St.+Louis

__Guestbook:__ Cormac Baltasar Kane

__**Location**__

St. Louis is located at 38° 45' N 90° 23' W along the banks of the Mississippi River.

__**Pre-1850 History**__


 * St. Louis was founded in 1763 by Frenchman Pierre Laclède as a trading post named after KIng Louis IX. Laclède proclaimed "I have found a situation where I am going to form a settlement which might become, hereafter, **one of the finest cities in America**." It soon became populated by trappers and traders.
 * By 1800 it was home to a population of nearly one thousand people.
 * St. Louis became United States territory in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase.
 * In 1804 St. Louis came to be known by its nickname "The Gateway to the West" when the explorers Lewis and Clark departed from it to explore the west.
 * On July 27, 1817 the first steamboat, Zebulon M. Pike, arrived on the Mississippi River from Louisville.
 * In 1822 St. Louis was incorporated as a city with three wards.


 * __1850-1950

[|http://www.stlouis.com/history/ \]__** http://www.legendsofamerica.com/MO-StLouis.html http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/History69/