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St. Louis: the story on HearLore

On the 14th of February 1764, a French fur trading expedition led by Pierre Laclède and his 14-year-old stepson Auguste Chouteau established a settlement on a high bluff overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. This location, chosen for its natural drainage and proximity to timber and grasslands, would become the city of St. Louis, named in honor of King Louis IX of France. The area had been inhabited for thousands of years by Native American cultures, most notably the Mississippian culture, which constructed numerous earthwork mounds, earning the region the nickname the Mound City. Before European arrival, the major regional center was Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 to 1500. The French settlers built the city's economy on the fur trade with the Osage and other tribes along the Missouri River. Despite the transfer of colonial lands from France to Spain following the Seven Years' War, the settlement operated in a legal vacuum for its first few years, with Laclède assuming civil control and granting lots to new settlers. This period, often retrospectively called the golden age of St. Louis, saw the city develop without formal government recognition until the early 19th century. The city's strategic location made it a gateway to the West, a role that would define its future as a major port and commercial hub.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed from St. Louis in May 1804, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the vast territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition reached the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River in summer 1805 and returned to St. Louis on the 23rd of September 1806. Both Lewis and Clark later lived in the city, which became the capital and gateway to the new territory. The arrival of steamboats in 1817 improved connections with New Orleans and eastern markets, fueling rapid growth. By the mid-1800s, St. Louis had a greater population than New Orleans, driven by immigration from Ireland and Germany. The city was split in political sympathies during the American Civil War, with 28 civilians killed in a clash with Union troops in 1861. The war hurt the economy due to the Union blockade of river traffic, but the St. Louis Arsenal constructed ironclads for the Union Navy. After the war, the city profited from trade with the West, aided by the 1874 completion of the Eads Bridge, which linked industrial developments on both banks of the river. The bridge, named for its design engineer, became a symbolic image of the city until the Gateway Arch Bridge was constructed in 1965. The city's independence from St. Louis County in 1877 limited its political boundaries, a decision that would later impact its ability to annex surrounding areas and expand its tax base.

In 1904, the city hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair, and the Summer Olympics, becoming the first non-European city to host the games. Permanent facilities and structures remaining from the fair are located in Forest Park, including the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, and the Missouri History Museum. The fair left other assets to the city, such as Theodore Link's 1894 St. Louis Union Station and an improved Forest Park. The Gateway Arch, completed on the 28th of October 1965, stands as the tallest monument constructed in the United States, paying homage to Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis's position as the gateway to the West. The Arch anchors downtown St. Louis and a historic center that includes the Federal courthouse where the Dred Scott case was first argued. The city's architecture reflects a variety of styles, including French Colonial, German, early American, and modern influences. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, dedicated in 1914, is known for its large mosaic installation, one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere with 41.5 million pieces. The city's architectural heritage also includes the Old Courthouse, where the Dred Scott case was tried in 1846, and the St. Louis Union Station, once the world's largest and busiest train station, now converted into a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex.

In 1916, during the Jim Crow Era, St. Louis passed a residential segregation ordinance stating that if 75% of the residents of a neighborhood were of a certain race, no one from a different race was allowed to move in. This ordinance was struck down in a court challenge by the NAACP, after which racial covenants were used to prevent the sale of houses in certain neighborhoods to persons not of Caucasian race. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled such covenants unconstitutional in 1948 in Shelley v. Kraemer. The Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South seeking better opportunities made St. Louis a destination, with many coming from Mississippi and Arkansas. During World War II, the NAACP campaigned to integrate war factories. In 1964, civil rights activists protested at the construction of the Gateway Arch to publicize their effort to gain entry for African Americans into the skilled trade unions, where they were underrepresented. The Department of Justice filed the first suit against the unions under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. De jure educational segregation continued into the 1950s, and de facto segregation continued into the 1970s, leading to a court challenge and interdistrict desegregation agreement. Students have been bused mostly from the city to county school districts to have opportunities for integrated classes. The city's population peaked at 856,796 in the 1950 census, but suburbanization from the 1950s through the 1990s dramatically reduced the city's population, as did restructuring of industry and loss of jobs. The effects of suburbanization were exacerbated by the small geographical size of St. Louis due to its earlier decision to become an independent city.

St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River, and by 1904, it was the fourth-largest city in the country. The city is home to sixteen Fortune 1000 companies, six of which are also Fortune 500 companies, including Centene Corporation, Reinsurance Group of America, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, Graybar Electric, and Ameren. Major corporations headquartered in the region include Anheuser-Busch, Bunge Global, Wells Fargo Advisors, Enterprise Holdings, and World Wide Technology. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of two federal reserve banks in Missouri. The city is a center of medicine and biotechnology, with the Washington University School of Medicine affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the fifth largest hospital in the world. The McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University played a major role in the Human Genome Project. The Cortex Innovation Community, founded in 2002, has become a multi-billion dollar economic engine for the region, with companies such as Microsoft and Boeing currently leasing office space. The city's economy has strengths in the service, manufacturing, trade, transportation, and aviation industries. The St. Louis Rams of the National Football League controversially returned to Los Angeles in 2016, and the city sued the NFL in 2017, alleging the league breached its own relocation guidelines to profit at the expense of the city. In 2021, the NFL and Rams owner Stan Kroenke agreed to settle out of court with the city for $790 million.

On the 16th of May 2025, a mile-wide EF3 tornado struck northern parts of St. Louis, killing five people. According to mayor Cara Spencer, the tornado produced up to $1.6 billion in damage, and governor Mike Kehoe stated on behalf of FEMA that the scope of residential damage was the worst since the Joplin tornado over a decade prior. The city has experienced significant flooding, such as the Great Flood of 1993, which led to levee failures and inundation of homes, businesses, and parkland. The St. Louis area has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers and chilly to cold winters. The city is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. St. Louis is one of the most frequently tornado-struck metropolitan areas in the U.S. and has an extensive history of damaging tornadoes. The city's population has declined significantly since its peak in 1950, with the 2020 Census showing a population of 301,578, a loss of 64.8% of its population since 1950. Despite this, the city has seen revitalization efforts, including the conversion of old factory and warehouse buildings into lofts in the Washington Avenue Loft District. The Forest Park Southeast neighborhood has seen major investment starting in the early 2010s, with over $50 million worth of residential construction built between 2013 and 2018.

The city continues to face challenges related to crime, with one of the highest murder rates per capita in the United States, but also has a strong community of volunteers and charitable organizations.

St. Louis

Gateway to the West

The Fair and The Arch

Continue Browsing

Segregation and Struggle

The Economy of Steel and Beer

A City of Music and Food

The Tornado and The Future