Description: St. Louis is the second-largest city in Missouri, and sits on the western bank of the Mississippi River, which forms the state line between Illinois and Missouri.
St. Louis is the second-largest city in Missouri, and sits on the western bank of the Mississippi River, which forms the state line between Illinois and Missouri. The Missouri River merges with the Mississippi River 15 river miles north of Downtown St. Louis, forming the fourth-longest river system in the world. The first steamboat arrived in the town in 1817. By the 1850s, 5,000 steamboats would travel through the city each year.
St. Louis was founded February 14, 1764 and incorporated in 1822. It is name for Louis IX of France. Pierre Laclede Liguest, recipient of a land grant from the King of France, and his 13-year-old scout, Auguste Chouteau, selected the site of St. Louis in 1764 as a fur trading post. Laclede and Chouteau chose the location because it was not subject to flooding and was near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
The fur trade fueled the growth of this Mississippi River town which was the starting point for (1804) and end of (1806) Lewis & Clark’s monumental journey of discovery. There are more au-thentic Lewis & Clark historic sites in the St. Louis area than anywhere in the US.
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