48 Facts About St Louis

1.

In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, in the Battle of St Louis.

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2.

St Louis found an elevated area overlooking the flood plain of the Mississippi River, not far south from its confluence with the Missouri and Illinois rivers.

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3.

St Louis established a public corridor of 300 feet fronting the river, but later this area was released for private development.

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4.

St Louis desired to fight against them but many of the St Louis inhabitants refused.

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5.

St Louis was transferred to the French First Republic in 1800, then sold by the French to the U S in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

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6.

St Louis became the capital of, and gateway to, the new territory.

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7.

St Louis was incorporated as a city in 1822, and continued to develop largely due to its busy port and trade connections.

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8.

St Louis was murdered the next year in nearby Alton, Illinois.

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9.

Between 1900 and 1929, St Louis, had about 220 automakers, close to 10 percent of all American carmakers, about half of which built cars exclusively in St Louis.

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10.

In 2017 the US Census Bureau estimated that St Louis had a population of 308, 826, down from 319, 371 in 2010.

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11.

St Louis is known for the Gateway Arch, the tallest monument constructed in the United States at 630 feet.

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12.

The most recent high-rise buildings in St Louis include two residential towers: the Park East Tower in the Central West End and the Roberts Tower located downtown.

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13.

The original St Louis courthouse was built in 1826 and featured a Federal style stone facade with a rounded portico.

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14.

St Louis saw a vast expansion in variety and number of religious buildings during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

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15.

The largest and most ornate of these is the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis, designed by Thomas P Barnett and constructed between 1907 and 1914 in the Neo-Byzantine style.

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16.

The predominant surface rock, known as St Louis limestone, is used as dimension stone and rubble for construction.

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17.

St Louis grew slowly until the American Civil War, when industrialization and immigration sparked a boom.

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18.

The population of the city of St Louis has been in decline since the 1950 census; during this period the population of the St Louis Metropolitan Area, which includes more than one county, has grown every year and continues to do so.

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19.

St Louis has a higher homicide rate than the rest of the U S for both whites and blacks and a higher proportion committed by males.

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20.

In 2016, St Louis was the most dangerous city in the United States with populations of 100, 000 or more, ranking 1st in violent crime and 2nd in property crime.

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21.

The gross metropolitan product of Greater St Louis was $146 billion in 2014, the 21st-highest in the country, up from $144 billion in 2013, $138.

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22.

Notable corporations with operations in St Louis include Cassidy Turley, Kerry Group, Mastercard, TD Ameritrade, BMO Harris Bank, and World Wide Technology.

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23.

St Louis is home to the St Louis Symphony, the second oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.

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24.

Opera Theatre of St Louis has been called "one of America's best summer festivals" by the Washington Post.

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25.

Some St Louis chefs have begun emphasizing use of local produce, meats and fish, and neighborhood farmers' markets have become more popular.

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26.

St Louis Cardinals are one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball.

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27.

Previously, the St Louis Browns played in the American League from 1902 to 1953, before moving to Baltimore, Maryland to become the current incarnation of the Orioles.

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28.

St Louis has been home to four National Football League teams.

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29.

St Louis has hosted the Final Four of both the women's and men's college basketball NCAA Division I championship tournaments, and the Frozen Four collegiate ice hockey tournament.

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30.

Saint St Louis University has won 10 NCAA men's soccer championships, and the city has hosted the College Cup several times.

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31.

St Louis is the origin of the sport of corkball, a type of baseball in which there is no base running.

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32.

St Louis is home to the Saint Louis Chess Club where the U S Chess Championship is held.

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33.

St Louis is one of the 41 independent cities in the U S that does not legally belong to any county.

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34.

St Louis's succeeded Lyda Krewson, the first female mayor of the city, who retired in 2021 after serving for four years.

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35.

St Louis is split between 11 districts in the Missouri House of Representatives: all of the 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, and 84th, and parts of the 66th, 83rd, and 93rd, which are shared with St Louis County.

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36.

At the federal level, St Louis is the heart of, which includes part of northern St Louis County.

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37.

St Louis is home to a Federal Reserve System branch, the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.

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38.

Military Personnel Records Center located at 9700 Page Avenue in St Louis, is a branch of the National Personnel Records Center and is the repository of over 56 million military personnel records and medical records pertaining to retired, discharged, and deceased veterans of the U S armed forces.

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39.

All of the major U S television networks have affiliates in St Louis, including KTVI 2, KMOV 4 (CBS), KSDK 5 (NBC), KETC 9 (PBS), KPLR-TV 11 (The CW), KDNL 30 (ABC), WRBU 46 (Ion), and WPXS 51 Daystar Television Network.

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40.

St Louis was served by an online newspaper, the St Louis Beacon, but that publication merged with KWMU in 2013.

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41.

The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center acts as the hub station in the city of St Louis, linking the city's light rail system, local bus system, passenger rail service, and national bus service.

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42.

MidAmerica St Louis Airport is the secondary passenger airport serving the metropolitan area.

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43.

St Louis is an intermediate stop on the Texas Eagle route which provides long-distance passenger service between Chicago, San Antonio, and three days a week, to Los Angeles.

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44.

St Louis is the nation's third largest freight rail hub, moving Missouri exports such as fertilizer, gravel, crushed stone, prepared foodstuffs, fats, oils, nonmetallic mineral products, grain, alcohol, tobacco products, automobiles, and automobile parts.

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45.

Freight rail service in St Louis is provided on tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway, Foster Townsend Rail Logistics – formerly Manufacturers Railway, Terminal Railroad Association of St Louis, Affton Trucking, and the BNSF Railway.

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46.

Terminal Railroad Association of St Louis is a switching and terminal railroad jointly owned by all the major rail carriers in St Louis.

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47.

St Louis operates 30 diesel-electric locomotives to move railcars around the classification yards, deliver railcars to local industries, and ready trains for departure.

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48.

Local bus service in the city of St Louis is provided by the Bi-State Development Agency via MetroBus, with more than 75 routes connecting to MetroLink light rail transit and stops in the city and region.

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