St. Louis, Missouri

An independent city with a population of 354,361 in 2008. Sometimes written as Saint Louis, the city, which is named after Louis IX of France, is adjacent to but not part of St. Louis County, Missouri. Originally the site of native settlement, a center of Mississippian mound building. Joliet and Marquette passed through what is now the city in 1673 in the first European visitation of the area. In 1763 French settlers traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans to build a new town to take advantage of inland trading routes. The settlement grew after French in the area learned Britain had received all the land east of the Mississippi after the Seven Years' War. Although officially the capital of Spanish Haute-Louisiane, the town was self-governing until 1768 when the Spanish appointed a governor for the area. The British attacked the city in 1780 during the American Revolution. The U.S. acquired the city with the rest of the Louisiana Purchase and maintained it as the capital of the District of Louisiana, the part of the Lousiana Purchase aside from what is now the state of Louisiana. The Lewis and Clark Expedition left from the city in 1804. It became the capital of the Missouri Territory when the territory was created in 1812.

When Missouri became a state in 1821, St. Louis ceased to be its capital. The city was incorporated in 1822. In the mid 19th century the city expanded with an influx of foreign immigrants and African Americans from the South. St. Louis became an independent city in 1876. In 1904 St. Louis hosted the Olypmics and the World's Fair - at the time it was the fourth biggest city in the United States. The Gateway Arch was built in the 1960's as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Park. In the late 20th century the city lost much of its prior vitality and its population growth has been nearly stagnant since 2000.

St. Louis is known for its long standing French and German heritage and Victorian past. While St. Louis has embraced its deep roots as the Gateway to the West, it also has modernized into a globally known contributor in the health care and scientific research fields. The St. Louis renaissance can be attributed to large scale construction and renovation efforts seen throughout the city in conjunction with corporate support and strong civic organizational efforts. St. Louis has seen its population increase as a direct result of the committed efforts of St. Louisans to return their city to the grand international status it was once known for dating back to the 1904 World's Fair and first Olympic Games ever held in the United States.

The city has several common nicknames, including the "Gateway City", "Gateway to the West", and "Mound City". It is called "Gateway to the West" because of the many people who moved west starting near St Louis; first, because the lower Missouri River was the first leg of the Oregon Trail, and later, because of wagon trails. The Mound City name originated with the Native American burial mounds that once were common in the city. These were removed to fill sink holes filled with stagnant water that were thought to be a source of cholera. The city is also sometimes called "St. Louie", or "River City". A popular synonym for St. Louis is "STL" in reference to the airport code for the city (STL) and a long-standing use of an interlocked S, T, and L by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. The City of St. Louis lies in the heart of Greater St. Louis, which includes counties in the states of Missouri and Illinois.

While the population of the city of St. Louis was estimate at 350,759 in 2007, making it the second largest city in Missouri, it is the largest metropolitan area in the state and the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United States. The population of Metro St. Louis as of 2005 is approximately 2,778,518 according to the US Census Bureau. Population estimates for the city of St. Louis have been disputed, at least going back to just after the 2000 census, so you may see widely differing populations for the city itself. As noted above there is a belief that the population of the city has increased but the 2000 census put the population at 348,189, thus a 2007 estimate of 350,759 shows almost no net growth over 7 years.

Website: stlouis.missouri.org/