Saint Louis, Missouri

City: Saint Louis

County: Saint Louis

State: Missouri

Lat/Long: 38.6167, -90.1833

Situated on the Mississippi River roughly ten miles south of its confluence with the Missouri River, St. Louis was first settled by French fur traders in 1764. The city and surrounding area was under Spanish rule from 1770 to 1800, was awarded back to France by Spain in 1800 per the treaty of San Ildefonso, and was ceded to the United States by France in 1803 via the Louisiana Purchase. St. Louis became the capital of the Louisiana Territory, and later the Missouri Territory and the state of Missouri. St. Louis was chartered as a city in 1822 and boasted six colleges and universities before 1900. It was a major trading post between the settled eastern half of North America and the frontier. The city also soon became the primary northern port along the Mississippi River, frequently receiving and sending steamships and barges to and from New Orleans. All this economic activity served to steadily increase St. Louis's population throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Although the city was politically split during the Civil War, it never fell to Confederate forces and served as the primary federal base of operations in Missouri.

James Neal Primm, Lion of the Valley: St. Louis, Missouri, 1764-1980, 3rd ed. (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1998), 68-70, 72-271; Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 1051; J. Thomas Scharf, History of St. Louis City and County, From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883), 1:64-69, 321, 600.