History of St. Louis, Missouri
Encyclopedia
The history of St. Louis, Missouri begins with the settlement of the St. Louis
area by Native American
mound builders who lived as part of the Mississippian culture
from the 800s to the 1400s, followed by other migrating tribal groups. Starting in the late 1600s, French explorers arrived, and after the French and Indian War
, a French trading company led by Pierre Laclede
and Auguste Chouteau established the settlement of St. Louis in February 1764. The city grew in population due to its location as a trading post on the Mississippi River
, and the city played a small role in the American Revolutionary War
. In 1803, the city and the region were transferred to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase
.
After the transfer, St. Louis was an entrepôt of trade with the American West
. In the late 1840s, it became a destination for German and Irish immigrants; in response, some residents adopted nativist sentiments. The city's proximity to free states caused it to become a center for the filing of freedom suits
, such as the Dred Scott case, the outcome of which was among the causes of the American Civil War
. During the Civil War
, St. Louis had a small skirmish on its outskirts, but the city remained under Union
control.
Both its railroad connections and industrial activity increased after the war, and it had a concurrent rise in pollution. During the early 1870s, the Eads Bridge
was constructed over the Mississippi River, and the city established several large parks, including Forest Park
. Due to local political and economic disputes, the city separated from St. Louis County
in 1876 and became an independent city
. During the late 19th century, St. Louis became home to two Major League Baseball
teams, while both ragtime
and blues
music flourished in the city. It also hosted the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics
. After the World's Fair, St. Louis continued to develop commercially, but during the Great Depression
, St. Louis suffered from high unemployment. With the advent of World War II
, however, the city became home to war industries that employed thousands of workers.
After the war, suburbanization
and outward migration caused a significant decrease in the city's population, and efforts at urban renewal
were relatively unsuccessful despite high-profile projects such as the Gateway Arch
. Among the unsuccessful efforts was the Pruitt–Igoe public housing project. Starting in the 1980s and continuing through the 2000s, both construction and gentrification
increased in St. Louis, particularly in downtown St. Louis
. City beautification and crime reduction efforts also made progress, although St. Louis continued to struggle with crime and perceptions of crime. The city saw modest population growth during the mid-2000s, but a steep decline in population in the 2010 U.S. Census.
, who constructed more than two dozen platform mounds within what would become the city of St. Louis. After the end of the Mississippian culture in the 14th century, Siouan
-speaking groups such as the Missouria and the Osage
migrated to the Missouri valley, living in villages along the Missouri River
and Osage River
. Both groups lived in conflict with northeastern tribes such as the Sauk and the Meskwaki
, and all four groups confronted the earliest European explorers of the middle Mississippi Valley. European exploration of the area near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers began nearly a century before the city of St. Louis was officially founded. Explorer Louis Joliet and Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette
traveled south on the Mississippi River in June 1673, passed the future site of St. Louis, then reached the mouth of the Arkansas River and turned back.
Nine years later, French explorer La Salle
led an expedition south from the Illinois river to the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico
and claimed the entire valley for France
. La Salle named the Mississippi river basin Louisiana after King Louis XIV
; the region between and near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi was named Illinois Country
. As part of a series of forts in the Mississippi valley, the French built settlements at Cahokia, Illinois
and Kaskaskia, Illinois
. French trading companies also built towns during the 1720s and 1730s, including Fort de Chartres
and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
. From 1756 to 1760, fighting in the French and Indian War
halted new settlement building, and the economy of Louisiana remained weak through 1762 due to the ongoing Seven Years' War
.
, who along with his stepson Auguste Chouteau set out in August 1763 to build a fur trading post near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The settlement of St. Louis was established at a site south of the confluence on the west bank of the Mississippi on February 15, 1764, by Chouteau and a group of about 30 men. Laclede arrived at the site by mid-1764 and provided detailed plans for the village, including a street grid and market area.
French settlers began to arrive from settlements on the east bank of the Mississippi in 1764 due to fears of British control, given the transfer of eastern land to the United Kingdom
after the Treaty of Paris
. The local French lieutenant governor also moved to St. Louis in 1765 and began awarding land grants. As part of the peace negotiations to end the Seven Years War, Spain gained control of Louisiana according to the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau
in 1762. But, due to travel times and the Louisiana Rebellion of 1768, the Spanish took official control in St. Louis only in May 1770. After the transfer, the Spanish confirmed French land grants, and Spanish soldiers provided local security.
The early occupation of most settlers was farming, and by the 1790s nearly 6000 acres (24.3 km²) were under cultivation around St. Louis. Fur trading was the major commercial focus of many residents, as it was much more lucrative during that period than agriculture. The early residents were not particularly religious, in spite of their Roman Catholic faith. The first church was constructed in mid-1770 and St. Louis acquired a resident priest in 1776, making Catholic religious observance a more customary component of life in the city.
The French settlers brought both black and Indian slaves to St. Louis; although the majority were used as domestic servants, others worked as agricultural laborers. In 1769, the Spanish prohibited Indian slavery in Louisiana, but the practice was entrenched among the French Creoles in St. Louis. As a compromise with the local population, Spanish governors ended the Indian slave trade but allowed the retention of current slaves and any children born to them. In 1772, a census determined the population of the village to be 577, including 444 whites (285 males and 159 females) and 193 African slaves, with no Indian slaves reported due to their technical illegality. During the 1770s and 1780s, St. Louis grew slowly and the Spanish commanders were replaced often.
, Spanish governors in New Orleans assisted the American rebels with weapons and ammunition. The Spanish lieutenant governors at St. Louis also aided the colonials, particularly the forces of George Rogers Clark
during the Illinois campaign. After the entry of Spain into the American Revolutionary War
in June 1779 on the side of the Americans and the French, the British began preparing an invasion to attack St. Louis and other Mississippi outposts. However, St. Louis was warned of the plans, and residents began preparing fortifications of the town.
On May 26, 1780, British and Indian forces attacked the town of St. Louis, but were forced to retreat due to the fortifications and defections of some Indian forces. In spite of their defeat, the British attack destroyed much of St. Louis' agricultural lands and cattle stock, killed 23 residents, wounded 7, and captured between 25 and 75 as prisoners (some might have been murdered after their capture). A subsequent counterattack launched from St. Louis against British forts in the Midwest ended the threat of another attack on the town.
After the United States victory, more French Creole families evaded Anglo-American rule by moving to the Spanish-controlled land on the west bank, including the wealthy merchants Charles Gratiot, Sr.
and Gabriel Cerre. Both the Gratiot and Cerre families intermarried with the Chouteau family to create a society in the 1780s and 1790s that was dominated by French Creoles. The families also had marital ties to Spanish government officials, including the lieutenant governors Piernas and Cruzat.
, and Florissant
. By 1800, only 43% of the St. Louis district's population lived within the village of St. Louis (1,039 of 2,447).
During this time, the Spanish government negotiated and secretly returned the unprofitable Louisiana territory to France in October 1800 in the Treaty of San Ildefonso
. The Spanish officially transferred control of Louisiana to France in October 1802; however, Spanish administrators remained in charge of St. Louis throughout the time of French ownership. Shortly afterward, a team of American negotiators purchased Louisiana from the French, including St. Louis. On March 8, 1804, the flag of Spain was lowered at the government buildings in St. Louis and, according to local tradition, the flag of France was raised. On March 10, 1804, the French flag was replaced by that of the United States.
governed the Louisiana District (which included St. Louis), and the district's organizational law forbade the foreign slave trade and reduced the influence of St. Louis in the region. Wealthy St. Louisans petitioned Congress to review the system, and in July 1805, Congress reorganized the Louisiana District as the Louisiana Territory
, with its territorial capital at St. Louis and its own territorial governor. From the division of the Louisiana Territory in 1812 to Missouri statehood in 1821, St. Louis was the capital of the Missouri Territory
.
The population of the city expanded slowly after the Louisiana Purchase, but with expansion came increased desire to incorporate St. Louis as a town, allowing it to create local ordinances without the approval of the territorial legislature. On November 27, 1809, the first Board of Trustees were elected to represent the citizens of the town. The Board passed slave codes
, created a volunteer fire department, and created an overseer to improve street quality. To enforce town ordinances, the Board created the St. Louis Police Department, and a town jail was established in the former fortifications built for the Battle of St. Louis.
After the end of the War of 1812
, the population of St. Louis and the Missouri Territory began expanding quickly. During this expansion land was donated for the Old St. Louis County Courthouse to be constructed. The population increase also stirred interest in statehood for Missouri, and in 1820, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise
, authorizing the admission of Missouri as a slave state
. The state constitutional convention and first General Assembly both met in St. Louis in 1820. Shortly after Missouri became a state, St. Louis incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. The first mayor of the city was William Carr Lane
, and a Board of Aldermen
also were elected to replace the earlier Board of Trustees. The early city government focused on improvements to the riverfront and city health conditions. In addition to a street paving program, the aldermen voted to rename the streets.
After the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the Spanish had ended subsidies to the Catholic Church in St. Louis. As a result, Catholics in St. Louis no longer had a resident priest until the arrival of Louis William Valentine Dubourg
in early January 1818. Upon his arrival in St. Louis, Dubourg replaced the original log chapel with a brick church, recruited new priests, and established a seminary. By 1826, a separate St. Louis diocese was created with Joseph Rosati
named as the first bishop in 1827.
Protestants had received services from itinerant ministers in the late 1790s, but the Spanish required them to remove to American territory until after the Louisiana Purchase. After the purchase, the Baptist
missionary John Mason Peck
built the first Protestant church in St. Louis in 1818. Methodist
ministers also reached the town during the early years after the purchase, but only formed a congregation in 1821. The Presbyterian Church
in St. Louis began as a Bible reading society in 1811, and in December 1817 members organized a church and built a chapel late the next year. A fourth Protestant group to take root was the Episcopal Church
, founded in 1825.
During the 1830s and 1840s, other faith groups also came to St. Louis, including the first Jewish congregation in the area, the United Hebrew Congregation, which was organized in 1837. In addition, followers of Mormonism
arrived in 1831, and in 1854, they organized the first Mormon church in St. Louis. Regardless of the growth of new churches and the revival of Catholicism under Dubourg, however, during the pre-Civil War era most of the population remained uninterested in organized religion or was agnostic.
The commerce of the town after the Louisiana Purchase remained focused on the fur trade; trade operations in St. Louis were led by the Chouteau
family and its alliance with the Osages and by Manuel Lisa
and his Missouri Fur Company
. Due to its role as a major trading post with the American West, the city was the departure point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
in 1804. American and other immigrant families began arriving in St. Louis and opening new businesses, including printing and banking, starting in the 1810s. Among the printers to settle in St. Louis was Joseph Charless, who published the first newspaper west of the Mississippi, the Missouri Gazette, in St. Louis on July 12, 1808. In 1816 and 1817, groups of merchants formed the first banks in the town, but mismanagement and the Panic of 1819
led to their closure.
The effect of the Panic of 1819 and subsequent depression slowed commercial activity in St. Louis until the mid-1820s. By 1824 and 1825, however, St. Louis businesses began to recover, largely due to the introduction of the steamboat
; the first steamboat to arrive in St. Louis, the Zebulon M. Pike, docked on August 2, 1817. Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large riverboats, and the Pike and other ships soon transformed St. Louis into a bustling inland port.
Diversification in products available in St. Louis took place during the economic recovery, largely as a result of the new steamboat power. Wholesalers, new banks, and other retail stores opened starting in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The fur trade also continued as a major commercial venture through the 1820s and into the 1830s.In 1822, Jedediah Smith
joined William H. Ashley's St. Louis fur trading company. Smith would later be known for his explorations of the West and for being the first American to travel overland to California
. New fur trade companies such as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
pioneered trails into the American West. Although beaver fur lost its popularity in the 1840s, St. Louis continued as a hub of buffalo hides and other furs.
Construction of the Old St. Louis County Courthouse in the late 1820s also encouraged growth, with an addition of western lots to Ninth Street and a new city hall adjacent to the river in 1833. The military post far north of the city at Fort Bellefontaine
moved nearer to the city to Jefferson Barracks in 1827, and the St. Louis Arsenal
was built in south St. Louis the same year. In the 1830s, there was dramatic growth in the city's population: by 1830, the city population had increased to 5,832 from roughly 4,500 in 1820. By 1835, the city population reached 8,316, doubled by 1840 to 16,439, doubled again by 1845 to 35,390, and again by 1850 to 77,860.
became a significant problem in St. Louis. In 1849, a major cholera epidemic killed nearly 5,000 people, leading to a new sewer system and the draining of a mill pond. In addition, cemeteries were removed to the outskirts of the town to Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries
to reduce groundwater contamination. In the same year of the 1849 cholera epidemic, a large fire
broke out on a steamboat on the levee, spread to 23 other boats, then destroyed a large portion of the center city. The St. Louis landing was significantly improved during the 1850s. Using the engineering planning of Robert E. Lee
, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward Missouri to eliminate sand bars that threatened the landing. Another infrastructure improvement was the city's water system, which was begun in the early 1830s and were continually improved and expanded in the 1840s and 1850s.
Most early St. Louisans remained illiterate through the 1810s, although many wealthy merchants purchased books for private libraries. Early schools in St. Louis were all fee-based and mostly conducted lessons in French. The first substantial educational effort came about under the authority of the Catholic Church, which in 1818 opened Saint Louis Academy, later renamed Saint Louis University
. In 1832, the college applied for a state charter, and in December 1832, it became the first chartered university west of the Mississippi River. In 1842, it opened its medical school
, with faculty that included Daniel Brainard
(founder of Rush Medical College
), Moses Linton (founder of the first medical journal
west of the Mississippi River in 1843), and Charles Alexander Pope (later president of the American Medical Association
). However, the university primarily catered to seminary students rather than the general public, and it was only in the 1840s that the Catholic Church began offering large scale instruction at parochial schools. In 1853, William Greenleaf Eliot
founded a second university in the city — Washington University in St. Louis
. During the 1850s Eliot also founded Smith Academy for boys and Mary Institute for girls, which later merged and became Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School
.
Public education
in St. Louis, provided by the St. Louis Public Schools
, began in 1838 with the creation of two elementary schools, and the system quickly expanded during the 1840s. By 1854, the system had 27 schools and served nearly 4,000 students, in 1855 a high school was opened with considerable fanfare, and by 1860, nearly 12,000 students had enrolled in the district. The district also opened a normal school
in 1857, which later became Harris-Stowe State University.
In addition to education, St. Louis entertainment options increased during the pre-Civil War period; in early 1819, the first theatre production in St. Louis opened, including a musical accompaniment. In the late 1830s, a 35-member orchestra briefly played in St. Louis, and in 1860, another orchestra opened that played more than 60 concerts through 1870.
Missouri was admitted to the United States as a slave state in 1821. During the 1840s, the number of slaves increased in St. Louis but their percentage relative to the general population declined; during the 1850s, both the number and percentage declined. Roughly 3,200 free blacks and slaves lived in St. Louis in 1850, working as domestic servants, artisans, crew on the riverboats and laborers at the wharves.
The availability of work meant that slaves could earn wages, and some were able to save money to purchase their freedom or that of relatives. Others were manumitted
, which occurred relatively more frequently in St. Louis than in the surrounding rural areas. Still others attempted to escape via the Underground Railroad
or attempted to gain their freedom through freedom suits
. The first freedom suit in St. Louis was filed by Marguerite Scypion in 1805, and more than 300 other suits were filed in St. Louis until the outbreak of the Civil War. Among the most famous of the freedom suits was that of Dred Scott
and his wife Harriet, in a case heard at the Old Courthouse that was based on their having traveled and lived with their master in free states. Although the state ruled in his favor, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in an 1857 ruling against them. The Supreme Court ruled that slaves could not be counted as citizens, overturning the basis of the Missouri Compromise
and inflaming national debate about slavery.
During the economic expansion of the 1830s, Irish and German immigration to St. Louis increased substantially. In particular, the writings of Gottfried Duden
encouraged German immigration. Many Irish were motivated by the Irish potato famine of 1845–1846 and the failed Irish uprising of 1848
. Other Irish settlers came to St. Louis because of its reputation as a Catholic city.
Nativist sentiment increased in St. Louis during the late 1840s, leading to mob attacks and riots in 1844, 1849, and 1852. The 1844 riots derived from popular outrage and resentment toward human dissection
, which was then taking place at the Saint Louis University medical college. The discovery of human remains prompted rumors of grave robbing
, and a mob of more than 3,000 residents attacked the medical college, destroying most of its interior facilities. The worst nativist riot in St. Louis took place in 1854, and the local militia was used to end the fighting. However, 10 people were killed, 33 wounded, and 93 buildings were damaged. Regulations on elections prevented fighting in future elections in 1856 and 1858.
made hints toward secession. This local militia allied itself with the Union army forces at Jefferson Barracks under the leadership of Nathaniel Lyon
, which on May 10, 1861 cleared a Confederate
encampment outside the city in what became known as the Camp Jackson Affair. While the Confederates were being marched back into the town, a group of citizens attacked the Union and militia forces, leading to shooting that killed 28 civilians.
After the Camp Jackson Affair, there were no more military threats to Union control of St. Louis until 1864, although guerrilla activity continued in rural areas for the duration of the war. However, Union General John C. Fremont
placed the city under martial law
in August 1861 to suppress sedition
; after Fremont's dismissal, Union army forces continued to suppress pro-Confederate demonstrations in the town. The war significantly damaged St. Louis commerce, especially after the Confederacy blockaded the Mississippi and ended St. Louis's connection to eastern markets. It also slowed the growth of St. Louis during the 1860s, with an increase of only 43,000 residents from 1860 to 1866.
, which were held concurrently in St. Louis.
During the Civil War, the infrastructure of St. Louis had suffered from neglect; another cholera epidemic struck in 1866, and typhoid fever raged in certain quarters. In response, St. Louis improved its water system and established a Board of Health to regulate polluting industries. St. Louis's park system was expanded during the 1860s and 1870s, with the creation of Tower Grove Park
and Forest Park.
After the Civil War, both the public and parochial systems expanded by 1870, to 24,347 and 4,362 students respectively. St. Louis educators established the first public kindergarten
in the United States, under the instruction of Susan Blow
in 1874. Proposals for a free library system originated prior to the Civil War, and after the conflict the St. Louis Public School Library was established. During the 1870s and 1880s, a variety of local fee-based libraries consolidated with the school library system, and in 1894, the school system divested the library system as an independent entity, which became the St. Louis Public Library
.
Racially segregated schools had operated secretly and illegally in St. Louis since the 1820s, but in 1864, an integrated group of St. Louisans formed the Board of Education for Colored Schools, which established schools without public finances for more than 1500 black pupils in 1865. After 1865, the St. Louis Board of Education appropriated funding for the black schools, but facilities and conditions were quite poor. In 1875, after considerable effort and protest from the black community, high school classes began to be offered at Sumner High School
, the first high school for black students west of the Mississippi. However, inequality remained rampant in St. Louis schools.
Railroad connections with the southwest and Texas were improved during the 1870s, with the formation of the Cotton Belt Railroad. In addition to connecting St. Louis with the West, the railroads began to demand connections with the east across the Mississippi. Between 1867 and 1874, work on the Eads Bridge
over the Mississippi continued despite setbacks such as caisson disease. In May 1874, weight tests were conducted on the bridge deck, and the bridge formally opened on July 4, 1874.
To accommodate increased rail traffic, a new railroad terminal was constructed in 1875, but it was not large enough to consolidate all train service in one location. A replacement station, called Union Station, opened on September 1, 1894. Although Chicago, Illinois had a greater volume of traffic at its own Union Station, more railroads met at St. Louis than any other city in the United States. Union Station's rail platform expanded in 1930 and operated as the passenger rail terminal for St. Louis into the 1970s.
changes, city–county consolidation, or urban secession
to form an independent city
.
At a Missouri state constitutional convention in 1875, delegates from the region agreed on a separation plan. A Board of Freeholders from St. Louis county and city reorganized boundaries and proposed a final plan of separation in mid-1876. The new city charter also tripled the size of the city to include the new rural parks (such as Forest Park) and the useful riverfront from the Missouri–Mississippi confluence to the mouth of the River Des Peres. After a fraudulent election initially showed a rejection of the plan, a recount in December 1876 showed voters had approved the separation.
and subsequent depression and the overproduction of grain made St. Louis mills considerably less productive and valuable. Flour milling was halved in production, and most other industries suffered similar declines.
The brewing
industry, which originated in St. Louis in the years after the Louisiana Purchase, was limited in scope to local production during the pre-Civil War era. The arrival of Adam Lemp in 1842 changed much of the beer industry in the area; Lemp introduced lager beer, which quickly became the most popular type of beer in St. Louis. The industry also expanded rapidly in the late 1850s, from 24 breweries in 1854 to 40 in 1860. Brewing became the city's largest industry by 1880, and St. Louis breweries were innovators in their field. Anheuser-Busch pioneered refrigerated railroad cars for beer transport and was the first company to market pasteurized bottled beer.
In addition to a growing beer brewing industry, St. Louis also was home to whiskey distilleries. Several of these distilleries were at the heart of the Whiskey Ring
during the early 1870s, a conspiracy that began among St. Louis distillers and local tax officials to defraud the federal government of tax revenue on whiskey production. Although the ring began as an effort to provide funds to reelect Ulysses S. Grant
as president in 1872, it continued to circumvent taxes until early 1875. After the breakup of the ring in May 1875, more than 100 conspirators were charged with fraud in St. Louis, including Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock
. Although Grant initially announced he would travel to St. Louis to testify on behalf of Babcock in the trial, Grant later decided to provide only written testimony. In early 1876, 110 conspirators were convicted of fraud, and Babcock was the only defendant who was acquitted.
Among the downsides to rapid industrialization was pollution, of which St. Louis generated a great deal. Brick firing produced particulate air pollution and paint making created lead dust, while beer and liquor brewing produced grain swill. However, the worst pollution was coal dust and smoke, for which St. Louis was infamous by the 1890s. The greatest number of complaints to the St. Louis Board of Health were due to the presence of industries engaged in rendering, which produced noxious fumes. In spite of this, pollution control was hindered by a desire to promote growth. One of the few policies to be carried out began in 1880, in which regulations would be enforced strictly in some areas while little in others, thereby encouraging factories to concentrate in industrial districts.
In addition to industrial growth, the 1880s and 1890s were a period of significant growth in commercial building in downtown St. Louis. The retail district was centered at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, while banking and business was centered to the south, at Fourth and Olive streets. During the 1890s, significant retailers and businesses moved westward; among the new buildings constructed as a result of this movement was the Wainwright Building
. Designed by Louis Sullivan
in 1891, the Wainwright was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction and remains an example of early skyscraper
design.
In September 1880, the St. Louis Choral Society opened as an musical orchestra and choir; the same organization provided annual concerts through 1906, when it was renamed the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Starting in the 1890s, the district known as Chestnut Valley (an area near the present-day Scottrade Center
) became the home of St. Louis ragtime. Well-known ragtime and jazz composers lived in played in St. Louis, including W.C. Handy, Tom Turpin
, Scott Hayden
, Arthur Marshall
, Joe Jordan
, and Louis Chauvin
. In addition to the early Chestnut Valley players, ragtime composer Scott Joplin
moved to St. Louis from Sedalia, Missouri
in 1901, where he associated with Tom Turpin and composed music in the city until moving to Chicago in 1907.
The sport of baseball
began to be played in St. Louis in the years following the Civil War; a team known as the St. Louis Brown Stockings
was founded in the city in 1875. The Brown Stockings were a founding member of the National League
and became a hometown favorite, defeating the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago Cubs
) in their opener on May 6, 1875. However, the original Brown Stockings club closed in 1878, and an unrelated National League
team with the same name was founded in 1882. This team changed its name multiple times, shortening to the Browns in 1883, becoming the Perfectos in 1899, and settling on the St. Louis Cardinals
in 1900. In 1902, a team moved to St. Louis from Milwaukee and adopted the name St. Louis Browns, although they had no relation to the previous Browns or Brown Stockings. From 1902 until the 1950s, St. Louis was home to two Major League teams.
to connect with regional manufacturers and growers. However, by the 1880s, the connection to agriculture had declined, and in 1883, a new St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall
was built to house industrial exhibits. In 1890, St. Louis attempted to host the World's Columbian Exposition
, but the fair was awarded to Chicago, which hosted the exposition in 1893. In 1899, delegates from states that had been part of the Louisiana Purchase met in St. Louis, selecting it as the site of a world's fair
celebrating the centennial of the purchase in 1904.
Company directors selected the western half of Forest Park as the site of the fair, sparking a real estate and construction boom in the area. Streetcar and rail service to the area was improved, and a new filtration system was implemented to improve the clarity of the St. Louis water supply. The 1904 World's Fair itself consisted of an "Ivory City" of twelve temporary exhibition palaces, of which one was rebuilt as the St. Louis Art Museum. While in operation, the fair celebrated American expansionism and world cultures with exhibits of historical French fur-trading, and Eskimo
and Filipino
villages. Concurrently, the 1904 Summer Olympics
were held in St. Louis, at what would become the campus of Washington University in St. Louis
.
continued the development of recreational facilities during the early 1910s by expanding tennis facilities and building a public 18-hole golf course in northwest Forest Park. In addition, the St. Louis Zoo was constructed in Forest Park in the early 1910s under the leadership of Mayor Henry Kiel
. Since the 1890s, St. Louis had attempted to control its air pollution problems with little success, but damage to buildings and flora made the issue more visible during the 1920s. Problems continued through the 1930s and came to a head with the 1939 St. Louis smog, which blackened the sky and lasted for three weeks. A ban on burning low-quality coal solved the problem in December 1939, and the addition of natural gas for heating assisted homeowners in making the transition to cleaner fuels by the late 1940s.
During the 1904 World's Fair, ballooning
was demonstrated as a viable means of transportation in St. Louis; in October 1907, the second Gordon Bennett Cup, an international balloon racing event, was held in the city. The first airplane flight in the city occurred in late 1909, and by the next year, an airplane field had been established in nearby Kinloch, Missouri
. In October 1910, St. Louis hosted President Theodore Roosevelt
, who became the first president to fly in an airplane after departing from the field. In 1925, local entrepreneur Albert Lambert
purchased Kinloch Field, expanded its facilities, and renamed it Lambert Field. In May 1927, Charles Lindbergh
departed from Lambert Field en route to New York to begin his solo non-stop flight
across the Atlantic Ocean. In early 1928, the city of St. Louis purchased the airport from Lambert, making it the first municipally owned airport in the United States; Lambert remains the primary airport for Greater St. Louis.
Although Missouri and St. Louis enforced a variety of Jim Crow laws
, the area generally had a lower level of racial violence and fewer lynchings than the American South. The St. Louis black community was stable and relatively concentrated in residential housing along the riverfront or near the railroad yards. Although informal discrimination had existed in the St. Louis housing market since the end of the Civil War, it was not until 1916 that St. Louis passed a residential segregation ordinance. The ordinance quickly was invalidated by court injunctions, but private restrictive covenants in St. Louis real estate transactions limited the ability of white owners to sell to blacks and were another form of racial discrimination. In 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned such real estate limitations as unconstitutional in Shelley v. Kraemer
, a court case based on the sale of a St. Louis house (the Shelley House
) to a black family.
Despite segregationist and racist attitudes, St. Louis acted as a haven during the 1917 East St. Louis Riot
, as St. Louis police shepherded fleeing blacks across the Eads Bridge to shelter and food provided by the city government and the American Red Cross
. Leonidas C. Dyer
, who represented part of St. Louis in the U.S. House, led a Congressional investigation into the events and eventually sponsored an anti-lynching bill
in response to the riot. Due to an influx of refugees from East St. Louis and the general effects of the Great Migration
of blacks from the rural South to industrial cities, the black population of St. Louis increased more rapidly than the whole during the decade of 1910 to 1920.
Both the St. Louis German and Irish communities urged neutrality
at the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, which contributed to a resurgent nativism after U.S. entry into the war
in 1917. As a result, ethnic German St. Louisans suffered some discrimination during the war, and St. Louisans repressed elements of German culture. St. Louis commerce, for its part, was not dramatically affected by the war. After World War I, the nationwide prohibition of alcohol
in 1919 brought heavy losses to the St. Louis brewing industry and to the state's wine industry, the second largest in the nation at the time. Other industries, such as light manufacturing of clothing, automobile manufacturing, and chemical production, filled much of the gap, and St. Louis's economy was relatively diversified and healthy during the 1920s.
St. Louis suffered as much or more than comparable cities in the early years of the Great Depression
. The manufacturing output of St. Louis fell by 57 percent between 1929 and 1933, slightly more than the national average of 55 percent, and output continued to remain low until World War II. Unemployment during the Depression was particularly significant in urban areas, and St. Louis was no exception (see table). Black workers particularly suffered significantly higher unemployment than their white counterparts. To aid the unemployed, the city allocated funds starting in 1930 toward relief operations
. In addition to city relief aid, New Deal
programs such as the Public Works Administration
employed thousands of St. Louisans. Civic improvement construction jobs also reduced the number of persons on direct relief aid by the late 1930s.
During World War II
, St. Louis was the location of a large ammunition factory and the Curtiss-Wright
aircraft factory. Area factories also produced uniforms and footwear, K-rations, and chemicals and medicines. The uranium
used in the Manhattan Project
was refined in St. Louis by Mallinckrodt Chemical Company starting in 1942, and several atomic bomb scientists had ties to St. Louis, including Arthur Compton
. At the start of the war, many German, Italian, and Japanese St. Louisans were interrogated or arrested, while the FBI investigated charges of sedition
in the area. Residents engaged in civil defense
drills and supported the war effort with scrap drives and war bond purchases. St. Louis produced several notable soldiers in the war, including Edward O'Hare
, who grew up in St. Louis and won the Congressional Medal of Honor for combat actions in the Pacific. St. Louis also was home to Wendell O. Pruitt
, an African-American pilot who shot down three enemy aircraft and destroyed multiple ground targets in June 1944.
At the outbreak of war, African-American workers gained greater acceptance in industry than they had previously, but discrimination remained a problem for many black workers. During the war, city officials passed the first municipal integration ordinance, allowing African Americans to eat at city-owned (but not private) lunch counters. In May 1944, when a black sailor in uniform was refused service at a privately owned lunch counter, the action prompted peaceful sit-in
protests at several downtown diners. No changes in Jim Crow segregation policies at lunch counters resulted, but Saint Louis University admitted its first black students starting in August 1944.
More than 5,400 St. Louisans became casualties of the war, listed as either missing
or killed in action
. The end of the war also led to the closure of many St. Louis factories, with major layoffs beginning in May and continuing through August 1945. By late 1945, returning soldiers encountered a chronic housing and job shortage in the city. The GI Bill allowed many St. Louis veterans to purchase homes, which encouraged suburbanization after the war that led to declines in the city's population.
, Maplewood
, Webster Groves
, Richmond Heights
, University City
, and Clayton
grew rapidly between 1900 and 1930. Restrictions on immigration and extensive movement to these towns doubled the population of St. Louis County from 1910 to 1920, while the city grew only 12 percent in the same period. During the 1930s, the city's population declined by a small amount for the first time, but St. Louis County grew by nearly 30 percent. Nearly 80 percent of new residential construction in the region occurred outside city limits during the late 1930s, and St. Louis planners were unable to combat the problem via annexation
.
The city reached a highest recorded census population of 856,796 in 1950, and its population peaked in the early 1950s with approximately 880,000 residents. However, new highway construction and increased automobile ownership enabled further suburbanization, which contributed to population loss. Another factor in the city's population loss was white flight
, which began in earnest during the late 1950s and continued during the 1960s and 1970s. From 1950 to 1960, the city declined by 13 percent to 750,026, and from 1960 to 1970, the city declined another 17 percent to 622,236. Of this decline, the white population declined primarily due to "massive outward migration, primarily to the suburbs." Between 1960 and 1970, a net 34 percent of white city residents moved out; in addition, city white death rates exceeded birth rates. By the early 1970s, the white population of the city had decreased significantly, particularly among those of child-bearing age. The black population of St. Louis saw a natural increase of 19.5 percent during the 1960s, with no gain or loss through migration; during that decade, the overall percentage of black city residents rose from 29 to 41 percent. However, the black population declined in size from 1968 to 1972 by nearly 20,000 residents, demonstrating significant black out-migration from the city during the period.
, which would later include the famous Gateway Arch
. Work began in the early 1930s on acquisition and demolition of the forty block area where the memorial would stand; the only remnant of Laclede's street grid that was preserved was north of the Eads Bridge (in what is now known as Laclede's Landing
), while the only building in the area to remain was the Old Cathedral. Demolition continued until the outbreak of World War II, when the area began to be used as a parking lot, and the project stalled until a design competition for the memorial was launched. In 1948, Eero Saarinen
's design for an inverted and weighted catenary
curve won the competition; however, groundbreaking did not begin until 1954, the Arch itself was topped out in October 1965, and a museum and visitors' center opened underneath the structure only in 1976. In addition to attracting millions of visitors, the Arch also ultimately spurred more than $500 million in downtown construction during the 1970s and 1980s.
Concurrent with plans to build the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial during the 1930s were plans to create subsidized housing in the city. Despite efforts at civic improvement starting in the 1920s and two significant housing projects built in 1939, after World War II more than 33,000 houses had shared or outdoor toilets, while thousands of St. Louisans lived in crowded, unsafe conditions. Starting in 1953, St. Louis cleared the Chestnut Valley area in Midtown, then sold the land to developers who constructed middle-class apartment buildings. Nearby, the city cleared more than 450 acres (1.8 km²) of a residential neighborhood known as Mill Creek Valley, displacing thousands of people. A residential mixed-income development known as LaClede Town
was created in the area in the early 1960s, although this was eventually demolished for an expansion of Saint Louis University. The majority of people displaced from Mill Creek Valley were poor and African American, and they frequently moved to historically stable, middle-class black neighborhoods such as The Ville
.
In 1953, St. Louis issued bonds that allowed for the completion of the St. Louis Gateway Mall
project and the completion of several new high-rise housing projects. The most famous and largest of the St. Louis housing projects was Pruitt–Igoe, which opened in 1954 on the northwest edge of downtown and included 33 eleven-story buildings with nearly 3,000 units. Between 1953 and 1957, St. Louis built more than 6,100 units of public housing, and each opened with enthusiasm on the part of local leaders, the media, and new tenants. However, the projects were plagued with problems from the beginning; it became quickly apparent that there was too little recreational space, too few healthcare facilities or shopping centers, and employment opportunities were scarce. Crime was rampant, particularly at Pruitt–Igoe, and that complex was demolished in 1975. The other St. Louis housing projects remained relatively well-occupied through the 1980s, in spite of languishing problems with crime.
Along with the development of the major housing projects was a 1955 urban renewal bond issue totaling more than $110 million. The bonds provided funds to purchase land to build three expressway
s into downtown St. Louis, which later became Interstate 64
, Interstate 70
, and Interstate 44
. In 1967, the highway-only Poplar Street Bridge
opened to move traffic from all three expressways over the Mississippi River. The openings of the Arch in 1965 and the bridge in 1967 were accompanied by the opening of a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting in the 1920s, the St. Louis Cardinals
became more popular than the older St. Louis Browns, although the Cardinals rented a shared space at Sportsman's Park
with the Browns. In 1953, the Browns' owner sold the team, at which time it relocated and became the Baltimore Orioles
. At the same time, Sportsman's Park needed expensive repairs, and a new park was proposed closer to downtown St. Louis. The Cardinals moved into Busch Memorial Stadium
for the 1965 season, although construction of the stadium required the demolition of Chinatown, St. Louis
, ending decades of presence in the area by a Chinese immigrant community.
, historian of suburban development:
Upon the election of Vincent Schoemehl as the city's youngest mayor ever in 1981, St. Louis's problems were more significant than many other rustbelt cities, with several major development projects incomplete and the city's economic base crumbling. However, Schoemehl developed two projects early in his three terms in office that assisted St. Louis: the first, Operation Brightside, provided city beautification through plantings and graffiti
cleanup. Schoemehl also instituted a safety program to address city crime, known as Operation SafeStreet, which blocked access to certain through streets and provided low-cost security measures to homeowners. Crime declined starting in 1984, and despite a small resurgence in 1989, continued to decline through the 1990s.
decision, St. Louis area educators continued to employ tactics to ensure de facto segregation during the 1960s. In the 1970s, a lawsuit challenging this segregation led to a 1983 settlement agreement in which St. Louis County school districts agreed to accept black students from the city on a voluntary basis. State funding was used to transport students there to provide an integrated education for area students. The agreement also called for white students from the county to voluntarily attend city magnet schools, in an effort to desegregate the remaining schools in St. Louis City. Despite opposition from state and local political leaders, the plan significantly desegregated St. Louis schools; in 1980, 82 percent of black students in the city attended all-black schools, while in 1995, only 41 percent did so. During the late 1990s, the St. Louis voluntary transfer program was the largest such program in the United States, with more than 14,000 enrolled students.
Under a renewed agreement in 1999, all but one of the St. Louis County districts agreed to continue their participation, albeit with an opt-out clause that allowed districts to reduce the number of incoming transfer students starting in 2002. A five-year extension of the voluntary transfer program was approved in 2007, allowing new enrollments to take place through the 2013–2014 school year in participating districts. Critics of the transfer program note that most of the desegregation under the plan is via transfer of black students to the county rather than transfer of white students to the city. Another criticism has been that the program weakens city schools by removing talented students to county schools. Despite these issues, the program will continue until all transfer students reach graduation; with the last group of transfer students allowed to enroll in 2013–2014, the program will end after the 2025–2026 school year.
, which was designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
and built in 1989. New retail projects also began to take shape: since 1978, Union Station had been abandoned by Amtrak
as a passenger rail terminal, but in 1985, it was reopened as a festival marketplace
under the direction of developer James Rouse. The same year, downtown developers opened St. Louis Centre, an enclosed four-story shopping mall
costing $176 million with 150 stores and 1500000 square feet (139,354.6 m²) of retail space. By the late 1990s, however, the mall had fallen in favor among shoppers due to the expansion of the St. Louis Galleria
in Brentwood, Missouri
, and the mall's flagship Dillard's
store closed in 2001. The mall itself closed in 2006, and since 2010, development has been underway to convert the mall building into a parking structure, with an adjoining building being converted into apartments, hotel, and retail.
The city also sponsored a major expansion of the St. Louis Convention Center during the 1980s, and Schoemehl focused efforts on retaining professional sports teams in the city. To that end, the city purchased The Arena
, a 15,000-seat venue for professional ice hockey
that was home of the St. Louis Blues. In the early 1990s, Schoemehl worked with business groups to develop a new hockey arena (now known as the Scottrade Center
) on the site of the city's Kiel Auditorium
, with the promise that the developer would renovate the adjacent Kiel Opera House
. Although the new hockey arena opened in 1994 (and the original arena was demolished in 1999), renovations on the adjacent opera house only began in 2011, more than 15 years after the initial development plan. The opera house (since renamed for corporate contributor Peabody Energy
) reopened on October 1, 2011, with performances by Jay Leno
and Aretha Franklin
. In January 1995, Georgia Frontiere
, the owner of the National Football League
team known as the Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams
), announced she would move that team to St. Louis. The team replaced the St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals
), an NFL franchise that had moved to St. Louis in 1960 but departed for Arizona in 1988. The Rams played their first game in their St. Louis stadium, the Edward Jones Dome
, on October 22, 1996.
Starting in the early 1980s, a number of rehabilitation and construction projects began in St. Louis, some of which remain incomplete. In 1981, the Fox Theatre, a movie theater in Midtown that closed in 1978, underwent a complete restoration and reopened as a performing arts
venue. Among the St. Louis areas to undergo gentrification
was the Washington Avenue Historic District, which extends along Washington Avenue from the Edward Jones Dome west almost two dozen blocks. During the early 1990s, garment manufacturers moved out of the large office buildings on the street, and by the end of that decade residential developers began to convert the buildings into lofts. Prices per square foot increased dramatically in the area, and by 2001, nearly 280 apartments were built. Among the Washington Avenue projects to remain in development is the Mercantile Exchange Building, which is being converted to offices, apartments, retail, and a movie theater. The gentrification also has had the effect of increasing the downtown population, with both the central business district and Washington Avenue district more than doubling their population from 2000 to 2010.
Other downtown projects include the renovation of the Old Post Office
, which started in 1998 and was completed in 2006. The Old Post Office and seven adjacent buildings had been vacant since the early 1990s, but as of 2010 included a variety of tenants, including a branch of the St. Louis Public Library
, a branch of Webster University
, the St. Louis Business Journal, and a variety of government offices. The renovation of the Old Post Office spurred development of an adjacent plaza, which is linked to a new $80 million residential building called Roberts Tower, the first new residential construction in downtown St. Louis since the 1970s.
As early as 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals began pushing for the construction of a new Busch Stadium
as part of a broader trend in Major League Baseball toward stadium building. In early 2002, plans for a new park were settled among state and local leaders and Cardinals owners. According to an agreement in which the state and city would issue bonds for construction, the Cardinals agreed to build a multipurpose development known as St. Louis Ballpark Village
on part of the site of Busch Memorial Stadium. The new stadium opened in 2006, but construction has yet to begin on Ballpark Village.
immigrant community, which became the second-largest Bosnian community in the United States by 1999. The city also began to see an increase in immigrants from Mexico, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Many immigrants reported moving to St. Louis, particularly its south side Bevo Mill
neighborhood, due to the low cost of living compared to other American cities. Despite this increase, the foreign-born population of the St. Louis region remained roughly one-third of the national average in 2010.
During the mid-2000s, the population of St. Louis began growing following a half-century of decline. Census estimates from 2003 through 2008 were successfully challenged and population figures were revised upward; however, no challenges to 2009 data were permitted. In spite of gains during the 2000s, the 2010 U.S. Census showed a decline of slightly more than 10 percent for St. Louis, and no challenge to the figure has been reported as of 2011.
Given the losses of industry and jobs, St. Louis has had significant and persistent problems with both crime and perceptions of crime. In 2011 St. Louis was named by U.S. News and World Report as the most dangerous city in the United States, using Uniform Crime Reports
data published by the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, St. Louis was named as the city with the highest crime rate in the United States by CQ Press
in 2010, using data reported to the FBI in 2009. Critics of these analyses note that division between St. Louis City and St. Louis County make crime reports for the area appear inflated and that reporting crime differs greatly depending on the localities involved. The FBI has cautioned against using the data as a form of ranking, as it presents too simplistic a view of crime. From 2006 to 2007, the rate of city youth to be killed by guns was the second-highest in the United States, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of firearm deaths for the metropolitan statistical area was one-fifth of the city rate.
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
area by Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
mound builders who lived as part of the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
from the 800s to the 1400s, followed by other migrating tribal groups. Starting in the late 1600s, French explorers arrived, and after the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, a French trading company led by Pierre Laclede
Pierre Laclède
Pierre Laclède or Pierre Laclède Liguest was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, founded St...
and Auguste Chouteau established the settlement of St. Louis in February 1764. The city grew in population due to its location as a trading post on the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, and the city played a small role in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. In 1803, the city and the region were transferred to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
.
After the transfer, St. Louis was an entrepôt of trade with the American West
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
. In the late 1840s, it became a destination for German and Irish immigrants; in response, some residents adopted nativist sentiments. The city's proximity to free states caused it to become a center for the filing of freedom suits
Freedom suits
Freedom suits were legal petitions filed by slaves for freedom in the United States and its territories before the American Civil War, including during the colonial period. Most were filed during the nineteenth century. After the American Revolution, most northern states had abolished slavery, and...
, such as the Dred Scott case, the outcome of which was among the causes of the American Civil War
Origins of the American Civil War
The main explanation for the origins of the American Civil War is slavery, especially Southern anger at the attempts by Northern antislavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories...
. During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, St. Louis had a small skirmish on its outskirts, but the city remained under Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
control.
Both its railroad connections and industrial activity increased after the war, and it had a concurrent rise in pollution. During the early 1870s, the Eads Bridge
Eads Bridge
The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois....
was constructed over the Mississippi River, and the city established several large parks, including Forest Park
Forest Park (St. Louis)
Forest Park is a public park located in western part of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers . The park, which opened in 1876 more than a decade after its proposal, has hosted several significant events, including the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 and...
. Due to local political and economic disputes, the city separated from St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...
in 1876 and became an independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
. During the late 19th century, St. Louis became home to two Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
teams, while both ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
music flourished in the city. It also hosted the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics
1904 Summer Olympics
The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University...
. After the World's Fair, St. Louis continued to develop commercially, but during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, St. Louis suffered from high unemployment. With the advent of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, however, the city became home to war industries that employed thousands of workers.
After the war, suburbanization
Suburbanization
Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...
and outward migration caused a significant decrease in the city's population, and efforts at urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
were relatively unsuccessful despite high-profile projects such as the Gateway Arch
Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States...
. Among the unsuccessful efforts was the Pruitt–Igoe public housing project. Starting in the 1980s and continuing through the 2000s, both construction and gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
increased in St. Louis, particularly in downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the east, Chouteau Avenue to the south, and Jefferson Avenue...
. City beautification and crime reduction efforts also made progress, although St. Louis continued to struggle with crime and perceptions of crime. The city saw modest population growth during the mid-2000s, but a steep decline in population in the 2010 U.S. Census.
Exploration and Louisiana before 1762
The earliest settlements in the middle Mississippi Valley were built in the 10th century by the people of the Mississippian cultureMississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
, who constructed more than two dozen platform mounds within what would become the city of St. Louis. After the end of the Mississippian culture in the 14th century, Siouan
Siouan languages
The Western Siouan languages, also called Siouan proper or simply Siouan, are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian...
-speaking groups such as the Missouria and the Osage
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
migrated to the Missouri valley, living in villages along the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and Osage River
Osage River
The Osage River is a tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The Osage River is one of the larger rivers in Missouri. The river drains a mostly rural area of . The watershed includes an area of east-central Kansas and a large portion of west-central and central...
. Both groups lived in conflict with northeastern tribes such as the Sauk and the Meskwaki
Meskwaki
The Meskwaki are a Native American people often known to outsiders as the Fox tribe. They have often been closely linked to the Sauk people. In their own language, the Meskwaki call themselves Meshkwahkihaki, which means "the Red-Earths." Historically their homelands were in the Great Lakes region...
, and all four groups confronted the earliest European explorers of the middle Mississippi Valley. European exploration of the area near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers began nearly a century before the city of St. Louis was officially founded. Explorer Louis Joliet and Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
traveled south on the Mississippi River in June 1673, passed the future site of St. Louis, then reached the mouth of the Arkansas River and turned back.
Nine years later, French explorer La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...
led an expedition south from the Illinois river to the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and claimed the entire valley for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. La Salle named the Mississippi river basin Louisiana after King Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
; the region between and near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi was named Illinois Country
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
. As part of a series of forts in the Mississippi valley, the French built settlements at Cahokia, Illinois
Cahokia, Illinois
Cahokia is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 16,391. The name is a reference to one of the clans of the historic Illini confederacy, who were encountered by early French explorers to the region.Early European settlers also...
and Kaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population. A major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, its peak population was about...
. French trading companies also built towns during the 1720s and 1730s, including Fort de Chartres
Fort de Chartres
Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. The Fort de Chartres name was also applied to the two successive fortifications built nearby during the 18th century in the era of French colonial control over...
and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Ste. Genevieve is a city in and the county seat of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, United States. The population was 11,654 at the 2000 census...
. From 1756 to 1760, fighting in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
halted new settlement building, and the economy of Louisiana remained weak through 1762 due to the ongoing Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
.
City founding and early history: 1763–1803
The arrival in New Orleans of Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie as the new governor of Louisiana in June 1763 led to changes in colonial French policies. D'Abbadie quickly moved to grant trade monopolies in the middle Mississippi Valley to stimulate the economy of the colony. Among the traders granted monopolies was Pierre LacledePierre Laclède
Pierre Laclède or Pierre Laclède Liguest was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, founded St...
, who along with his stepson Auguste Chouteau set out in August 1763 to build a fur trading post near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The settlement of St. Louis was established at a site south of the confluence on the west bank of the Mississippi on February 15, 1764, by Chouteau and a group of about 30 men. Laclede arrived at the site by mid-1764 and provided detailed plans for the village, including a street grid and market area.
French settlers began to arrive from settlements on the east bank of the Mississippi in 1764 due to fears of British control, given the transfer of eastern land to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
after the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
. The local French lieutenant governor also moved to St. Louis in 1765 and began awarding land grants. As part of the peace negotiations to end the Seven Years War, Spain gained control of Louisiana according to the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement in which France ceded Louisiana to Spain. The treaty followed the last battle in the French and Indian War, the Battle of Signal Hill in September 1762, which confirmed British control of Canada. However, the associated Seven Years War continued...
in 1762. But, due to travel times and the Louisiana Rebellion of 1768, the Spanish took official control in St. Louis only in May 1770. After the transfer, the Spanish confirmed French land grants, and Spanish soldiers provided local security.
The French settlers brought both black and Indian slaves to St. Louis; although the majority were used as domestic servants, others worked as agricultural laborers. In 1769, the Spanish prohibited Indian slavery in Louisiana, but the practice was entrenched among the French Creoles in St. Louis. As a compromise with the local population, Spanish governors ended the Indian slave trade but allowed the retention of current slaves and any children born to them. In 1772, a census determined the population of the village to be 577, including 444 whites (285 males and 159 females) and 193 African slaves, with no Indian slaves reported due to their technical illegality. During the 1770s and 1780s, St. Louis grew slowly and the Spanish commanders were replaced often.
American Revolution
Since the beginning of the American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Spanish governors in New Orleans assisted the American rebels with weapons and ammunition. The Spanish lieutenant governors at St. Louis also aided the colonials, particularly the forces of George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
during the Illinois campaign. After the entry of Spain into the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
in June 1779 on the side of the Americans and the French, the British began preparing an invasion to attack St. Louis and other Mississippi outposts. However, St. Louis was warned of the plans, and residents began preparing fortifications of the town.
After the United States victory, more French Creole families evaded Anglo-American rule by moving to the Spanish-controlled land on the west bank, including the wealthy merchants Charles Gratiot, Sr.
Charles Gratiot, Sr.
Charles Gratiot was a merchant trader in the American Midwest during the American Revolution. He financed George Rogers Clark with $8,000 for his Illinois campaign, which was never reimbursed....
and Gabriel Cerre. Both the Gratiot and Cerre families intermarried with the Chouteau family to create a society in the 1780s and 1790s that was dominated by French Creoles. The families also had marital ties to Spanish government officials, including the lieutenant governors Piernas and Cruzat.
Transfer to France and the United States
During the 1790s, towns near St. Louis expanded as small farmers sold their lands to the Cerres, Gratiots, Soulards, or Chouteaus in St. Louis. These farmers moved to towns such as Carondelet, St. CharlesSaint Charles, Missouri
St. Charles is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 65,794, making St. Charles the 2nd largest city in St. Charles County. It lies just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri on the Missouri River, and, for a time,...
, and Florissant
Florissant, Missouri
Florissant is a second-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in northern St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The city has a total population of 52,158 in 2010 census.-History:...
. By 1800, only 43% of the St. Louis district's population lived within the village of St. Louis (1,039 of 2,447).
During this time, the Spanish government negotiated and secretly returned the unprofitable Louisiana territory to France in October 1800 in the Treaty of San Ildefonso
Third Treaty of San Ildefonso
The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secretly negotiated treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned the colonial territory of...
. The Spanish officially transferred control of Louisiana to France in October 1802; however, Spanish administrators remained in charge of St. Louis throughout the time of French ownership. Shortly afterward, a team of American negotiators purchased Louisiana from the French, including St. Louis. On March 8, 1804, the flag of Spain was lowered at the government buildings in St. Louis and, according to local tradition, the flag of France was raised. On March 10, 1804, the French flag was replaced by that of the United States.
Expansion, growth, and the Civil War: 1804–1865
Government and religion
Initially, the governor of the Indiana TerritoryIndiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
governed the Louisiana District (which included St. Louis), and the district's organizational law forbade the foreign slave trade and reduced the influence of St. Louis in the region. Wealthy St. Louisans petitioned Congress to review the system, and in July 1805, Congress reorganized the Louisiana District as the Louisiana Territory
Louisiana Territory
The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805 until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed to Missouri Territory...
, with its territorial capital at St. Louis and its own territorial governor. From the division of the Louisiana Territory in 1812 to Missouri statehood in 1821, St. Louis was the capital of the Missouri Territory
Missouri Territory
The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri.-History:...
.
Slave codes
Slave codes were laws each US state, which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the African slaves.-Definition of "slaves":Virginia, 1650:“Act XI...
, created a volunteer fire department, and created an overseer to improve street quality. To enforce town ordinances, the Board created the St. Louis Police Department, and a town jail was established in the former fortifications built for the Battle of St. Louis.
After the end of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, the population of St. Louis and the Missouri Territory began expanding quickly. During this expansion land was donated for the Old St. Louis County Courthouse to be constructed. The population increase also stirred interest in statehood for Missouri, and in 1820, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...
, authorizing the admission of Missouri as a slave state
Slave state
In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...
. The state constitutional convention and first General Assembly both met in St. Louis in 1820. Shortly after Missouri became a state, St. Louis incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. The first mayor of the city was William Carr Lane
William Carr Lane
William Carr Lane was a doctor and the first Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, serving from 1823 to 1829 and 1837 to 1840...
, and a Board of Aldermen
Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis
The Board of Aldermen, is the municipal legislature of the independent City of St. Louis, Missouri.-Composition:It consists of 28 aldermen from each of the city's wards...
also were elected to replace the earlier Board of Trustees. The early city government focused on improvements to the riverfront and city health conditions. In addition to a street paving program, the aldermen voted to rename the streets.
After the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the Spanish had ended subsidies to the Catholic Church in St. Louis. As a result, Catholics in St. Louis no longer had a resident priest until the arrival of Louis William Valentine Dubourg
Louis William Valentine Dubourg
Louis William Valentine Dubourg was a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who played an active role in the growth of the church in the early years of the United States. He was born in Cap Français, St...
in early January 1818. Upon his arrival in St. Louis, Dubourg replaced the original log chapel with a brick church, recruited new priests, and established a seminary. By 1826, a separate St. Louis diocese was created with Joseph Rosati
Joseph Rosati
Joseph Rosati was a U.S. Catholic bishop. He served as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis between 1826 and 1843....
named as the first bishop in 1827.
Protestants had received services from itinerant ministers in the late 1790s, but the Spanish required them to remove to American territory until after the Louisiana Purchase. After the purchase, the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
missionary John Mason Peck
John Mason Peck
John Mason Peck was an American Baptist missionary to the western frontier of the United States, especially in Missouri.-Biography:...
built the first Protestant church in St. Louis in 1818. Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
ministers also reached the town during the early years after the purchase, but only formed a congregation in 1821. The Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
in St. Louis began as a Bible reading society in 1811, and in December 1817 members organized a church and built a chapel late the next year. A fourth Protestant group to take root was the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
, founded in 1825.
During the 1830s and 1840s, other faith groups also came to St. Louis, including the first Jewish congregation in the area, the United Hebrew Congregation, which was organized in 1837. In addition, followers of Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
arrived in 1831, and in 1854, they organized the first Mormon church in St. Louis. Regardless of the growth of new churches and the revival of Catholicism under Dubourg, however, during the pre-Civil War era most of the population remained uninterested in organized religion or was agnostic.
Commerce, the Panic of 1819, and growth
Chouteau
Chouteau was the name of a highly successful French fur-trading family based in St. Louis, Missouri, members of which established posts in the Midwest and Western United States...
family and its alliance with the Osages and by Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa , was a Spanish-American fur trader, explorer, and United States Indian agent. He was among the founders in St. Louis of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company...
and his Missouri Fur Company
Missouri Fur Company
The Missouri Fur Company was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St...
. Due to its role as a major trading post with the American West, the city was the departure point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
in 1804. American and other immigrant families began arriving in St. Louis and opening new businesses, including printing and banking, starting in the 1810s. Among the printers to settle in St. Louis was Joseph Charless, who published the first newspaper west of the Mississippi, the Missouri Gazette, in St. Louis on July 12, 1808. In 1816 and 1817, groups of merchants formed the first banks in the town, but mismanagement and the Panic of 1819
Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis in the United States, and had occurred during the political calm of the Era of Good Feelings. The new nation previously had faced a depression following the war of independence in the late 1780s and led directly to the establishment of the...
led to their closure.
The effect of the Panic of 1819 and subsequent depression slowed commercial activity in St. Louis until the mid-1820s. By 1824 and 1825, however, St. Louis businesses began to recover, largely due to the introduction of the steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
; the first steamboat to arrive in St. Louis, the Zebulon M. Pike, docked on August 2, 1817. Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large riverboats, and the Pike and other ships soon transformed St. Louis into a bustling inland port.
Diversification in products available in St. Louis took place during the economic recovery, largely as a result of the new steamboat power. Wholesalers, new banks, and other retail stores opened starting in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The fur trade also continued as a major commercial venture through the 1820s and into the 1830s.In 1822, Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith was a hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer, cattleman, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the 19th century...
joined William H. Ashley's St. Louis fur trading company. Smith would later be known for his explorations of the West and for being the first American to travel overland to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. New fur trade companies such as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
Rocky Mountain Fur Company
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company, sometimes called Ashley's Hundred, was organized in St. Louis, Missouri in 1823 by General William H. Ashley and Major Andrew Henry . They posted advertisements in St. Louis newspapers seeking "One Hundred enterprising young men . ....
pioneered trails into the American West. Although beaver fur lost its popularity in the 1840s, St. Louis continued as a hub of buffalo hides and other furs.
Construction of the Old St. Louis County Courthouse in the late 1820s also encouraged growth, with an addition of western lots to Ninth Street and a new city hall adjacent to the river in 1833. The military post far north of the city at Fort Bellefontaine
Fort Bellefontaine
Fort Bellefontaine was the first United States military installation in the Louisiana Territory.Located on the south bank of the Missouri River, in Missouri, Fort Bellefontaine was first a Spanish military post. Later, by a treaty made between the United States Government, signed by William H...
moved nearer to the city to Jefferson Barracks in 1827, and the St. Louis Arsenal
St. Louis Arsenal
The St. Louis Arsenal is a large complex of military weapons and ammunition storage buildings owned by the United States Army in St. Louis, Missouri. During the American Civil War, the St...
was built in south St. Louis the same year. In the 1830s, there was dramatic growth in the city's population: by 1830, the city population had increased to 5,832 from roughly 4,500 in 1820. By 1835, the city population reached 8,316, doubled by 1840 to 16,439, doubled again by 1845 to 35,390, and again by 1850 to 77,860.
Infrastructure and education improvements
In large part due to the rapid growth of the 1830s and 1840s, choleraCholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
became a significant problem in St. Louis. In 1849, a major cholera epidemic killed nearly 5,000 people, leading to a new sewer system and the draining of a mill pond. In addition, cemeteries were removed to the outskirts of the town to Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries
Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries
Bellefontaine Cemetery and the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri are adjacent burial grounds, which have numerous historic and extravagant tombstones and mausoleums. They are the necropolis for a number of prominent local and state politicians, as well as soldiers of the...
to reduce groundwater contamination. In the same year of the 1849 cholera epidemic, a large fire
St. Louis Fire (1849)
The St. Louis Fire of 1849 was a devastating fire that occurred on May 17, 1849 and destroyed a significant part of St. Louis, Missouri and many of the steamboats using the Mississippi River and Missouri River. This was the first fire in United States history in which it is known that a firefighter...
broke out on a steamboat on the levee, spread to 23 other boats, then destroyed a large portion of the center city. The St. Louis landing was significantly improved during the 1850s. Using the engineering planning of Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward Missouri to eliminate sand bars that threatened the landing. Another infrastructure improvement was the city's water system, which was begun in the early 1830s and were continually improved and expanded in the 1840s and 1850s.
Most early St. Louisans remained illiterate through the 1810s, although many wealthy merchants purchased books for private libraries. Early schools in St. Louis were all fee-based and mostly conducted lessons in French. The first substantial educational effort came about under the authority of the Catholic Church, which in 1818 opened Saint Louis Academy, later renamed Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University is a private, co-educational Jesuit university located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by the Most Reverend Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg SLU is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River. It is one of 28 member institutions of the...
. In 1832, the college applied for a state charter, and in December 1832, it became the first chartered university west of the Mississippi River. In 1842, it opened its medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
, with faculty that included Daniel Brainard
Daniel Brainard
Daniel Brainard was a Chicago based surgeon and founder of Rush Medical College. Brainard came to Chicago, in 1836, at the age of 24, and immediately set up a medical practice, soon after which he applied to the Illinois state legislature for a charter for what was to become Rush Medical College...
(founder of Rush Medical College
Rush Medical College
Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, a private university in Chicago, Illinois. Rush Medical College was one of the first medical colleges in the state of Illinois and was chartered in 1837, two days before the city of Chicago was chartered, and opened with 22 students on...
), Moses Linton (founder of the first medical journal
Medical journal
A public health journal is a scientific journal devoted to the field of public health, including epidemiology, biostatistics, and health care . Public health journals, like most scientific journals, are peer-reviewed...
west of the Mississippi River in 1843), and Charles Alexander Pope (later president of the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
). However, the university primarily catered to seminary students rather than the general public, and it was only in the 1840s that the Catholic Church began offering large scale instruction at parochial schools. In 1853, William Greenleaf Eliot
William Greenleaf Eliot
William Greenleaf Eliot was an American educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leader in Missouri. He is most notable for founding Washington University in St. Louis, but also contributed to the founding of numerous other civic institutions, such as the St...
founded a second university in the city — Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
. During the 1850s Eliot also founded Smith Academy for boys and Mary Institute for girls, which later merged and became Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School
Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School
Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School or "MICDS" is a secular, co-educational, private school for about 1,200 students in grades Junior Kindergarten through 12, separated into three different sections: JK-4th grade , 5th-8th grade , and 9th-12th grade . Its 100 acre campus is located...
.
Public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
in St. Louis, provided by the St. Louis Public Schools
St. Louis Public Schools
St. Louis Public Schools is the school district that operates public schools in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With a 2005 enrollment of approximately 33,000 students it is the largest public school district in the state of Missouri. Its headquarters is in Downtown St...
, began in 1838 with the creation of two elementary schools, and the system quickly expanded during the 1840s. By 1854, the system had 27 schools and served nearly 4,000 students, in 1855 a high school was opened with considerable fanfare, and by 1860, nearly 12,000 students had enrolled in the district. The district also opened a normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
in 1857, which later became Harris-Stowe State University.
In addition to education, St. Louis entertainment options increased during the pre-Civil War period; in early 1819, the first theatre production in St. Louis opened, including a musical accompaniment. In the late 1830s, a 35-member orchestra briefly played in St. Louis, and in 1860, another orchestra opened that played more than 60 concerts through 1870.
Slavery, immigration and nativism
The availability of work meant that slaves could earn wages, and some were able to save money to purchase their freedom or that of relatives. Others were manumitted
Manumission
Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
, which occurred relatively more frequently in St. Louis than in the surrounding rural areas. Still others attempted to escape via the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
or attempted to gain their freedom through freedom suits
Freedom suits
Freedom suits were legal petitions filed by slaves for freedom in the United States and its territories before the American Civil War, including during the colonial period. Most were filed during the nineteenth century. After the American Revolution, most northern states had abolished slavery, and...
. The first freedom suit in St. Louis was filed by Marguerite Scypion in 1805, and more than 300 other suits were filed in St. Louis until the outbreak of the Civil War. Among the most famous of the freedom suits was that of Dred Scott
Dred Scott
Dred Scott , was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v...
and his wife Harriet, in a case heard at the Old Courthouse that was based on their having traveled and lived with their master in free states. Although the state ruled in his favor, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in an 1857 ruling against them. The Supreme Court ruled that slaves could not be counted as citizens, overturning the basis of the Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...
and inflaming national debate about slavery.
During the economic expansion of the 1830s, Irish and German immigration to St. Louis increased substantially. In particular, the writings of Gottfried Duden
Gottfried Duden
Gottfried Duden was a German emigration writer of the early 19th century. His famous book Bericht über eine Reise nach den westlichen Staaten Nordamerika's gave romantic and glowing descriptions of the Missouri River valley between St. Louis and Hermann, Missouri...
encouraged German immigration. Many Irish were motivated by the Irish potato famine of 1845–1846 and the failed Irish uprising of 1848
Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848
The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement. It took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, County Tipperary. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an Irish Constabulary unit raided a house...
. Other Irish settlers came to St. Louis because of its reputation as a Catholic city.
Nativist sentiment increased in St. Louis during the late 1840s, leading to mob attacks and riots in 1844, 1849, and 1852. The 1844 riots derived from popular outrage and resentment toward human dissection
Dissection
Dissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components....
, which was then taking place at the Saint Louis University medical college. The discovery of human remains prompted rumors of grave robbing
Grave robbing
Grave robbery, grave robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a tomb or crypt to steal artifacts or personal effects. Someone who engages in this act is a grave robber or tomb raider...
, and a mob of more than 3,000 residents attacked the medical college, destroying most of its interior facilities. The worst nativist riot in St. Louis took place in 1854, and the local militia was used to end the fighting. However, 10 people were killed, 33 wounded, and 93 buildings were damaged. Regulations on elections prevented fighting in future elections in 1856 and 1858.
American Civil War
As the conflict over the issues of states' rights and slavery turned to war, the core of St. Louis leadership had shifted from the Creole and Irish families to a new group, dominated by anti-slavery Germans. Among this new class of leaders was Frank P. Blair, Jr., who led an effort to create a local militia loyal to the Union after Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox JacksonClaiborne Fox Jackson
Claiborne Fox Jackson was a lawyer, soldier, and Democratic politician from Missouri. He was the 15th Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.-Early life:...
made hints toward secession. This local militia allied itself with the Union army forces at Jefferson Barracks under the leadership of Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....
, which on May 10, 1861 cleared a Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
encampment outside the city in what became known as the Camp Jackson Affair. While the Confederates were being marched back into the town, a group of citizens attacked the Union and militia forces, leading to shooting that killed 28 civilians.
After the Camp Jackson Affair, there were no more military threats to Union control of St. Louis until 1864, although guerrilla activity continued in rural areas for the duration of the war. However, Union General John C. Fremont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
placed the city under martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
in August 1861 to suppress sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
; after Fremont's dismissal, Union army forces continued to suppress pro-Confederate demonstrations in the town. The war significantly damaged St. Louis commerce, especially after the Confederacy blockaded the Mississippi and ended St. Louis's connection to eastern markets. It also slowed the growth of St. Louis during the 1860s, with an increase of only 43,000 residents from 1860 to 1866.
Fourth city status: 1866–1904
During the decades after the Civil War, St. Louis grew to become the fourth largest city in the United States after New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. It also experienced rapid infrastructure and transportation development and the growth of heavy industry. The period culminated with the 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Summer Olympics1904 Summer Olympics
The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University...
, which were held concurrently in St. Louis.
Infrastructure, parks, and education
Tower Grove Park
Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. Most of its land was donated to the city by Henry Shaw in 1868. It is on 289 acres adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Garden, another of Shaw’s legacies. It extends 1.6 miles from west to east, between Kingshighway...
and Forest Park.
After the Civil War, both the public and parochial systems expanded by 1870, to 24,347 and 4,362 students respectively. St. Louis educators established the first public kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
in the United States, under the instruction of Susan Blow
Susan Blow
Susan Elizabeth Blow was a United States educator who opened the first successful public Kindergarten in the United States. She is known as the "Mother of Kindergarten".-Early life:The eldest of six children, Susan Blow was the daughter of Henry Taylor Blow and Minerva Grimsley...
in 1874. Proposals for a free library system originated prior to the Civil War, and after the conflict the St. Louis Public School Library was established. During the 1870s and 1880s, a variety of local fee-based libraries consolidated with the school library system, and in 1894, the school system divested the library system as an independent entity, which became the St. Louis Public Library
St. Louis Public Library
The St. Louis Public Library is a municipal public library system in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It operates sixteen locations, including the main Central Library location. Although similarly named, the St. Louis Public Library is unrelated to the St...
.
Racially segregated schools had operated secretly and illegally in St. Louis since the 1820s, but in 1864, an integrated group of St. Louisans formed the Board of Education for Colored Schools, which established schools without public finances for more than 1500 black pupils in 1865. After 1865, the St. Louis Board of Education appropriated funding for the black schools, but facilities and conditions were quite poor. In 1875, after considerable effort and protest from the black community, high school classes began to be offered at Sumner High School
Sumner High School (St. Louis)
Sumner High School, also known as Charles E. Sumner High School, is a St. Louis public high school that was the first high school for African-American students west of the Mississippi River. Together with Vashon High School, Sumner was one of the two segregated public high schools in St. Louis for...
, the first high school for black students west of the Mississippi. However, inequality remained rampant in St. Louis schools.
Railroad connections with the southwest and Texas were improved during the 1870s, with the formation of the Cotton Belt Railroad. In addition to connecting St. Louis with the West, the railroads began to demand connections with the east across the Mississippi. Between 1867 and 1874, work on the Eads Bridge
Eads Bridge
The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois....
over the Mississippi continued despite setbacks such as caisson disease. In May 1874, weight tests were conducted on the bridge deck, and the bridge formally opened on July 4, 1874.
To accommodate increased rail traffic, a new railroad terminal was constructed in 1875, but it was not large enough to consolidate all train service in one location. A replacement station, called Union Station, opened on September 1, 1894. Although Chicago, Illinois had a greater volume of traffic at its own Union Station, more railroads met at St. Louis than any other city in the United States. Union Station's rail platform expanded in 1930 and operated as the passenger rail terminal for St. Louis into the 1970s.
Separation from St. Louis County
When Missouri became a state in 1821, St. Louis County was created from the boundaries of the former St. Louis subdistrict of the Missouri Territory; St. Louis city existed within the county but was not contiguous with it. Starting in the 1850s, rural county voters began to exert political influence over questions of taxation in the St. Louis County court. In 1867, the county court was given power to assess and collect property tax revenue from St. Louis city property, providing a financial boon to the county government while depriving city government of revenues. After this power transfer, St. Louisans in the city began to favor one of three options: greater representation on the county court via charterCharter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
changes, city–county consolidation, or urban secession
Urban secession
Urban secession is a city's secession from its surrounding region, to form a new political unit. This new unit is usually a subdivision of the same country as its surroundings, but in some cases, full sovereignty may be attained, in which case the unit is usually called a city-state...
to form an independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
.
At a Missouri state constitutional convention in 1875, delegates from the region agreed on a separation plan. A Board of Freeholders from St. Louis county and city reorganized boundaries and proposed a final plan of separation in mid-1876. The new city charter also tripled the size of the city to include the new rural parks (such as Forest Park) and the useful riverfront from the Missouri–Mississippi confluence to the mouth of the River Des Peres. After a fraudulent election initially showed a rejection of the plan, a recount in December 1876 showed voters had approved the separation.
Industrial and commercial growth
In 1880, the leading industries of St. Louis included brewing, flour milling, slaughtering, machining, and tobacco processing. Other industries including the manufacture of paint, bricks, and iron. During the 1880s, the city grew in population by 29 percent, from 350,518 to 451,770, making it the country's fourth largest city; it also ranked fourth as measured by value of its manufactured products, and more than 6,148 factories existed in 1890. However, during the 1890s, manufacturing growth slowed dramatically. The Panic of 1893Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
and subsequent depression and the overproduction of grain made St. Louis mills considerably less productive and valuable. Flour milling was halved in production, and most other industries suffered similar declines.
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...
industry, which originated in St. Louis in the years after the Louisiana Purchase, was limited in scope to local production during the pre-Civil War era. The arrival of Adam Lemp in 1842 changed much of the beer industry in the area; Lemp introduced lager beer, which quickly became the most popular type of beer in St. Louis. The industry also expanded rapidly in the late 1850s, from 24 breweries in 1854 to 40 in 1860. Brewing became the city's largest industry by 1880, and St. Louis breweries were innovators in their field. Anheuser-Busch pioneered refrigerated railroad cars for beer transport and was the first company to market pasteurized bottled beer.
In addition to a growing beer brewing industry, St. Louis also was home to whiskey distilleries. Several of these distilleries were at the heart of the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
during the early 1870s, a conspiracy that began among St. Louis distillers and local tax officials to defraud the federal government of tax revenue on whiskey production. Although the ring began as an effort to provide funds to reelect Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
as president in 1872, it continued to circumvent taxes until early 1875. After the breakup of the ring in May 1875, more than 100 conspirators were charged with fraud in St. Louis, including Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
. Although Grant initially announced he would travel to St. Louis to testify on behalf of Babcock in the trial, Grant later decided to provide only written testimony. In early 1876, 110 conspirators were convicted of fraud, and Babcock was the only defendant who was acquitted.
Among the downsides to rapid industrialization was pollution, of which St. Louis generated a great deal. Brick firing produced particulate air pollution and paint making created lead dust, while beer and liquor brewing produced grain swill. However, the worst pollution was coal dust and smoke, for which St. Louis was infamous by the 1890s. The greatest number of complaints to the St. Louis Board of Health were due to the presence of industries engaged in rendering, which produced noxious fumes. In spite of this, pollution control was hindered by a desire to promote growth. One of the few policies to be carried out began in 1880, in which regulations would be enforced strictly in some areas while little in others, thereby encouraging factories to concentrate in industrial districts.
In addition to industrial growth, the 1880s and 1890s were a period of significant growth in commercial building in downtown St. Louis. The retail district was centered at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, while banking and business was centered to the south, at Fourth and Olive streets. During the 1890s, significant retailers and businesses moved westward; among the new buildings constructed as a result of this movement was the Wainwright Building
Wainwright Building
The Wainwright Building is a 10-story red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891...
. Designed by Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
in 1891, the Wainwright was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction and remains an example of early skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
design.
Music and sports
Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center is a 19,150 seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1994. It is the home of the St...
) became the home of St. Louis ragtime. Well-known ragtime and jazz composers lived in played in St. Louis, including W.C. Handy, Tom Turpin
Tom Turpin
Thomas Million John Turpin was an African-American composer of ragtime music.Tom Turpin was born in Savannah, Georgia, a son of John L. Turpin and Lulu Waters Turpin. In his early twenties he opened a saloon in St...
, Scott Hayden
Scott Hayden
Scott Hayden was an African-American composer of ragtime music.Born in Sedalia, Missouri, he was the son of Marion and Julia Hayden...
, Arthur Marshall
Arthur Marshall (ragtime composer)
Arthur Marshall was an African-American composer and performer of ragtime music.Marshall was born on a farm in Saline County, Missouri, but a few years later his family moved to Sedalia, Missouri...
, Joe Jordan
Joe Jordan (musician)
Joe Jordan was an African American musician and composer. Jordan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, grew up in St...
, and Louis Chauvin
Louis Chauvin
Louis Chauvin was an American ragtime musician.Born in St. Louis, Missouri of a Mexican Spanish-Indian father and an African American mother, he was widely considered the finest pianist in the St. Louis area at the turn of the century...
. In addition to the early Chestnut Valley players, ragtime composer Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
moved to St. Louis from Sedalia, Missouri
Sedalia, Missouri
Sedalia is a city located about south of the Missouri River in Pettis County, Missouri. U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 65 intersect in the city. As of 2006, the city had a total population of 20,669. It is the county seat of Pettis County. The Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of...
in 1901, where he associated with Tom Turpin and composed music in the city until moving to Chicago in 1907.
The sport of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
began to be played in St. Louis in the years following the Civil War; a team known as the St. Louis Brown Stockings
St. Louis Brown Stockings
The St. Louis Brown Stockings were a professional baseball club based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1875 to 1877.-History:Joining the National Association in the final season of that league, the Brown Stockings were the first team to represent St. Louis in a professional baseball association . The...
was founded in the city in 1875. The Brown Stockings were a founding member of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
and became a hometown favorite, defeating the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
) in their opener on May 6, 1875. However, the original Brown Stockings club closed in 1878, and an unrelated National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
team with the same name was founded in 1882. This team changed its name multiple times, shortening to the Browns in 1883, becoming the Perfectos in 1899, and settling on the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
in 1900. In 1902, a team moved to St. Louis from Milwaukee and adopted the name St. Louis Browns, although they had no relation to the previous Browns or Brown Stockings. From 1902 until the 1950s, St. Louis was home to two Major League teams.
1904 World's Fair
Since the 1850s, St. Louis had hosted annual agricultural and mechanical fairs at Fairground ParkFairground Park
Fairground Park is a municipal park in St. Louis, Missouri, that opened in 1908. It was originally a privately owned facility, used by the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association for the St. Louis Exposition from 1856 through 1902 . The annual exposition ceased in 1902 as preparations for...
to connect with regional manufacturers and growers. However, by the 1880s, the connection to agriculture had declined, and in 1883, a new St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall
St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall
St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall was an indoor exposition hall, Music Hall and arena in St. Louis, Missouri from 1883 to 1907.Three national nominating conventions were held in three separate buildings in or near the complex between 1888 and 1904...
was built to house industrial exhibits. In 1890, St. Louis attempted to host the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
, but the fair was awarded to Chicago, which hosted the exposition in 1893. In 1899, delegates from states that had been part of the Louisiana Purchase met in St. Louis, selecting it as the site of a world's fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
celebrating the centennial of the purchase in 1904.
Company directors selected the western half of Forest Park as the site of the fair, sparking a real estate and construction boom in the area. Streetcar and rail service to the area was improved, and a new filtration system was implemented to improve the clarity of the St. Louis water supply. The 1904 World's Fair itself consisted of an "Ivory City" of twelve temporary exhibition palaces, of which one was rebuilt as the St. Louis Art Museum. While in operation, the fair celebrated American expansionism and world cultures with exhibits of historical French fur-trading, and Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
and Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
villages. Concurrently, the 1904 Summer Olympics
1904 Summer Olympics
The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University...
were held in St. Louis, at what would become the campus of Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
.
Decline of the inner city and urban renewal: 1905–1980
Civic improvements and segregation policies
During the early 1900s and 1910s, St. Louis began a building program that created parks and playgrounds in several deteriorating residential neighborhoods. Parks Commissioner (and former professional tennis player) Dwight F. DavisDwight F. Davis
Dwight Filley Davis was an American tennis player and politician. He is best remembered as the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition.-Biography:...
continued the development of recreational facilities during the early 1910s by expanding tennis facilities and building a public 18-hole golf course in northwest Forest Park. In addition, the St. Louis Zoo was constructed in Forest Park in the early 1910s under the leadership of Mayor Henry Kiel
Henry Kiel
Henry W. Kiel was the thirty-second Mayor of Saint Louis, serving from 1913 to 1925.Kiel grew up in St. Louis and attended St. Louis Public Schools and the Smith Academy. His family worked in the construction industry, and Kiel learned the bricklayer's trade from his father...
. Since the 1890s, St. Louis had attempted to control its air pollution problems with little success, but damage to buildings and flora made the issue more visible during the 1920s. Problems continued through the 1930s and came to a head with the 1939 St. Louis smog, which blackened the sky and lasted for three weeks. A ban on burning low-quality coal solved the problem in December 1939, and the addition of natural gas for heating assisted homeowners in making the transition to cleaner fuels by the late 1940s.
During the 1904 World's Fair, ballooning
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
was demonstrated as a viable means of transportation in St. Louis; in October 1907, the second Gordon Bennett Cup, an international balloon racing event, was held in the city. The first airplane flight in the city occurred in late 1909, and by the next year, an airplane field had been established in nearby Kinloch, Missouri
Kinloch, Missouri
Kinloch is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 298 at the 2010 census.Kinloch is the oldest African-American community to be incorporated in the state of Missouri and was home to a vibrant and flourishing black community for much of the 19th and 20th century. It...
. In October 1910, St. Louis hosted President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, who became the first president to fly in an airplane after departing from the field. In 1925, local entrepreneur Albert Lambert
Albert Bond Lambert
Albert Bond Lambert was an American golfer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1904 Summer Olympics.He was also a prominent St. Louis aviator and benefactor of aviation.-Early life:...
purchased Kinloch Field, expanded its facilities, and renamed it Lambert Field. In May 1927, Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
departed from Lambert Field en route to New York to begin his solo non-stop flight
Non-stop flight
A non-stop flight, especially in the aviation industry, refers to any flight by an aircraft which does not involve any intermediate stops. A "direct flight" is not the same as a "non-stop flight"...
across the Atlantic Ocean. In early 1928, the city of St. Louis purchased the airport from Lambert, making it the first municipally owned airport in the United States; Lambert remains the primary airport for Greater St. Louis.
Although Missouri and St. Louis enforced a variety of Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
, the area generally had a lower level of racial violence and fewer lynchings than the American South. The St. Louis black community was stable and relatively concentrated in residential housing along the riverfront or near the railroad yards. Although informal discrimination had existed in the St. Louis housing market since the end of the Civil War, it was not until 1916 that St. Louis passed a residential segregation ordinance. The ordinance quickly was invalidated by court injunctions, but private restrictive covenants in St. Louis real estate transactions limited the ability of white owners to sell to blacks and were another form of racial discrimination. In 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned such real estate limitations as unconstitutional in Shelley v. Kraemer
Shelley v. Kraemer
Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 , is a United States Supreme Court case which held that courts could not enforce racial covenants on real estate.-Facts of the case:...
, a court case based on the sale of a St. Louis house (the Shelley House
Shelley House (St. Louis, Missouri)
The Shelley House was the focus of the 1948 United States Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer, which ruled that judicial enforcement by state courts of racially restrictive covenants violated the Constitution. The 1906 duplex in St...
) to a black family.
Despite segregationist and racist attitudes, St. Louis acted as a haven during the 1917 East St. Louis Riot
East St. Louis Riot
The East St. Louis Riot was an outbreak of labor- and race-related violence that caused between 40 and 200 deaths and extensive property damage. East St. Louis, Illinois, is an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri...
, as St. Louis police shepherded fleeing blacks across the Eads Bridge to shelter and food provided by the city government and the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
. Leonidas C. Dyer
Leonidas C. Dyer
Leonidas Carstarphen Dyer was an American politician, reformer, civil rights activist, and military officer who served 11 terms in the U.S. Congress as a Republican Representative from Missouri from 1911 to 1933. In 1898 enrolling in the U.S...
, who represented part of St. Louis in the U.S. House, led a Congressional investigation into the events and eventually sponsored an anti-lynching bill
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, introduced by Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican from Saint Louis, Missouri, in the US House of Representatives in 1918, was directed at punishing lynchings and mob violence....
in response to the riot. Due to an influx of refugees from East St. Louis and the general effects of the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
of blacks from the rural South to industrial cities, the black population of St. Louis increased more rapidly than the whole during the decade of 1910 to 1920.
World War I and the interbellum period
| 1930 | 1931 | 1933 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National average | 8.7% | 15.9% | 24.9% |
| St. Louis (total) | 9.8% | 24% | 35% |
| St. Louis (whites) | 8.4% | 21.5% | 30% |
| St. Louis (blacks) | 13.2% | 42.8% | 80% |
Both the St. Louis German and Irish communities urged neutrality
Neutrality (international relations)
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
at the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, which contributed to a resurgent nativism after U.S. entry into the war
United States in World War I
The United States was a formal participant in World War I from April 6, 1917 until the war's end in November 1918. Up to that point, the US had remained neutral, though the US had been an important supplier to Britain and other Allied powers...
in 1917. As a result, ethnic German St. Louisans suffered some discrimination during the war, and St. Louisans repressed elements of German culture. St. Louis commerce, for its part, was not dramatically affected by the war. After World War I, the nationwide prohibition of alcohol
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
in 1919 brought heavy losses to the St. Louis brewing industry and to the state's wine industry, the second largest in the nation at the time. Other industries, such as light manufacturing of clothing, automobile manufacturing, and chemical production, filled much of the gap, and St. Louis's economy was relatively diversified and healthy during the 1920s.
St. Louis suffered as much or more than comparable cities in the early years of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The manufacturing output of St. Louis fell by 57 percent between 1929 and 1933, slightly more than the national average of 55 percent, and output continued to remain low until World War II. Unemployment during the Depression was particularly significant in urban areas, and St. Louis was no exception (see table). Black workers particularly suffered significantly higher unemployment than their white counterparts. To aid the unemployed, the city allocated funds starting in 1930 toward relief operations
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
. In addition to city relief aid, New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
programs such as the Public Works Administration
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration , part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression...
employed thousands of St. Louisans. Civic improvement construction jobs also reduced the number of persons on direct relief aid by the late 1930s.
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, St. Louis was the location of a large ammunition factory and the Curtiss-Wright
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of World War II, but has evolved to largely become a component manufacturer, specializing in actuators, aircraft controls, valves, and metalworking....
aircraft factory. Area factories also produced uniforms and footwear, K-rations, and chemicals and medicines. The uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
used in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
was refined in St. Louis by Mallinckrodt Chemical Company starting in 1942, and several atomic bomb scientists had ties to St. Louis, including Arthur Compton
Arthur Compton
Arthur Holly Compton was an American physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery of the Compton effect. He served as Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953.-Early years:...
. At the start of the war, many German, Italian, and Japanese St. Louisans were interrogated or arrested, while the FBI investigated charges of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
in the area. Residents engaged in civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
drills and supported the war effort with scrap drives and war bond purchases. St. Louis produced several notable soldiers in the war, including Edward O'Hare
Edward O'Hare
Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare was an Irish-American naval aviator of the United States Navy who on February 20, 1942 became the U.S. Navy's first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. Butch O’Hare’s final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943,...
, who grew up in St. Louis and won the Congressional Medal of Honor for combat actions in the Pacific. St. Louis also was home to Wendell O. Pruitt
Wendell O. Pruitt
Wendell Oliver Pruitt was a pioneering African-American military pilot and Tuskegee Airman originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He was killed during a training exercise in 1945. After his death, his name, along with William L. Igoe's was given to the notorious Pruitt–Igoe public housing complex...
, an African-American pilot who shot down three enemy aircraft and destroyed multiple ground targets in June 1944.
At the outbreak of war, African-American workers gained greater acceptance in industry than they had previously, but discrimination remained a problem for many black workers. During the war, city officials passed the first municipal integration ordinance, allowing African Americans to eat at city-owned (but not private) lunch counters. In May 1944, when a black sailor in uniform was refused service at a privately owned lunch counter, the action prompted peaceful sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
protests at several downtown diners. No changes in Jim Crow segregation policies at lunch counters resulted, but Saint Louis University admitted its first black students starting in August 1944.
More than 5,400 St. Louisans became casualties of the war, listed as either missing
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
or killed in action
Killed in action
Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
. The end of the war also led to the closure of many St. Louis factories, with major layoffs beginning in May and continuing through August 1945. By late 1945, returning soldiers encountered a chronic housing and job shortage in the city. The GI Bill allowed many St. Louis veterans to purchase homes, which encouraged suburbanization after the war that led to declines in the city's population.
Suburbanization and population loss
Internal population migration westward was a feature of St. Louis growth since its earliest days, but it accelerated rapidly in the late 19th century. Starting in the 1890s, the St. Louis streetcar system and commuter railroad stations enabled commuters to travel from suburban towns bordering the city into the downtown. Towns such as KirkwoodKirkwood, Missouri
Kirkwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named for James Pugh Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad through that town. It was the first planned suburb located west...
, Maplewood
Maplewood, Missouri
Maplewood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County. The population was 8,046 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Maplewood is located at ....
, Webster Groves
Webster Groves, Missouri
Webster Groves is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 22,995 at the 2010 census. The city is named after New England politician Daniel Webster....
, Richmond Heights
Richmond Heights, Missouri
Richmond Heights, a city in St. Louis County, is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 8,603 at the 2010 census. According to Robert L. Ramsay, the name was suggested by Robert E. Lee, who thought the topography of the area resembled Richmond, Virginia...
, University City
University City, Missouri
University City is an inner-ring suburb in St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 35,371 in 2010 census. The city was shaped by Washington University in St. Louis, whose campus abuts the city to the southeast....
, and Clayton
Clayton, Missouri
Clayton is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis and the county seat of St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 15,939 at the 2010 census. The city was organized in 1877 and is named after Ralph Clayton, who donated the land for the courthouse.-Geography:...
grew rapidly between 1900 and 1930. Restrictions on immigration and extensive movement to these towns doubled the population of St. Louis County from 1910 to 1920, while the city grew only 12 percent in the same period. During the 1930s, the city's population declined by a small amount for the first time, but St. Louis County grew by nearly 30 percent. Nearly 80 percent of new residential construction in the region occurred outside city limits during the late 1930s, and St. Louis planners were unable to combat the problem via annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
.
The city reached a highest recorded census population of 856,796 in 1950, and its population peaked in the early 1950s with approximately 880,000 residents. However, new highway construction and increased automobile ownership enabled further suburbanization, which contributed to population loss. Another factor in the city's population loss was white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
, which began in earnest during the late 1950s and continued during the 1960s and 1970s. From 1950 to 1960, the city declined by 13 percent to 750,026, and from 1960 to 1970, the city declined another 17 percent to 622,236. Of this decline, the white population declined primarily due to "massive outward migration, primarily to the suburbs." Between 1960 and 1970, a net 34 percent of white city residents moved out; in addition, city white death rates exceeded birth rates. By the early 1970s, the white population of the city had decreased significantly, particularly among those of child-bearing age. The black population of St. Louis saw a natural increase of 19.5 percent during the 1960s, with no gain or loss through migration; during that decade, the overall percentage of black city residents rose from 29 to 41 percent. However, the black population declined in size from 1968 to 1972 by nearly 20,000 residents, demonstrating significant black out-migration from the city during the period.
Urban renewal projects and the Arch
Early urban renewal efforts in St. Louis coincided with efforts to plan a riverfront memorial to honor Thomas JeffersonJefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
, which would later include the famous Gateway Arch
Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States...
. Work began in the early 1930s on acquisition and demolition of the forty block area where the memorial would stand; the only remnant of Laclede's street grid that was preserved was north of the Eads Bridge (in what is now known as Laclede's Landing
Laclede's Landing
Laclède's Landing is a popular attraction located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.Located just north of the Eads Bridge on the Mississippi Riverfront, the Landing is a multi-block collection of cobblestone streets and vintage brick-and-cast-iron warehouses dating from 1850 through 1900, now...
), while the only building in the area to remain was the Old Cathedral. Demolition continued until the outbreak of World War II, when the area began to be used as a parking lot, and the project stalled until a design competition for the memorial was launched. In 1948, Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
's design for an inverted and weighted catenary
Catenary
In physics and geometry, the catenary is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. The curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, and has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola...
curve won the competition; however, groundbreaking did not begin until 1954, the Arch itself was topped out in October 1965, and a museum and visitors' center opened underneath the structure only in 1976. In addition to attracting millions of visitors, the Arch also ultimately spurred more than $500 million in downtown construction during the 1970s and 1980s.
Concurrent with plans to build the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial during the 1930s were plans to create subsidized housing in the city. Despite efforts at civic improvement starting in the 1920s and two significant housing projects built in 1939, after World War II more than 33,000 houses had shared or outdoor toilets, while thousands of St. Louisans lived in crowded, unsafe conditions. Starting in 1953, St. Louis cleared the Chestnut Valley area in Midtown, then sold the land to developers who constructed middle-class apartment buildings. Nearby, the city cleared more than 450 acres (1.8 km²) of a residential neighborhood known as Mill Creek Valley, displacing thousands of people. A residential mixed-income development known as LaClede Town
LaClede Town
LaClede Town was a mixed-income, federally funded housing project in St. Louis, Missouri. Located near Saint Louis University, it opened in 1964 and closed in the late 1980s. Some of the Grand Forest Apartments, a part of LaClede town, still exist as student housing for Saint Louis...
was created in the area in the early 1960s, although this was eventually demolished for an expansion of Saint Louis University. The majority of people displaced from Mill Creek Valley were poor and African American, and they frequently moved to historically stable, middle-class black neighborhoods such as The Ville
The Ville, St. Louis
The Ville is a historic neighborhood located in North St. Louis, Missouri.This neighborhood is bounded by St. Louis Avenue on the North, Martin Luther King drive on the South, Sarah on the East and Taylor on the West....
.
St. Louis Gateway Mall
The St. Louis Gateway Mall in St. Louis, Missouri is a linear park one block wide running from the Gateway Arch at Memorial Drive to Union Station at 20th Street. It runs between Market Street and Chestnut Street.-Early History:...
project and the completion of several new high-rise housing projects. The most famous and largest of the St. Louis housing projects was Pruitt–Igoe, which opened in 1954 on the northwest edge of downtown and included 33 eleven-story buildings with nearly 3,000 units. Between 1953 and 1957, St. Louis built more than 6,100 units of public housing, and each opened with enthusiasm on the part of local leaders, the media, and new tenants. However, the projects were plagued with problems from the beginning; it became quickly apparent that there was too little recreational space, too few healthcare facilities or shopping centers, and employment opportunities were scarce. Crime was rampant, particularly at Pruitt–Igoe, and that complex was demolished in 1975. The other St. Louis housing projects remained relatively well-occupied through the 1980s, in spite of languishing problems with crime.
Along with the development of the major housing projects was a 1955 urban renewal bond issue totaling more than $110 million. The bonds provided funds to purchase land to build three expressway
Limited-access road
A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...
s into downtown St. Louis, which later became Interstate 64
Interstate 64
Interstate 64 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. 40, and U.S. 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange with I-264 and I-664 at Bowers Hill in Chesapeake, Virginia. As I-64 is concurrent with...
, Interstate 70
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 is an Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a Park and Ride near Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Interstate Highway project in the United States. I-70 approximately traces the path of U.S. Route 40 east of the Rocky...
, and Interstate 44
Interstate 44
Interstate 44 is a major highway in the central United States. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, Texas at a concurrency with US 277, US 281 and US 287; its eastern terminus is at the Illinois state line on the Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River in St...
. In 1967, the highway-only Poplar Street Bridge
Poplar Street Bridge
The Poplar Street Bridge, officially the Bernard F. Dickmann Bridge, completed in 1967, is a long deck girder bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois...
opened to move traffic from all three expressways over the Mississippi River. The openings of the Arch in 1965 and the bridge in 1967 were accompanied by the opening of a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting in the 1920s, the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
became more popular than the older St. Louis Browns, although the Cardinals rented a shared space at Sportsman's Park
Sportsman's Park
Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, all but one of which were located on the same piece of land, the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street on the north side of the city.- History :From...
with the Browns. In 1953, the Browns' owner sold the team, at which time it relocated and became the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
. At the same time, Sportsman's Park needed expensive repairs, and a new park was proposed closer to downtown St. Louis. The Cardinals moved into Busch Memorial Stadium
Busch Memorial Stadium
Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1966 to 2005....
for the 1965 season, although construction of the stadium required the demolition of Chinatown, St. Louis
Chinatown, St. Louis
Chinatown in St. Louis, Missouri was a Chinatown near Downtown St. Louis that existed from 1869 until its demolition for Busch Memorial Stadium in 1966. While in existence, it was bounded by Seventh, Tenth, Walnut and Chestnut streets. Although the original St...
, ending decades of presence in the area by a Chinese immigrant community.
Government consolidation attempts
Due to the city's population decline, beginning in the 1920s and accelerating through the 1950s, local government leaders made several attempts at consolidation of services. A pre–Great Depression annexation attempt by the city failed due to opposition from county voters, and only after World War II would more efforts be made toward consolidation. The first (and one of the few) successful attempts at consolidation resulted in the creation of the Metropolitan Sewer District, a city–county water and sewer company formed in 1954. The next year, however, a city–county transit agency was rejected by voters, followed by a failed charter revision in 1955 that would have unified the city and the county. As the population of St. Louis County grew, local subdivisions began multiplying and incorporating into cities and towns, producing more than 90 separate municipalities by the 1960s. Those in favor of regional planning found some success, however, in the 1965 creation of the East–West Gateway Coordinating Council, a group given the power to approve or deny applications for federal aid from cities in the region.Recent developments: 1981–present
Beautification and crime prevention projects
By the late 1970s, urban decay had spread rapidly through St. Louis, as described by Kenneth T. JacksonKenneth T. Jackson
Kenneth Terry Jackson is a professor of history and social sciences at Columbia University. A frequent television guest, he is best known as an urban historian and a preeminent authority on New York City, where he lives on the Upper West Side....
, historian of suburban development:
Upon the election of Vincent Schoemehl as the city's youngest mayor ever in 1981, St. Louis's problems were more significant than many other rustbelt cities, with several major development projects incomplete and the city's economic base crumbling. However, Schoemehl developed two projects early in his three terms in office that assisted St. Louis: the first, Operation Brightside, provided city beautification through plantings and graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
cleanup. Schoemehl also instituted a safety program to address city crime, known as Operation SafeStreet, which blocked access to certain through streets and provided low-cost security measures to homeowners. Crime declined starting in 1984, and despite a small resurgence in 1989, continued to decline through the 1990s.
School desegregation and voluntary transfers
Although de jure segregation in St. Louis public schools ended in 1954 after the Brown v. Board of EducationBrown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
decision, St. Louis area educators continued to employ tactics to ensure de facto segregation during the 1960s. In the 1970s, a lawsuit challenging this segregation led to a 1983 settlement agreement in which St. Louis County school districts agreed to accept black students from the city on a voluntary basis. State funding was used to transport students there to provide an integrated education for area students. The agreement also called for white students from the county to voluntarily attend city magnet schools, in an effort to desegregate the remaining schools in St. Louis City. Despite opposition from state and local political leaders, the plan significantly desegregated St. Louis schools; in 1980, 82 percent of black students in the city attended all-black schools, while in 1995, only 41 percent did so. During the late 1990s, the St. Louis voluntary transfer program was the largest such program in the United States, with more than 14,000 enrolled students.
Under a renewed agreement in 1999, all but one of the St. Louis County districts agreed to continue their participation, albeit with an opt-out clause that allowed districts to reduce the number of incoming transfer students starting in 2002. A five-year extension of the voluntary transfer program was approved in 2007, allowing new enrollments to take place through the 2013–2014 school year in participating districts. Critics of the transfer program note that most of the desegregation under the plan is via transfer of black students to the county rather than transfer of white students to the city. Another criticism has been that the program weakens city schools by removing talented students to county schools. Despite these issues, the program will continue until all transfer students reach graduation; with the last group of transfer students allowed to enroll in 2013–2014, the program will end after the 2025–2026 school year.
New construction, gentrification, and rehabilitation
During Vincent Schoemehl's three terms in office from 1981 to 1993, downtown St. Louis experienced a growth in construction it had not had since the early 1960s. Among these new buildings was the tallest building in the city, One Metropolitan SquareOne Metropolitan Square
One Metropolitan Square, also known as Met Square, or Met 1, is a skyscraper completed in 1989 in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. At , it is the tallest building in the city, and second tallest building in Missouri behind One Kansas City Place in Kansas City...
, which was designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
HOK is a global architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm. HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm and the "No. 1 role model for sustainable and high-performance design." HOK also is the second-largest interior design firm...
and built in 1989. New retail projects also began to take shape: since 1978, Union Station had been abandoned by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
as a passenger rail terminal, but in 1985, it was reopened as a festival marketplace
Festival marketplace
A festival marketplace is a realization by James W. Rouse and the Rouse Company in the United States of an idea conceived by Benjamin C. Thompson of Benjamin Thompson and Associates for European style markets taking hold in the United States in an effort to revitalize downtown areas in major US...
under the direction of developer James Rouse. The same year, downtown developers opened St. Louis Centre, an enclosed four-story shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
costing $176 million with 150 stores and 1500000 square feet (139,354.6 m²) of retail space. By the late 1990s, however, the mall had fallen in favor among shoppers due to the expansion of the St. Louis Galleria
St. Louis Galleria
The Saint Louis Galleria is a shopping mall in the St. Louis suburb of Richmond Heights. The mall is owned and operated by General Growth Properties...
in Brentwood, Missouri
Brentwood, Missouri
Brentwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 8,055 at the 2010 census. Brentwood is home to Brentwood High School, a 2006 National Blue Ribbon Award winner, and Mark Twain Elementary School, a 2009 National Blue Ribbon Award...
, and the mall's flagship Dillard's
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...
store closed in 2001. The mall itself closed in 2006, and since 2010, development has been underway to convert the mall building into a parking structure, with an adjoining building being converted into apartments, hotel, and retail.
St. Louis Arena
The St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri, that stood from 1929 to 1999...
, a 15,000-seat venue for professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
that was home of the St. Louis Blues. In the early 1990s, Schoemehl worked with business groups to develop a new hockey arena (now known as the Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center
Scottrade Center is a 19,150 seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1994. It is the home of the St...
) on the site of the city's Kiel Auditorium
Kiel Auditorium
Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was the home of the Saint Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, from 1955-1968....
, with the promise that the developer would renovate the adjacent Kiel Opera House
Kiel Opera House
The Peabody Opera House is a civic performing arts building in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded as the Kiel Opera House, it opened it 1934 and operated until 1991, when it and the adjacent Kiel Auditorium were closed so the auditorium could be demolished and replaced by the Scottrade Center...
. Although the new hockey arena opened in 1994 (and the original arena was demolished in 1999), renovations on the adjacent opera house only began in 2011, more than 15 years after the initial development plan. The opera house (since renamed for corporate contributor Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy Corporation , previously Peabody Coal Company, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. The company is headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri....
) reopened on October 1, 2011, with performances by Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
and Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
. In January 1995, Georgia Frontiere
Georgia Frontiere
Georgia Frontiere was the majority owner and chairman of the St. Louis Rams football team and the most prominent female owner in a league historically dominated by males....
, the owner of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
team known as the Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
), announced she would move that team to St. Louis. The team replaced the St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
), an NFL franchise that had moved to St. Louis in 1960 but departed for Arizona in 1988. The Rams played their first game in their St. Louis stadium, the Edward Jones Dome
Edward Jones Dome
The Edward Jones Dome The Edward Jones Dome The Edward Jones Dome (more formally known as the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center, and previously known as The Trans World Dome (from 1995–2001) is a multi-purpose stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, and home of the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. It was...
, on October 22, 1996.
Starting in the early 1980s, a number of rehabilitation and construction projects began in St. Louis, some of which remain incomplete. In 1981, the Fox Theatre, a movie theater in Midtown that closed in 1978, underwent a complete restoration and reopened as a performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
venue. Among the St. Louis areas to undergo gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
was the Washington Avenue Historic District, which extends along Washington Avenue from the Edward Jones Dome west almost two dozen blocks. During the early 1990s, garment manufacturers moved out of the large office buildings on the street, and by the end of that decade residential developers began to convert the buildings into lofts. Prices per square foot increased dramatically in the area, and by 2001, nearly 280 apartments were built. Among the Washington Avenue projects to remain in development is the Mercantile Exchange Building, which is being converted to offices, apartments, retail, and a movie theater. The gentrification also has had the effect of increasing the downtown population, with both the central business district and Washington Avenue district more than doubling their population from 2000 to 2010.
Other downtown projects include the renovation of the Old Post Office
United States Customhouse and Post Office (St. Louis, Missouri)
The U.S. Custom House and Post Office is a court house in St. Louis, Missouri.It was designed by architects Alfred B. Mullett, William Appleton Potter, and James G. Hill, and was constructed between 1873 and 1884. Located at the intersection of Eighth and Olive Streets, it is one of three surviving...
, which started in 1998 and was completed in 2006. The Old Post Office and seven adjacent buildings had been vacant since the early 1990s, but as of 2010 included a variety of tenants, including a branch of the St. Louis Public Library
St. Louis Public Library
The St. Louis Public Library is a municipal public library system in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It operates sixteen locations, including the main Central Library location. Although similarly named, the St. Louis Public Library is unrelated to the St...
, a branch of Webster University
Webster University
Webster University is an American non-profit private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools...
, the St. Louis Business Journal, and a variety of government offices. The renovation of the Old Post Office spurred development of an adjacent plaza, which is linked to a new $80 million residential building called Roberts Tower, the first new residential construction in downtown St. Louis since the 1970s.
As early as 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals began pushing for the construction of a new Busch Stadium
Busch Stadium
Busch Stadium is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, of MLB...
as part of a broader trend in Major League Baseball toward stadium building. In early 2002, plans for a new park were settled among state and local leaders and Cardinals owners. According to an agreement in which the state and city would issue bonds for construction, the Cardinals agreed to build a multipurpose development known as St. Louis Ballpark Village
St. Louis Ballpark Village
St. Louis Ballpark Village is a planned $650 million development in downtown St. Louis, Missouri that will occupy the site of the previous Busch Stadium...
on part of the site of Busch Memorial Stadium. The new stadium opened in 2006, but construction has yet to begin on Ballpark Village.
Population and crime issues
Starting in the early 1990s, St. Louis became home to a substantial BosnianBosnians
Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
immigrant community, which became the second-largest Bosnian community in the United States by 1999. The city also began to see an increase in immigrants from Mexico, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Many immigrants reported moving to St. Louis, particularly its south side Bevo Mill
Bevo Mill, St. Louis
Bevo Mill is a neighborhood located in south St. Louis, Missouri.-Namesake and location:The neighborhood's name comes from the "Bevo Mill building", a local landmark that was designed in the style of Dutch and German windmills for grinding grain. The Mill building was built in 1916 to serve as a...
neighborhood, due to the low cost of living compared to other American cities. Despite this increase, the foreign-born population of the St. Louis region remained roughly one-third of the national average in 2010.
During the mid-2000s, the population of St. Louis began growing following a half-century of decline. Census estimates from 2003 through 2008 were successfully challenged and population figures were revised upward; however, no challenges to 2009 data were permitted. In spite of gains during the 2000s, the 2010 U.S. Census showed a decline of slightly more than 10 percent for St. Louis, and no challenge to the figure has been reported as of 2011.
Given the losses of industry and jobs, St. Louis has had significant and persistent problems with both crime and perceptions of crime. In 2011 St. Louis was named by U.S. News and World Report as the most dangerous city in the United States, using Uniform Crime Reports
Uniform Crime Reports
The Uniform Crime Reports are published by the United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program...
data published by the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, St. Louis was named as the city with the highest crime rate in the United States by CQ Press
CQ Press
CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publications, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication....
in 2010, using data reported to the FBI in 2009. Critics of these analyses note that division between St. Louis City and St. Louis County make crime reports for the area appear inflated and that reporting crime differs greatly depending on the localities involved. The FBI has cautioned against using the data as a form of ranking, as it presents too simplistic a view of crime. From 2006 to 2007, the rate of city youth to be killed by guns was the second-highest in the United States, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of firearm deaths for the metropolitan statistical area was one-fifth of the city rate.
See also
- Catholic Church in French Louisiana
- St. Louis tornado historySt. Louis tornado historyThe St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area has a history of tornadoes. The third deadliest tornado, and the costliest in United States history, the 1896 St. Louis – East St. Louis tornado, injured one thousand people and caused 255 fatalities in the City of St. Louis and in East St. Louis. The...
- Washington University Hilltop Campus Historic DistrictWashington University Hilltop Campus Historic DistrictThe Washington University Hilltop Campus Historic District was the site of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the 1904 Summer Olympics. Many of the exposition buildings were temporary in nature, but a number of permanent structures were built and are used by Washington University, which...
- National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis (city, A–L), Missouri
- National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis (city, M–Z), Missouri
- List of mayors of St. Louis
- History of the Jews in St. Louis, Missouri
- History of MissouriHistory of MissouriThe history of Missouri begins with France claiming the territory and selling it to the U.S. in 1803. Statehood came following a compromise in 1820. Missouri grew rapidly until the Civil War, which saw numerous small battles and control by the Union...
External links
- Missouri History Museum
- St. Louis Circuit Court Records (includes court case documents relating to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, freedom suits, the fur trade, and Native American relations)
- Landmarks Association of St. Louis
- St. Louis Preservation Society
- Built St. Louis (architectural history of St. Louis)
- History's Time Portal to Old St. Louis (genealogical history of St. Louis)