Saint Louis, Missouri

:This article is about the city in Missouri. For other uses of Saint Louis, see Saint Louis.

History

The settlement that would become the city of Saint Louis was founded by French explorers in 1763.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European exploration of the area had begun nearly a century earlier. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, both French, traveled through the Mississippi River valley in 1673, and five years later, La Salle claimed the entire valley for France. He called it "Louisiana" after King Louis XIV; the French also called their region "Illinois Country". In 1699, a settlement was established across the river from what is now Saint Louis, at Cahokia. Other early settlements were downriver at Kaskaskia, Illinois, Prairie du Pont, Fort de Chartres, and Sainte Genevieve. In 1703, Catholic priests established a small mission at what is now St. Louis. The mission was later moved across the Mississippi, but the small river at the site (now a channelized drainage ditch near the southern boundary of the City of Saint Louis) still bears the name River Des Peres (River of the Fathers).

Related Topics:
Louis Joliet - Jacques Marquette - Mississippi River - 1673 - La Salle - France - Louis XIV - Illinois Country - Cahokia - Kaskaskia, Illinois - Fort de Chartres - Sainte Genevieve

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1763, Pierre Laclède, his 13-year-old stepson Auguste Chouteau, and a small band of men traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans. In November, they landed a few miles downstream of the river's confluence with the Missouri River at a site where wooded limestone bluffs rose 40 feet above the river. The men returned to Fort de Chartres for the winter, but in February, Laclede sent Chouteau and 30 men to begin construction. The settlement was established on February 15, 1764.

Related Topics:
Pierre Laclède - Auguste Chouteau - New Orleans - Missouri River - February 15

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The settlement began to grow quickly after word arrived that the 1763 Treaty of Paris had given England all the land east of the Mississippi. Frenchmen who had settled to the river's east moved across the water to "Laclede's Village". Other early settlements were established nearby at Saint Charles, Carondelet (now a part of the city of Saint Louis), Saint Ferdinand (now Florissant), and Portage des Sioux.

Related Topics:
Treaty of Paris - Saint Charles - Florissant - Portage des Sioux

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1766 to 1768, St. Louis was governed by the French lieutenant governor, Louis Saint Ange de Bellerive. After 1768, St. Louis was governed by a series of Spanish governors, whose administration continued even after Louisiana was secretly returned to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. The town's population was then about a thousand.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saint Louis was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The transfer of power from Spain was made official in a ceremony called "Three Flags Day". On March 8, 1804, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French one raised. On March 10, the French flag was replaced by the United States flag.

Related Topics:
United States - President - Thomas Jefferson - 1803 - Louisiana Purchase

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Lewis and Clark Expedition left the Saint Louis area in May 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1805, and returned on Sept. 23, 1806. Many other explorers, settlers, and trappers (such as Ashley's Hundred) would later take a similar route to the West.

Related Topics:
Lewis and Clark Expedition - Pacific Ocean - Ashley's Hundred

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The steamboat era began in Saint Louis on July 27, 1817, with the arrival of the Zebulon M. Pike. Rapids north of the city made Saint Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats, and Pike and her sisters soon transformed St. Louis into a bustling boomtown, commercial center, and inland port. By the 1850s, Saint Louis had become the largest U.S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Missouri became a state in 1820. Saint Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. A U.S. arsenal was constructed at Saint Louis in 1827.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Immigrants flooded into Saint Louis after 1840, particularly from Germany, Bohemia and Ireland, the latter driven by an Old World potato famine. The population of Saint Louis grew from fewer than 20,000 in 1840, to 77,860 in 1850, to just over 160,000 by 1860.

Related Topics:
Germany - Bohemia - Ireland - Potato famine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two disasters occurred in 1849: a cholera epidemic killed nearly one-tenth of the population, and a fire destroyed numerous steamboats and a large portion of the city.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the first half of the 19th century, a second channel developed in the Mississippi River at Saint Louis. An island ("Bloody Island") formed between the two channels, and a smaller island ("Duncan's Island") developed below Saint Louis. It was feared that the levee at St. Louis might be left high and dry, and federal assistance was sought and obtained. Under the supervision of Robert E. Lee, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward the Missouri side and eliminate the second channel. Bloody Island was joined to the land on the Illinois side, and Duncan's Island was washed away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Militarily, the Civil War (1861-1865) barely touched St. Louis; the area saw only a few skirmishes in which Union forces prevailed. But the war shut down trade with the South, devastating the city's economy. Missouri was nominally a slave state, but its economy did not depend on slavery, and it never seceded from the Union. The arsenal at Saint Louis was used during the war to construct ironclad ships for the Union.

Related Topics:
Civil War - Union - Seceded

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On July 4, 1876 the City of Saint Louis voted to remove itself from Saint Louis County and become Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County. At that time the County was primarily rural and sparsely populated, and the fast-growing City did not want to spend their tax dollars on infastructure and services for the inefficent county. This decision would gravely come back to haunt the City as white flight with suburban development and population migration outside the City limits would cost the City millions of lost tax dollars and contribute to the City's deterioration.

Related Topics:
1876 - Saint Louis County - White flight

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saint Louis is one of several cities that claims to have the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets and is today used by the State of Missouri as a government office building.

Related Topics:
Skyscraper - Wainwright Building - Louis Sullivan - 1892 - Missouri

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nikola Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio communication here in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of radio communication. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube.

Related Topics:
Nikola Tesla - 1893 - Franklin Institute - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - National Electric Light Association - Radio - Communication - Vacuum tube

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1896, one of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history struck St. Louis and East St. Louis. The confirmed death toll is 255, with some estimates above 400, and injuries over 1,000. It left a mile wide continuous swath of destroyed homes, factories, mills, saloons, hospitals, schools, parks, churches, and railroad yards. Damages adjusted for inflation (1997 USD) make it the costliest tornado in U.S. history at an estimated $2.9 billion. Several other tornadoes have hit the city making it the worst tornado afflicted large city in the U.S.; with the most deadly and destructive occurring in 1871 (9 killed), 1890 (4 killed), 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured), 1927 (79 killed, 550 injured), and 1959 (21 killed, 345 injured).

Related Topics:
1896 - Tornadoes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1904, the city hosted the World's Fair and the Olympic Games, making the United States the first English-speaking country to host the Olympics. Citizens of St. Louis still look back fondly on the events of 1904; there were several events held in 2004 to commemorate the centennial.

Related Topics:
1904 - World's Fair - Olympic Games - United States - English - Olympics

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The uranium used in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb was refined in Saint Louis by Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., starting in 1942.

Related Topics:
Uranium - Manhattan Project - Atomic bomb - Mallinckrodt Chemical

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pruitt-Igoe housing project, built in 1955 and demolished in 1972, is one of the most infamous failures of urban planning. (The buildings were the first major work by Minoru Yamasaki, who later designed the World Trade Center.)

Related Topics:
Pruitt-Igoe - Housing project - Urban planning - Minoru Yamasaki - World Trade Center

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Downtown Redevelopment

There is a lot of construction going on in downtown St. Louis. There is The Bottle District which is an entertainment district that will open in spring 2007 that will be located north of the Edward Jones Dome. Also the St. Louis Cardinals new ballpark will open next year with a Ballpark Village to follow where the ballpark once stood. Additionally, for several years the Washington Loft District has been gentrifying an expanding corridor along Washington Street from the Edwards Jones Dome extending westward almost two dozen blocks. Rehabilitation of other downtown areas is proposed.

Related Topics:
The Bottle District - 2007 - Ballpark Village - Washington Loft District

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~