A Bit Of History On St. Louis Missouri

Construction began on what would much later become the city of St. Louis, Missouri in February of 1764. A group of French men, mostly traders, began putting together the settlement in order to take advantage of the trade coming downstream. Two years later, the settlement was made the capital of northern Louisiana, and was governed by the French lieutenant governor. St. Louis was not handed to the United States until 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. However, French continued to be one of the primary languages spoken in St. Louis, and the period of French ownership continues to influence the city today.

Missouri became a state in 1821, and St. Louis was incorporated as a city in December of 1822. The first legislators were elected in 1808, and the United States began constructing an arsenal in the city in 1827. The beginning of the steamboat era, a famous part of history in the Missouri area, began in 1817. Steamboats made river trade a booming industry in the area, and caused several cities along the rivers to increase rapidly in population and economic strength, one of which was St. Louis.

Immigrants began coming into St. Louis around 1840, especially from Germany and Ireland. The population grew from under twenty thousand in 1840, to over seventy-five thousand ten years later. In 1860, the population had reached over one hundred sixty thousand. The development of public transit was able to help get the increasing number of residents around the city. The first streetcar tracks were laid in 1859. During the Civil War, St. Louis barely saw any combat, and only a few skirmishes made it to the area around the city. The state was nominally a slave owning state, although much of its economy came from ship building, and after the Civil War it continued to produce ships for trade and the American Navy.

St. Louis continued to grow and prosper into the 20th century. It completed the first rail bridge across the Mississippi River in 1874, and built and tested a number of important experimental aircraft for both World War I and World War II. St. Louis experienced a large scale expansion in the early 20th century, due largely to the rapid increase in the number of industrial production companies. Today, St. Louis has revitalized its urban centers and stands at a population of about three hundred and fifty thousand people.

By: Jack Norwood

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