The 5 largest ethnic groups in St. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764 by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, all from New Orleans. Named after King Louis IX of France, it quickly became the regional center of the French country of Illinois.
In 1764, France was defeated in the Seven Years' War and was forced to cede its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded its nominal right to the areas west of the river to Spain. In 1800, Spain ceded Louisiana to France. Three years later, Napoleon left North America and sold the territory to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Top research universities include Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis University and University of Missouri—St. The University of Washington Medical Center, in the Central West End neighborhood, is home to an agglomeration of medical and pharmaceutical institutions, including Barnes-Jewish Hospital. European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley.
Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane, also known as Louisiana. The first European settlements in the country of Illinois (also known as Upper Louisiana) were the French during the 1690s and early 1700s in Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Fort de Chartres. Migrants from French villages on the east side of the Mississippi River, such as Kaskaskia, also founded Ste. During the negotiations of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, French negotiators agreed to transfer French colonial territories west of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to New Spain to compensate for Spanish territorial losses during the war.
These areas remained under Spanish control until 1803, when they were transferred to the First French Republic. During the American War of Independence, St. Louis was unsuccessfully attacked by British-allied Native Americans at the Battle of St. Established by many Southerners in a slave state, the city was divided by political sympathies and polarized during the American Civil War.
In 1861, 28 civilians died in a confrontation with Union troops. Louis economically, due to the Union blockade of southbound river traffic on the Mississippi River. Louis Arsenal built battleships for the Union Navy. Since the 1980s, several revitalization efforts have focused on downtown St.
In the 1970s and 1980s, some notable postmodern commercial skyscrapers were built in the city center, such as the One US Bank Plaza (197), the AT&T Center (198) and the One Metropolitan Square (198), which is the tallest building in St. One US Bank Plaza, the local headquarters of US Bancorp, was built for the Mercantile Bancorporation in a structural expressionist style, with an emphasis on the building's steel structure. There are several examples of religious structures from the period before the Civil War, and most reflect the common residential styles of the time. Among the oldest is the Basilica of St.
Louis, King of France (known as the Old Cathedral). The basilica was built between 1831 and 1834 in federal style. Other religious buildings from the time include SS. Church of Cyril and Methodius (185) in Romanesque Renaissance style and Cathedral of the Church of Christ (completed in 1867, designed in 1885 in neo-Gothic style).
Louis saw a great expansion in the variety and number of religious buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The largest and most ornate of these is the Basilica Cathedral of St. Barnett and built between 1907 and 1914 in Neo-Byzantine style. The Louis Cathedral, as it is known, has one of the largest collections of mosaics in the world.
Another milestone in the religious architecture of St. Stanislaus Kostka, which is an example of the Polish cathedral style. Among the other important designs of the time were St. Alphonsus Liguori (known as The Church of the Rock) (186) in the Gothic Revival and the Second Presbyterian Church of St.
Mississippi era limestone and dolomite form the basis of the area, and parts of the city are karstic in nature. This is particularly true in the area south of the city center, which has numerous sinkholes and caves. Most of the city's caves have been sealed, but you can see many springs along the riverbank. Once upon a time, coal, brick, clay and millerite ore were extracted in the city.
The predominant surface rock, known as St. Louis limestone is used as dimensional stone and rubble for construction. The eastern boundary of the city is the Mississippi River, which separates Missouri from Illinois. The Missouri River forms the northern line of St.
Louis County, except in some areas where the river has changed its course. The Meramec River forms most of its southern line. Winter populations of bald eagles are found along the Mississippi River, around the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The city is located on the Mississippi migration route, used by migratory birds, and has a wide variety of small bird species, common in the eastern United States.
UU. The Eurasian tree sparrow, an introduced species, is limited in North America to the counties surrounding St. The city has special sites for bird watching of migratory species, including Tower Grove Park. Louis has lost 64.0% of its population since the 1950 United States Census, the highest percentage of any city with a population of 100,000 or more at the time of the 1950 census.
Detroit, Michigan and Youngstown, Ohio, are the only other cities that have seen a population decline of at least 60% in the same time period. The population of the city of St. Louis has been in decline since the 1950 census; during this period, the population of St. The Louis metropolitan area, which includes more than one county, has grown every year and continues to do so.
A major factor in the decline has been the rapid increase in suburbanization. Other notable companies based in the region include Arch Coal, Bunge Limited, Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly A, G). Edwards), Energizer Holdings, Patriot Coal, Post Foods, United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit, Post Holdings, Olin, Enterprise Holdings (parent company of several car rental companies). Notable corporations with operations in St.
Louis includes Cassidy Turley, Kerry Group, Mastercard, TD Ameritrade, BMO Harris Bank and World Wide Technology. Other notable churches include the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River and the oldest church in St. Louis Abbey, whose distinctive architectural style won several awards when completed in 1962; and St.
Francis de Sales Oratory, a neo-Gothic church completed in 1908 in South St. Louis and the second largest church in the city. Unique urban and regional cuisine that reflects various immigrant groups includes toasted ravioli, gooey buttercake, provel cheese, slinger, Gerber sandwich and St. Louis chefs have begun to emphasize the use of local produce, meat and fish, and neighborhood farmers' markets have become more popular.
Artisanal bakeries, delicatessens and chocolate shops also operate in the city. Louis has hosted the Final Four of the NCAA Women's and Men's Division I college basketball championship tournaments and the Frozen Four college ice hockey tournament. Saint Louis University has won 10 NCAA men's soccer championships, and the city has hosted the University Cup several times. In addition to college football, many St.
Louisianans have played for the United States men's national soccer team, and 20 St. Louisiana residents have been elected to the National Football Hall of Fame. Louis is also the origin of the sport of corkball, a type of baseball in which there is no base for running. Although the area does not have an NBA team, it is home to St.
Louis Phoenix, an American Basketball Association team. The Louis Metropolitan Region is home to St. It is also home to several other 4-year colleges (26 universities), including Harris-Stowe State University, a historically black public university, Fontbonne University, Webster University, Missouri Baptist University, Health Sciences University, Pharmacy University (the former Saint Louis College of Pharmacy), Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville (SIUE), and Lindenwood University. Louis was a privileged place for immigrants to move, much of the first social works that described immigrants' lives were based on St.
Louis, as in the book The Immigrant in St. Transportation modes by road, rail, ship and plane connect the city to surrounding communities in Greater St. Louis, national transportation networks and international locations. Louis also supports a public transportation network that includes bus and light rail services.
Four interstate highways connect the city to a larger regional highway system. Interstate 70, an east-west highway, runs from the northwest corner of the city to downtown St. North-South Interstate 55 enters the city from the south, near the Carondelet neighborhood, and runs toward the city center, and both Interstate 64 and Interstate 44 enter the city from the west, running parallel to the east. Two of the four interstate highways (Interstates 55 and 6) join south of Gateway Arch National Park and leave the city via the Poplar Street Bridge to Illinois, while Interstate 44 ends at Interstate 70 at its new intersection near N Broadway and Cass Ave.
A small part of the Interstate 270 outer belt highway runs through the north end of the city. The 563-mile Avenida de los Santos connects St. Louis Airport is the secondary passenger airport serving the metropolitan area. Located 17 miles east of the city center, the airport serves domestic passengers.
Air cargo transportation is available at Lambert International and other nearby regional airports, including MidAmerica St. Local bus service in the city of St. Louis is provided by the Bi-State Development Agency through MetroBus, with more than 75 routes connecting to MetroLink light rail transportation and stops in the city and region. The city also has the Madison County public transportation service, which connects downtown St.
National bus service in the city is offered by Greyhound Lines, Burlington Trailways and Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach, with a station at the Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center, and Megabus, with a stop in St. Louis had about 220 car manufacturers, close to 10 percent of all American car manufacturers, about half of whom built cars exclusively in St. .
