St. Louis, MO Summary

photo by Gustonian

French fur trader Pierre Laclede founded the first settlement on the site of St Louis in 1764, near the point where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River on the state’s eastern border. The mighty Mississippi brought trade and settlers from the directions of both New Orleans and Canada. As a major port in what was then French territory, the area developed a European character.

After the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off from nearby Camp Wood in May 1804 on their 28-month journey of discovery through the western half of the continent. Thus Missouri became known as America’s “Gateway to the West.” Not everyone who came to Missouri was just passing through though; St Louis today has 396,700 residents. A rail link to the East Coast, completed in 1857, brought many of their ancestors from Germany, Ireland, and other parts of Europe.

St Louis was almost destroyed by fire, flood, and a cholera epidemic in the 1840s, but survived to become a thriving industrial city. The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis lasted seven months and introduced the nation to ice-cream cones, iced tea, and hot dogs, among other things.

St Louis has always looked outward, and the city eagerly supported native son Charles A. Lindbergh in his bid to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In gratitude he named his aircraft Spirit of St Louis. The city has also been home to many influential ragtime, blues, jazz, and rock and roll musicians, including Scott Joplin, Miles Davis, and Chuck Berry.

ne of the nation’s most recognized landmarks, the Gateway Arch, commemorates St Louis’ role in the nation’s western expansion. The stainless steel structure, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in the 1960s, towers 630 feet above the riverfront, near the site of the area’s first trading post. Mechanical trams take visitors to an observation deck at the top. The visitor center at the base screens short films about the construction of the arch, and western settlement. Beneath the arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion, whose exhibits tell the story of western exploration and migration.

The Old Courthouse nearby was the site of the landmark Dred Scott slavery trial. It features the story of St Louis’ development through the years. Also nearby is Laclede’s Landing, site of the city’s first settlement. Now restored to an early twentieth-century look, with cobblestone streets, it is a popular place to shop, eat, and work.

Residents and visitors alike flock to the 1,293-acre Forest Park, both for its recreational activities (including ice skating, in-line skating, and golf ) and for the well-respected St Louis Science Center, which has hands-on exhibits, an OMNIMAX theater, and a planetarium. Another popular spot is the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the nation’s oldest. Its grounds include a Japanese garden, English woodlands, rose and herb gardens, and a fragrance garden for the visually impaired. More than 20 thematic residential gardens accent the Kemper Center for Home Gardening. Plants from different climate zones are displayed in several structures, including a geodesic dome known as the Climatron.

The excellent St Louis Art Museum is housed in the fine arts pavilion of the 1904 World’s Fair. A mounted statue of St Louis the Crusader guards its entrance. Inside there are some 30,000 works of art from around the world, representing a variety of periods. Major touring shows are also displayed on a rotating basis.

Anheuser-Busch, one of the major corporations headquartered in St Louis, offers tours of its brewery. The company also operates the unusual Grant’s Farm, open from April to October. The 281-acre site contains a cabin built by Ulysses S. Grant a few years before he left to help the Union win the Civil War. It also has a Clydesdale stable, animal feeding area, a deer park, and animal shows.

The St Louis Zoo showcases thousands of animals in a range of natural settings that include a tropical rainforest for apes. A new exhibit gives visitors an opportunity to see animals from a winding waterway. The zoo also boasts one of the country’s few insectariums, while its Living World Education Center teaches visitors about ecology and wildlife.

Other St Louis attractions include the Eugene Field House and St Louis Toy Museum; the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site; the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog, whose collections include a library of instructional videos that can be viewed in its theater; the International Bowling Museum; riverboat cruises on the Mississippi; and the 96-acre Laumeier Sculpture Park. The restored Union Station is a popular indoor marketplace.

The St Louis Symphony is one of the nation’s oldest symphony orchestras. Forest Park’s Muny Outdoor Theater stages 11 weeks of popular theater every summer. One of the nation’s largest July 4th celebrations is also held in St Louis, with a three-day fair along the riverfront. About 15 miles southwest of St Louis on I-44 is the town of Eureka. It is home to Six Flags St Louis, a sprawling amusement park with over a hundred rides.

St Louis is serviced by buses, trains, and an international airport.