St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis,/seɪnt ˈluːɪs/ or /sænt ˈluː.iː/; French: Saint-Louis or St-Louis, [sɛ̃ lwi] ( listen)) is an independent city and the second largest city in the United States state of Missouri. The city itself has an estimated population of 356,587 and is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,892,874, the largest urban area in Missouri and 15th-largest in the United States.

The city was founded in 1764 just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in what is today the Midwestern United States by colonial trader from France, Pierre Laclède and René Auguste Chouteau, who named the settlement after King Louis IX of France. The city, as well as the future state of Missouri, became part of the Spanish Empire after the French were defeated in the Seven Years' War. In 1800, the land was secretly transferred back to France, whose leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, sold it to the United States in 1803. Nicknamed the "Gateway to the West" for its role in the westward expansion of the United States, the city gave the moniker in 1965 to the new Gateway Arch built as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial; the Arch has become the iconic image of St. Louis.

Once the 4th-largest U.S. city, St. Louis proper has seen its population slip to 52nd. At the peak of the city's influence St. Louis hosted the 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games.

In the 19th century, immigration from Italy, Germany, Bohemia, and Ireland flooded St. Louis, coloring the cuisine and architecture of the city. Many African-Americans moved north to the city during the Great Migration.

St. Louis has been at the forefront of the 21st-century wave of urban revitalization, receiving the World Leadership Award for urban renewal in 2006.In 2008, the U. S. Census Bureau reported St. Louis had a net population gain of 6,172 from the 2000 Census, to 354,361, the first gain the city has had since 1950.

The city contributed to the musical styles of blues, ragtime, and jazz. The St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams, make their home at Busch Stadium. Other professional teams include the St. Louis Rams (football), St. Louis Blues (hockey) and AC St. Louis (soccer). A diversity of successful sports franchises has led to St. Louis being called "North America's Best Sports City." The city's many 19th-century breweries shaped beer in the United States, most notably Anheuser-Busch, Falstaff Brewing Corporation, and Lemp Brewery. The vestiges of French and Spanish colonization make St. Louis one of the largest centers of Roman Catholicism in the United States.

St. Louis lies at the heart of Greater St. Louis, a metropolitan area of nearly three million people in Missouri and Illinois. The Illinois portion is commonly known as the Metro-East. The region is known as an academic and corporate center for the biomedical sciences and is home to some of the country's largest privately held corporations, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Graybar, Scottrade, Edward Jones, and is also home to some of the largest public corporations and corporate divisions, including Emerson, Energizer, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Purina, Express Scripts, Charter Communications, Monsanto Company, and Wells Fargo Advisers.

History

The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Mississippian mound builders. The mounds, now almost all destroyed, earned the later city the nickname of "Mound City".

In 1673, European exploration of the area began when French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the entire valley for France. He called it Louisiana after King Louis XIV; the French also called it Illinois Country.

In 1699, the French established a settlement at Cahokia, across the Mississippi River from what is now St. Louis. They founded other early settlements downriver at Kaskaskia, Prairie du Pont, and Fort de Chartres, Illinois, and Sainte Genevieve. In 1703, Catholic priests established a small mission at what is now St. Louis. The mission was later moved across the Mississippi, but the small river at the site (now a drainage channel near the southern boundary of the City of St. Louis) still bears the name "River Des Peres" (French Rivière des pères, River of the Fathers).

In 1763, Pierre Laclède de Liguest, his 13-year-old stepson Auguste Chouteau, and a small band of men traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans to found a post to take advantage of trade coming downstream by the Missouri River. In November, they landed a few miles downstream of the river's confluence with the Missouri River at a site where wooded limestone bluffs rose 40 feet above the river. The men returned to Fort du Chartres for the winter, but in February 1764, Laclède sent Chouteau and 30 men to begin construction at the new site, laid out in a grid pattern in imitation of New Orleans.

Apotheosis of Saint Louis, a bronze statue of the city's namesake on horseback, was widely used as a symbol of the city before construction of the Gateway Arch

The settlement began to grow quickly after word arrived that the 1763 Treaty of Paris had given United Kingdom, all the land east of the Mississippi. Frenchmen who had earlier settled to the river's east moved across the water to "Laclède's Village." Other early settlements were established nearby at Saint Charles, the independent village of Carondelet (later annexed by St. Louis and now the southernmost part of the current City), Fleurissant (renamed Saint Ferdinand by the Spaniards and now Florissant), and Portage des Sioux. In 1765, St. Louis was made the capital of Upper Louisiana.

From 1766 to 1768, St. Louis was governed by the French lieutenant governor, Louis Saint Ange de Bellerive, who was appointed by the town's leading residents. After 1768, St. Louis was governed by a series of governors appointed by Spanish authorities, whose administration continued even after Louisiana was secretly returned to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. The town's population was then about 1,000. Meetings of leading residents were also held from time to time, and "syndics" were sometimes elected to carry out certain governmental tasks.St. Louis was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The transfer of power from Spain was made official in a ceremony called "Three Flags Day." On March 8, 1804, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French one raised. On March 10, the French flag was replaced by the United States flag. Until the 1820s, French continued to be one of the major spoken and written languages in St. Louis, along with English.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition left the St. Louis area in May 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean in summer 1805, and returned on September 23, 1806. Both Lewis and Clark lived in St. Louis after the expedition. Many other explorers, settlers, and trappers (such as Ashley's Hundred) would later take a similar route to the West. Missouri became a state in 1821, and St. Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. The city elected its first municipal legislators (called trustees) in 1808. A U. S. arsenal was constructed at St. Louis in 1827.

City of St. Louis, 1872, a steel engraving drawn by A. C. Warren

The steamboat era began in St. Louis on July 27, 1817, with the arrival of the Zebulon M. Pike. Replacing the hand-propelled barges and keel boats that were once the choice vehicle of Mississippi River trade, steamboats could travel upriver, and against the current, just as easily as downriver.

Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats. The Pike and her sisters transformed St. Louis into a bustling boom town, commercial center, and inland port. By the 1830s, it was common to see more than 150 steamboats at the St. Louis levee. By the 1850s, St. Louis had become the largest U. S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York.

Old Courthouse, built 1839–1862

Immigrants flooded into St. Louis after 1840, particularly from Germany, Bohemia, and Ireland, the last mainly due to the potato famine. During Reconstruction, rural Southern blacks flooded into St. Louis as well, seeking better opportunity. The population of St. Louis grew from less than 20,000 in 1840, to 77,860 in 1850, to more than 160,000 by 1860. Public transit developed to transport the numbers of new residents in the city. Omnibuses began to service St. Louis in 1843, and in 1859, St. Louis's first streetcar tracks were laid. Later in the 19th century, Italian immigrants began to arrive in the city and farming areas. They helped expand winemaking to the Rolla area.

Militarily, the Civil War barely touched St. Louis aside from a few small battles in which Union forces prevailed. However, the city was a decisive stage for the early secession movement, which sought to gain control of the St. Louis army arsenal, which held arms, powder and ammunition. Although Confederate forces gained substantial portions of these supplies, most of it remained in Union hands, thanks to a Loyalist German-American volunteer unit in the Camp Jackson Affair. For the remainder of the war, St. Louis was not affected by battle. Nonetheless, the rest of the State saw several major battles, and its interior was devastated socially and economically by battles between Confederate and Loyalist partisans.

The war hurt St. Louis economically. Union troops blockaded the Mississippi River from 1861 through the end of the war and the interior of the state remained a lawless battlezone. After the war, trade in St. Louis declined to about one-third its average, as the economy of the South, one of the markets St. Louis depended on, was devastated. The city, whose rail and river routes had linked Northern and Southern states, lost its preeminent position as a shipping center. With the destruction of the Southern economy, which had once featured all of America's antebellum millionaires and almost half of the wealth of the country, the South ended with no millionaires, and remained perennially the most impoverished portion of the country until after World War II.

Missouri was nominally a slave state, but its economy did not depend on slavery, and it remained loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War. Afterward, it gained substantial political access in Washington, D.C., and the financial centers of the Eastern seaboard during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Furthermore, the arsenal at St. Louis was used during the war to construct ironclad ships for the Union, and shipbuilding continued at the Port of St. Louis even into the latter half of the 20th century. St. Louis profited in the Western expansion following the war, changing its focus from Southern trade to Western trade, ultimately re-establishing itself as a shipping and transportation center for Western trade until the Southern economy once again recovered.

Eads Bridge

Eads Bridge, the first road and rail bridge to cross the Mississippi River, was completed in 1874.

On August 22, 1876, the City of St. Louis voted to secede from St. Louis County and become an independent city. At that time the County was primarily rural sparsely populated with former Confederate sympathizing families. Consequently, the fast-growing City did not want to spend its tax dollars on infrastructure and services for a county dominated by Southern rural interests. Furthermore, as a separate independent city, which was the center of most of the financial capital entering or leaving the state, the move also allowed the Union-sympathizing plutocratic elite in St. Louis government to increase their political power. Atlhough by the end of the 20th century, this elite was ethnically at odds with the immigrant majority of the city's population, their independent financial power allowed the old elite to manage the diverse ethnic organized crime gangs. Fronted by ethnic gangs and political bosses such as the Hogan Machine, this elite-dominated civic culture lead St. Louis politics into being a byword of corruption.The secession later haunted the City, as the results of that separation are still problematic today since most of the now far populous and wealthier metropolitan area refuses to fund the more poor and less white central city of St. Louis.

Washington Avenue Loft District

As St. Louis grew and prospered during the late 19th and early 20th century, the city produced a number of notable people in the fields of business and literature. The Ralston-Purina company (headed by the Danforth Family) was headquartered in the city. Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewery, remains a fixture of the city's economy. The City was home to International Shoe, the Brown Shoe Company, and the St. Louis Division of the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company. Several important aircraft were built or first tested at St. Louis, including the CD-25 Coupe business aircraft (later the AT-9 Jeep in wartime service), the CW-20 twin-engine airliner, the C-76 Caravan, and the C-46 Commando of the Second World War.

St. Louis was also one of the cities to see a pioneering brass era automobile company, the Success; despite its low price, the company did not live up to its name. St. Louis is one of several cities claiming the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets. Today it is used by the State of Missouri as a government office building. By the time of the 1900 census, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the country, with a population of 575,238.

In 1904, the city hosted the 1904 World's Fair, which included the Olympic Games. The third Olympic games were moved from Chicago, originally selected to host the games, to St. Louis to coincide with the Fair. With these games, the United States became the first non-European country and first English-speaking country to host the Olympics. However, many European sports clubs and countries failed to participate, mainly due to the travel distance, and also believing a misconception that the city was located in the undeveloped American West. In 2004, there were several events held to commemorate the centennial.

Souvenir of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition

St. Louis developed a lively immigrant gang culture by the early 20th century, leading up to much bootlegging activity and gang violence. One gang leader, from an Irish part of the city referred to as "Kerry Patch", was named "Jelly Roll" Hogan. Hogan's gang is mentioned in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. In the 1920s there were shoot outs on Lindell Boulevard between Hogan's Gang and the gang known as Egan's Rats. A priest was brought in to broker peace between the gangs in 1923, but this truce only lasted a few months before two more people were killed in a public shoot out. In 1923, Egan's Rats made off with $2.4 million in bonds from a mail truck. Hogan during this time was a state representative. He was elected in 1916, eventually became a state senator, and spent forty years in elected office. The Kerry Patch is now part of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

Civil Rights and the Black Community

Although St. Louis did not segregate people on street cars like other cities, racial discrimination in housing enforced by municipal laws and covenants was commonplace, and discrimination in employment was common before World War II. Additionally, the ancient laws on property which were the cornerstone of common law allowed deeds to property which racially and religiously or otherwise restrict inheritance and purchase. During World War II, the NAACP successfully campaigned, through protests and picket lines, to persuade the Federal government to allow African Americans to work in war plants which previously through Union contract had racially segregated or excluded jobs from Black Americans. With massive strikes interfering with vital wartime transportation and the Federal government unwilling to use its powers against the Black community, the NAACP and Black community leaders forced the firing of some 16,000 white workers and their replacement with blacks. The action left a bitter legacy in work-place and neighborhood relations as white St. Louisans joined in refusing to sell property to blacks in the future.

St. Louis was involved in the school-desegregation and housing-access movements of the 1950s and 1960s. As court challenges were mounted to segregation in public schools, the head of the St. Louis school system, Daniel Schlafly, hired consultants to help design a desegregation program years before segregation was outlawed by the Supreme Court; the St. Louis school system implemented its voluntary desegregation plan just one week after the landmark desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and, though in practice schools remained heavily segregated for some time, St. Louis was regarded as being well ahead of most other cities in adapting to the ruling. The US Supreme Court's 1948 decision in Shelley v. Kraemer, a case which arose in St. Louis, held that a restrictive covenant - a clause on a property deed prohibiting a house to be sold to non-white or Jewish buyers - was legally unenforceable. This led to the integration of formerly segregated residential neighborhoods in St. Louis and elsewhere, in some cases also prompting "white flight" by white residents who found integrated neighborhoods undesirable.

St. Louis experienced a major expansion in the early 20th century due to the formation of many industrial companies and reached its peak population[citation needed] of 856,796 at the 1950 census. However, socio-economic changes, political activism and conspiracy, and hopes for a more peaceful and safer life led many St. Louis residents to flee the city. Furthermore, suburbanization sparked by the GI Bill, interstate highway construction, the Housing Act, Desegregation, the Civil Rights Act, Bloc Busting, the 1960's Crime Wave, and various court rulings combined with boosterism campaigns in housing preferences proved unstoppable in shifting the population out of the city and into newly formed suburbs. Although the overall population of the St. Louis metropolitan area has consistently grown, the St. Louis city population decreased for many decades, a process which was accelerated by job losses due to restructuring of railroad and other industries.

Laclede's Landing Boulevard

Nonetheless, attempts to revitalize Downtown St. Louis and a corridor extending to the west through Midtown and the Central West End neighborhoods has had mixed success since 1980. The St. Louis Cardinals' new Busch Stadium opened in 2006. Ballpark Village would have been built where the northern half of the former Busch Stadium stood, but those plans have been put on hold. For several years, the Washington Avenue Loft District has been gentrifying with an expanding corridor along Washington Avenue from the Edward Jones Dome westward almost two dozen blocks. Revitalization continues, including new construction, as the corridor extends to the west to Forest Park.

Because of the major upturn in urban revitalization, St. Louis received the World Leadership Award for urban renewal in 2006 In 2008, the U. S. Census Bureau reported St. Louis had a net population gain of 6,172 from the 2000 Census, to 354,361, the first gain the city has had since 1950.

Geography

Geography of St. Louis, Missouri

Topography

A simulated-color satellite image of the St. Louis area taken on NASA's Landsat 4

According to the United States Census Bureau, St. Louis has a total area of 66.2 square miles (171.3 km²), of which 61.9 square miles (160.4 km²) is land and 4.2 sq mi (11.0 km² or 6.39%) is water. The city is built primarily on bluffs and terraces that rise 100–200 feet above the western banks of the Mississippi River, in the Midwestern United States just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling prairie that features low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains.

Limestone and dolomite of the Mississippian epoch underlie the area, and parts of the city are karst in nature. This is particularly true of the city south of downtown, with numerous sinkholes and caves. Most of the caves in the city have been sealed, but many springs are visible along the riverfront. Coal, brick clay, and millerite ore were once mined in the city, and the predominant surface rock, the St. Louis Limestone, is used as dimension stone and rubble for construction.

The rivers around St. Louis

Near the southern boundary of the City of St. Louis (separating it from St. Louis County) is the River des Peres, virtually the only river or stream within the city limits that is not entirely underground. Most of River des Peres was confined to a channel or put underground in the 1920s and early 1930s. The lower section of the river was the site of some of the worst flooding of the Great Flood of 1993.

The Missouri River forms the northern border of St. Louis County, exclusive of a few areas where the river has changed its course. The Meramec River forms most of its southern border. To the east is the City and the Mississippi River.

Climate

St. Louis lies in humid continental climate (Koppen Cfa/Dfa), with neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature. It is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. The city has four distinct seasons. Spring is the wettest season and produces erratic severe weather ranging from tornadoes to winter storms. Summers are hot and humid with only occasional and brief respite, and the humidity often makes the heat index rise to temperatures feeling well above 100°F. Fall is mild with lower humidity and can produce intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall with the first snow flurries usually forming in late November. Winters are cold with periodic snow and temperatures often below freezing, however thaws are usually frequent. Winter storm systems, such as Alberta Clippers and Panhandle hooks, can bring days of heavy freezing rain, ice pellets, and snowfall.

The average annual temperature for the years 1970–2000, recorded at nearby Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport, is 56.3 °F (13.5 °C), and average precipitation is 38.9 inches (990 mm). The normal high temperature in July is 90 °F (32 °C), and the normal low temperature in January is 21 °F (−6 °C), although this varies from year to year. Both 100 °F (37.8 °C) and 0 °F (−17.8 °C) temperatures can be seen on an average 2 or 3 days per year. The official record low is −22 °F (−30 °C) on January 5, 1884, and the record high is 115 °F (46 °C) on July 14, 1954.

Winter (December through February) is the driest season, with an average 7.3 inches (185 mm) of precipitation. The average seasonal snowfall of 22.2 inches (56 cm). Spring (March through May), is typically the wettest season, with 11.4 inches (290 mm) of precipitation. Dry spells lasting one to two weeks are common during the growing seasons.

St. Louis experiences thunderstorms 48 days a year on average. Especially in the spring, these storms can often be severe, with high winds, large hail and tornadoes. St. Louis has been affected on more than one occasion by particularly damaging tornadoes.

A period of warm weather late in autumn known as Indian summer can occur – roses will still be in bloom as late as November or early December in some years.

Climate data for St. Louis, Missouri (St. Louis International Airport)

Flora and fauna

Before the founding of the city, the area was prairie and open forest maintained by burning by Native Americans. Trees are mainly oak, maple, and hickory, similar to the forests of the nearby Ozarks; common understory trees include Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, and Flowering Dogwood. Riparian areas are forested with mainly American sycamore. Most of the residential area of the city is planted with large native shade trees. The largest native forest area is found in Forest Park. In Autumn, the changing color of the trees is notable. Most species here are typical of the Eastern Woodland, although numerous decorative non-native species are found; the most notable invasive species is Japanese honeysuckle, which is actively removed from some parks.

Female bald eagle nesting near Chain of Rocks Bridge

Large mammals found in the city include urbanized coyotes and usually a White-tailed deer. Eastern Gray Squirrel, Cottontail rabbit, and other rodents are abundant, as well as the nocturnal and rarely seen Virginia Opossum. Large bird species are abundant in parks and include Canada goose, Mallard duck, as well as shorebirds, including the Great Egret and Great Blue Heron. Gulls are common along the Mississippi River; these species typically follow barge traffic. Winter populations of Bald Eagles are found by the Mississippi River around the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The city is on the Mississippi Flyway, used by migrating birds, and has a large variety of small bird species, common to the eastern U.S. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow, an introduced species, is limited in North America to the counties surrounding St. Louis. Tower Grove Park is a well-known birdwatching area in the city.

Frogs are commonly found in the springtime, especially after extensive wet periods. Common species include the American toad and species of chorus frogs commonly called spring peepers that are found in nearly every pond. Some years have outbreaks of cicadas or ladybugs. Mosquitos and houseflies are common insect nuisances; because of this, windows are nearly universally fitted with screens, and screened-in porches are common in homes of the area. Invasive populations of honeybees have sharply declined in recent years, and numerous native species of pollinator insects have recovered to fill their ecological niche.

Metropolitan statistical area

St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area

The St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area is the largest Metropolitan Area in Missouri, and the 18th largest in the United States, and has an estimated total population of 2,828,990 as of July 1, 2009. This area includes the independent City of St. Louis (356,587).[5] and the Missouri counties of St. Louis (992,408), St. Charles (355,367), Jefferson (219,046), Franklin (101,263), Lincoln (53,311), Warren (31,485), Washington (24,400), plus the Illinois counties of Madison (268,457), St. Clair (263,617), Macoupin (47,774), Clinton (36,368), Monroe (33,236), Jersey (22,549), Bond (18,103), and Calhoun (5,019).

[edit]Adjacent counties

St. Louis County - north, south, and west

Madison County, Illinois - northeast

St. Clair County, Illinois - southeast

St. Louis County Madison County, Illinois

St. Louis County

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis County St. Clair County, Illinois

[edit]Cityscape

A panoramic view of St. Louis Skyline. The large building on the right side of the arch is One Metropolitan Square. The tallest building to its left is One AT&T Center. The tallest building on the right is One US Bank Plaza. The domed building to the left of the arch is the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse. The domed building beneath the arch is the Old Courthouse. The cylindrical building to the left of the arch is the Millenium Hotel.

See also: List of tallest buildings in St. Louis and Neighborhoods of St. Louis

Benton Park West Streetscape

Soulard Homes

The city is divided into 79 government-designated neighborhoods. The divisions have no legal standing, although some neighborhood associations administer grants or hold veto power over historic-district development. Nevertheless, the social and political influence of neighborhood identity is profound. Some hold avenues of massive stone edifices built as palaces for heads of state visiting the 1904 World's Fair. Others offer tidy working-class bungalows or loft districts. Many of them have endured as strong and cohesive communities.

Among the best-known, architecturally significant, or well-visited neighborhoods are Downtown, Midtown, Benton Park West, Carondelet, the Central West End, DeBaliviere Place, Skinker/DeBaliviere, Clayton/Tamm (Dogtown), Dutchtown, Forest Park Southeast, Grand Center, The Hill, Lafayette Square, LaSalle Park, Old North St. Louis, Compton Heights, Princeton Heights, Shaw (home to the Missouri Botanical Garden and named after the Garden's founder, Henry Shaw), Southampton, Southwest Garden, Soulard, Tower Grove East, Tower Grove South, Hortense Place (one of the city's private places, home to many grand mansions), Holly Hills, St. Louis Hills, and Wydown/Skinker.

Parks and gardens

Old footbridge in Forest Park

Missouri Botanical Garden

The city operates 105 parks that serve as gathering spots for neighbors to meet, and contains playgrounds, areas for summer concerts, picnics, baseball games, tennis courts, and lakes. Forest Park, located on the western edge of the central corridor of the City of St. Louis, is one of the largest urban parks in the world, exceeding Central Park in New York City by 500 acres (2 km²).

The Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw's Garden, is one of the world's leading botanical research centers. It possesses a collection of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, and includes the Japanese Garden, which features gravel designs and a lake filled with koi; the woodsy English Garden; the Kemper Home Gardening Center; a rose garden; the Climatron; a children's garden and playground; and many other scenic gardens. Immediately south of the Missouri Botanical Garden is Tower Grove Park, a gift to the City by Henry Shaw. Tower Grove Park is one of the oldest "walking" parks in the United States, and hosts annual outdoor concerts free to the public.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is a 90.96-acre (368,100 m2) national park located on the downtown riverfront where the city was first founded in 1764. It commemorates the westward growth of the United States between 1803 and 1890. The centerpiece of the park is the stainless steel Gateway Arch, which is the most recognizable structure in the city. It was designed by noted architect Eero Saarinen and completed on October 28, 1965. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest manmade monument in the United States. Located below the Arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion, which contains an extensive collection of artifacts. It tells the details of the story of the thousands of people who lived in and settled the American West during the 19th century. Nearby and also part of the memorial is the historic Old Courthouse, one of the oldest standing buildings in St. Louis. Begun in 1839, it was here that the first two trials of the Dred Scott case were held in 1847 and 1850. This park is also the location of the annual July 4 festival, Fair Saint Louis.

The Citygarden is a two-block (2.9-acre (12,000 m2)) urban sculpture park, located in Downtown St. Louis. Citygarden is a joint project between the city and the Gateway Foundation, with the former paying for landscaping, water, and electricity, and the latter paying for construction and the art in the park. The landscaping includes plants native to Missouri and water fountains; featured art at the garden include those from artists such as Fernand Leger, Aristide Maillol, Julian Opie, Tom Otterness, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Mark di Suvero. The park is also divided into three sections, each of which represent a different theme: river bluffs; flood plains; and urban gardens. The park also has a restaurant - The Terrace View.

Culture

People and culture of St. Louis, Missouri

Tourism

City Museum

Steamboat Tom Sawyer

Gateway Arch

St. Louis Union Station

The St. Louis Art Museum, located in the City's premier park, Forest Park, and dating from the 1904 World's Fair, houses an impressive array of modern art and ancient artifacts, with an extensive collection of master works of several centuries, including paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Picasso, and many others. The privately owned City Museum offers a variety of exhibits, including several large faux caves and a huge outdoor playground. It also serves as a meeting point for St. Louis's arts scene.

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, located in Grand Center, is an arts institution in a world-renowned building designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Tadao Ando. Also located in Grand Center is the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, this non-collecting museum is recognized nationally for the quality of its exhibitions and education programs. The Eugene Field House, located in downtown St. Louis, is a museum dedicated to the distinguished children's author. The Missouri History Museum presents exhibits and programs on a variety of topics including the 1904 World's Fair, and a comprehensive exhibit on Lewis and Clark's voyage exploring the Louisiana Purchase. The Fox Theatre, originally one of many movie theatres along Grand Boulevard is a newly restored theater featuring a Byzantine facade and Oriental decor. The Fox Theatre presents a Broadway Series in addition to concerts. The St. Louis Union Station is a popular tourist attraction with retail shops and a luxury hotel.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Laclede's Landing is a downtown entertainment district with restaurants and nightclubs

Bald Eagle at the St. Louis Zoo

Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau sculpture on the riverfront

Notable churches include the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis (more commonly known as "the New Cathedral"), a large Roman Catholic cathedral designed in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The interior is decorated with the largest mosaics collection in the world. In January 1999, Pope John Paul II spoke in the Cathedral Basilica as part of a two day visit to St. Louis. The Cathedral Basilica is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis, the principal see of the Province of Missouri. Archbishop Robert James Carlson is the Archbishop of St. Louis; he succeeded Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke in April 2009. Archbishop Burke was named the Prefect of the Vatican's Supreme Court, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, by Pope Benedict XVI in mid-2008 (meaning he could be named a Cardinal).

The Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (1834) (commonly known as the "Old Cathedral") is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River. It is located adjacent to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Among other architecturally significant churches in the region are the abbey church of Saint Louis Abbey, whose distinctive architectural style garnered multiple awards at the time of its completion in 1962, and St. Francis de Sales Oratory, a neo-Gothic church completed in 1908 and the largest church in the city aside from the Cathedral Basilica.

The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is the city's best-known landmark, as well as a popular tourist site. This Memorial commemorates the acquisition and settlement by the citizens of the United States of America to the west of the Mississippi River. The Arch, and the entire 91 acres (370,000 m2) of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial park, occupy the exact location of the original French village of St. Louis (1764–1804). No buildings from that era exist today.

The Hill is an historically Italian neighborhood where many of the area's best Italian restaurants can be found. The Hill was the home of Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola, and other noted athletes. The boyhood homes of Berra and Garagiola, and broadcaster Jack Buck's first home were all located on the same block of Elizabeth Avenue. Three granite plaques mark the location of each home as well as the dates when their most famous residents were inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hill was also home to five soccer players from the 1950 U.S. World Cup soccer team that upset top-ranked England. A stretch of Dagget Avenue, in the heart of The Hill, was renamed Soccer Hall of Fame Place, to honor these players.

Forest Park, which covers an area of 1,293 acres and is one of the largest urban parks in the nation, is home to many of St. Louis's most popular attractions: the Saint Louis Zoological Park; the Municipal Theater (also known as The Muny, the largest and oldest outdoor musical theater in the United States); the St. Louis Science Center (with its architecturally distinctive McDonnell Planetarium); the Saint Louis Art Museum; the Missouri History Museum; the Jewel Box horticultural conservatory; several lakes, and scenic open areas. Forest Park underwent a multi-million dollar renovation in 2004 for the centennial of the St. Louis World's Fair.

The Saint Louis Zoological Park, one of the oldest and largest free-admission zoos in the country, is home to an Insectarium, River's Edge, and Fragile Forest. The St. Louis Zoo has been named #1 zoo by Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide. The zoo is located adjacent to the St. Louis Art Museum. Free admission to the Zoo and Art museum, as well as the History Museum, is made possible by the revenue generated by the St. Louis Zoo-Museum Tax District.

St. Louis is the host to the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the oldest botanical institutions in the United States and a National Historic Landmark. Featuring 79 acres of horticultural displays, the Gardens have been serving the St. Louis region since their 1859 foundation by Henry Shaw.

The St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum is located near Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. Laclede's Landing, located on the Mississippi River front directly north of the historic Eads Bridge, is popular for its restaurants and nightclubs.

St. Louis possesses several distinct examples of 18th and 19th century architecture, such as the Soulard Market District (1779–1842), the Chatillon-de-Menil House (1848), the Bellefontaine Cemetery (1850), the Robert G. Campbell House (1852), the Old Courthouse (1845–62), the original Anheuser-Busch Brewery (1860), and two of Louis Sullivan's early skyscrapers, the Wainwright Building (1890–91) and the Union Trust Building.

On the Riverfront, two sculptural groups have been designated a National Lewis and Clark site by the National Park Service. This includes a twice life-sized grouping of Lewis and Clark by Harry Weber which commemorates the celebration of the bicentennial of the expedition. The Lemp Mansion, home of the ill-fated Lemp family (brewers of Falstaff Beer), is considered one of the most haunted places in the nation. It is open to the public as a restaurant, murder-mystery dinner theater, and bed and breakfast. St. Louis is also the resting place of the slave Dred Scott, the man who led to the addition of the fourteenth-amendment.

Entertainment and performing arts

The world-renowned Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1880, is the second-oldest U.S. orchestra. The orchestra has received six Grammy Awards and fifty-six nominations. Powell Symphony Hall on North Grand Boulevard has been its home since 1968. Leonard Slatkin, largely credited with building the orchestra's international prominence during his 17-year tenure as Music Director, is Conductor Laureate. Its current Music Director is David Robertson.

The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is an annual summer festival of opera performed in English, co-founded by Richard Gaddes in 1976. Union Avenue Opera, formed in the early 1990s, is a smaller company that performs opera in their original languages. A $74 million renovation of the Kiel Opera House was approved in June 2009. Other classical music groups include the Arianna String Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, and the Young Catholic Musicians, a group of young choir and band members from more than 60 metro-area parishes.

St. Louis has long been associated with great ragtime, jazz and blues music. Early rock and roll singer/guitarist Chuck Berry is a native St. Louisan who still performs there several times a year. Soul music artists Ike Turner and Tina Turner, Fontella Bass, and jazz innovator Miles Davis began their careers in St. Louis or on the 'East Side' (East St. Louis, Illinois). The city was the home or adopted home of notable R&B and bluesmen, including Little Milton, Oliver Sain, Albert King, Henry Townsend (musician), Johnnie Johnson (musician), and Bennie Smith. It was here that Scott Joplin wrote what was perhaps his most famous song, "The Entertainer (rag)". Louis Jordan was buried here (his last wife's home town) when he passed away. St. Louis has also been a popular stop along the infamous Chitlin' circuit. The musical tradition gave the name to the city's National Hockey League team, added in the 1967 NHL expansion: the St. Louis Blues.

Popular entertainment in St. Louis thrived in the 1950s and 60s around Gaslight Square, a nightclub district that attracted nationally known musicians and performers. Today this area is the site of a new housing development. St. Louis is home to musical artists Living Things, Sheryl Crow, Barbara Carr, Gravity Kills, Story of the Year, Modern Day Zero, Stir, Strawfoot, Cavo, Greenwheel, Ludo, 7 Shot Screamers, MU330 and The Urge. In the 1990s, the metro area produced prominent alt-country bands Uncle Tupelo — a Belleville, Illinois trio often considered the originators of the style, whose members went on to found Wilco and Son Volt;— and The Bottle Rockets. Rap and hip-hop artists include Nelly, The Saint Lunatics, Ali, Murphy Lee, Chingy, Huey, J-Kwon, Jibbs, and FLAME.Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam (Akon) is a Senegalese-American R&B singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist also from St. Louis.

The theater district of St. Louis is in midtown's Grand Center, St. Louis, which is undergoing major redevelopment. "Grand Center" can refer to the district itself or to the not-for-profit agency Grand Center, Inc. (GCI), which administers arts and urban-renewal programs in the area. The district includes the Fox Theatre, one of the largest live Broadway theaters in the United States; the Powell Symphony Hall; the Saint Louis University Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art; The Sun Theater (now under redevelopment); The St Louis Black Repertory Theater Company; the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis; the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts; the Sheldon Concert Hall; and the Grandel Theatre.

The Muny (Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis) is an outdoor amphitheater located in Forest Park. It seats about 11,000 people, and its charter reserves 1,500 seats at the top of the amphitheater are free on a first-come-first-serve basis. In 2010, The Muny presented its 92nd season. The theater is influential with the Actors' Equity Association.

St. Louis is home to over 81 theatre and dance companies, including and one of the largest theatrical production companies in the U.S., The Fox Associates. Fox Associates, L.L.C., was formed in 1981 to purchase, renovate and operate the 4,500-seat Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. The Fox, which had once been at the center of the St. Louis "movie" theater district, had been closed since 1978 and was in need of major restoration and new entertainment programming to elevate it once again as the major venue for entertainment in St. Louis. The restoration was completed in 1982 as the Fox reopened for Broadway productions, country, rock, pop, and jazz acts. It has become one of the highest grossing theatres in the country. The Fox Associates group has helped produce some of Broadway's biggest hit musicals and has been influential in St. Louis's theater productions. Other theaters in St. Louis include The Pageant , The Repertory  and The Roberts Orpheum Theater .

(source:wikipedia)