but unlike most, it was separated from any county. Although this boundary would in the future prove a severe limitation to the City of St. Louis, at the time there was ample room for the city to grow within its fixed boundaries. By the 1900’s, St. Louis became a major manufacturing center. Rail and water transportation and our central location made it dominant in the region. The 1874 construction of the Eads Bridge made St. Louis an important link in transcontinental rail travel. By the 1890’s, St. Louis was the nation’s fourth largest city.
In 1904, St. Louis hosted the World’s Fair: the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in Forest Park and the city’s western edge. The 1904 Olympic Games were also held in St. Louis at Washington University’s Francis Field. The Fair was immortalized in the song, “Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie.” The increasing popularity of the automobile caused congestion in the downtown area! And St. Louis was home to the nation’s first gasoline station and first automobile accident; today, the region is second in the nation only to the Detroit area in automobile production.
By 1940, over 800,000 people lived in the City of St. Louis.
After World War II, the City’s population peaked at 856,000 by 1950. The crowded city had no room to grow within its fixed boundaries, and much of the housing stock had been neglected during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and during World War II. Any new growth had to occur in the suburbs, which St. Louis could not annex. Immigrant generations gradually moved to suburbia. Urban renewal efforts and public housing developments could not stem the tide of population loss. By 1980’s, the City’s population had fallen to about 450,000.
Yet, the 1965 construction of the Gateway Arch and 1966 construction of Busch Memorial Stadium (home of the Cardinals baseball team) helped promote the revitalization of the central business district. A 30 year downtown building boom followed, including such projects as the Cervantes Convention Center in 1978, the Union Station rehab in 1985, and St. Louis Centre in 1986. At the same time, growing interest in preservation of historic neighborhoods—partly fueled by Federal tax credits—led to the revitalization of the Central West End, DeBalviere Place, Soulard, and Lafayette Square neighborhoods during the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Although the 1986 tax reform and the recession of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s slowed growth, several major projects were completed such as the MetroLink light rail line, the Convention Center expansion, Kiel Civic Center (home of the Blues, now the Saavis Center), and Trans World Dome (home of the Rams). Today, St. Louis is seeing a stable population and slow, steady growth because of a revitalized downtown city loft district with 10,000 new residents and revitalized neighborhoods which are ongoing. Medicine at Barnes-Jewish and Siteman Cancer Center and St. Louis University Hospitals, brewing at Anheuser-Busch, and other major corporations call St. Louis home. Five Fortune 500 corporations are headquartered in the City limits, and many of the older industrial buildings in the City serve as incubators for small business.
St. Louis is growing into its fourth century! Proud of our heritage, you’ll find many streets named after the patriots who have gone before us. The city is alive with revitalization in our many neighborhoods. Our residents are fanatic (yet polite!) sports fans. We love our Cardinals, our Blues, and our Rams! Washington University and St. Louis University are among the top schools in the country. Our hospitals are noted as outstanding: Barnes-Jewish, Cardinal Glennon, St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Forest Park is one of the country’s great parks with an exceptional zoo, art museum, boat house, golf course, history museum and outdoor theater. Our botanical garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden, is known worldwide.