St. Louis

St. Louis is a major city in eastern Missouri, on the Mississippi River. Its best-known landmark is the Gateway Arch, a monument to westward expansion.

Gateway Arch: A 630-foot stainless-steel monument in St. Louis, completed in 1965 to commemorate westward expansion. The city’s defining landmark crowns the riverfront and anchors its national image.
Pierre Laclède: A French merchant who founded St. Louis with Auguste Chouteau in 1764. Laclède selected the settlement site and directed the city’s founding.
Dred Scott: An enslaved man whose freedom lawsuit led to the 1857 United States Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford. Scott’s case began in St. Louis courts and became a national crisis over slavery.
1904 World’s Fair: The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in St. Louis in 1904 as a world’s fair. The fair projected the city’s ambitions while exposing the era’s racial and colonial inequalities.
Mississippi River: A major North American river flowing from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The river enabled trade and transport while separating the city from Illinois.
Eads Bridge: A steel arch bridge across the Mississippi River, opened in 1874 and connecting St. Louis with Illinois. Its engineering helped preserve the city’s role as a major river crossing.
Auguste Chouteau: A French-American fur trader and civic leader who helped establish St. Louis in 1764. Chouteau led the founding party and became a leading figure in the young settlement.
Josephine Baker: An American-born dancer, singer, and activist who became an international star in France. Baker was born in St. Louis, where racial inequality shaped her early life.
Pruitt–Igoe: A public housing complex in St. Louis, built in the 1950s and demolished beginning in 1972. Its rise and demolition became a contested symbol of public-housing policy and urban decline.
Missouri River: A major tributary of the Mississippi River that flows through the Great Plains. Its confluence with the Mississippi lies just north of St. Louis and shaped regional commerce.

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