St. Louis, Missouri

“ Louis came back without his scalp or never came at all. The city was picturesque. Men clad in buckskin and carrying rifles in their hands elbowed representatives of first families attired in the fashion that came from Paris, via New Orleans, or consorted with red Indians in paint and feathers—and too often, too, in [356] liquor. St. Louis and Missouri were "big" in politics about that time. Missouri was for Clay, but Missouri's representative did not vote for him and John Quincy Adams was chosen President. After this Missouri became a Jackson State, and committed herself to the South. ”

“ The position of the city near the junction of the Missouri and the Mississippi, its traffic on the former river, with the whole of the great West, and by the latter with the Northern, Southern and Eastern States, give to St. Louis the means of an almost unlimited increase. Probably a railroad will connect St. Louis with the Pacific Ocean. It is an undertaking which is warmly promoted by a number of active Western men, and this would give a still higher importance to the city. Emigration hither also increases every year, and especially from Germany. ”

“ St Louis is the capitol of the far west, and must continue to increase. It is the central point of the great valley of the Mississippi which extends two thousand five hundred miles in width from the Alleghany or Apalachian mountains to the Chipewayan; and three thousand miles in length. It is seated upon a noble river, by which it is only three days voyage to the Mexican gulf,—only eighteen miles from the mouth of the grand Missouri, thirty six from the great artery of Illinois and two hundred from the Ohio, through whose waters it has access to every portion of the States. ”

“ Still, every one that joined it took the oath of allegiance to Missouri and the United States. But this did not reassure us, since the significance of that act depended on each man’s view of State sovereignty and on his construction of the Federal Constitution.
The citizens of St. Louis looked on thoughtfully. Some of them were happy; but that very fact tended to make those of opposite views apprehensive. If the 90new encampment had been just what it professed to be, simply a place for military drill, there was not a loyal man in the city who would have thought of disturbing it. ”

“ St Louis is normally Republican in politics, and Missouri Democratic. Taxes for state and municipal purposes are collected by the city. The school board, as in very few other cities of the country, has independent taxing power. The city owns the steamboat landings and draws a small revenue from their rental. The heaviest expenses are for streets and parks, debt payments, police and education. ”

“ He found Ste. Genevieve unacceptable because of its distance from the Missouri river, and unsanitary location. Consequently he left Fort de Chartres in December, taking along a trusted young man, and surveyed all the land from Fort de Chartres to the Missouri river.
Page 2 He was enchanted to see the location where St. Louis presently stands. He did not hesitate a moment to found the settlement he planned. In addition to the beauty of the site, it had all the advantages one could wish for in a place which might become very important in the future. ”

“ A city that owns itself, with a proper sense of dignity, it has never advertised itself in the modern meretricious fashion. And so the story of St. Louis, an honest tale, will speed best being simply told.
COLONEL AUGUSTE CHOUTEAU, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF ST. LOUIS. FROM A PAINTING IN MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTION.
St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Liguest and a few companions, all French voyageurs, in 1764; at least it was in that year that Laclede's lieutenant, Auguste Chouteau, cleared away the site of the present city. ”

“ The "institution" was brought more prominently before us there than it has yet been, as St. Louis is the first town where we have seen it proclaimed in gold letters on a large board in the street, "Negroes bought and sold here." In the papers, also, yesterday, we saw an advertisement of a "fine young man" to be sold, to pay a debt.
We took our departure in the Alton steamboat, in order to see the first twenty-four miles of the Upper Mississippi, and the junction of that river and the Missouri, which takes place about six miles below Alton ”

“ Among the remarkable objects in the vicinity of St. Louis are the ancient Indian barrows, the traces of which I had hitherto in vain attempted to find on the whole course of the Missouri. In order to take a view of them, we crossed the Missouri in a steam-ferry, where there is room for the horses and carriage, and in the upper story of its pavilion, a light, airy chamber. On the opposite bank are a good many houses, inns, and shops, under the shade of lofty old trees. Fish, turtles, vegetables, and other provisions, are daily sent from this place to the market in the town. ”

“ Louis; many Americans and foreigners removed here, and brought their property and their industry with them: and by the introduction of the use of steam-boats, a new and easy intercourse was opened with the shores of the Ohio, and with New Orleans, that important depôt of the western states. A glance at the map of the United States shows what an interesting place St. Louis is destined to become, when the white population has spread itself more westwardly II.97 from the Mississippi, and up along the Missouri river. ”

“ Louis, 1, One of the great commercial cities (575) of the United States, capital of Missouri State; situated on the Mississippi (here spanned by two fine bridges) , 21 m. below its confluence with the Missouri; is a handsomely built city, and equipped with every modern convenience, entirely lit by electric light, &c.; has spacious parks, two universities, public libraries, &c.; is a centre for 18 railroads, which with the great river-way enables it to carry on a vast trade in grain, cotton, wool, furs, live stock, &c.; its tobacco manufacture is the greatest in the world. ”

“ Alton, this old town that I had visited so many times before, was crowded with people drawn from the surrounding country, from across the river in Missouri. As to the temper of the audience, it rather favored Douglas. I saw the leering, ugly faces that I had seen in the lobbies of the hotels in St. Louis years before at the railroad convention, when Captain Grant was lounging there and planters swarmed at the bar and cursed Yankees and nigger-lovers. ”

“ Louis, and thence South, by way of Memphis, Tenn., into exile. I would have returned to Missouri after the war closed but for the restrictions put upon ministers of the gospel by the new Constitution.
“Eternity alone will reveal what I have suffered in 290exile. The St. Louis Conference is properly my home, and her preachers have a warm place in my affections. They are very near my heart. May they ever be successful.”
Rev. Mr. Arrington pines for his old home and friends, and few men have a deeper hold upon the hearts of the people in Missouri. ”

“ At last, during the closing days of September, Fremont and his army, attended, as it seemed to us, with inextricable confusion and indescribable clatter, left St. Louis for Jefferson City. No armed host ever went forth to battle made up of nobler men. The best blood of the West ran in their veins. They were unusually intelligent and patriotic. Price, apparently always unwilling to risk a doubtful conflict, abandoning his project of destroying the railroads in the northern part of the State, with an army of about twenty thousand men, retreated in orderly fashion towards southwest Missouri. ”

“ Passing trains whistled loudly and frequently. The shores became more populated.
“Two miles more and we’ll round to full view of Kansas City, young men,” said he. “We’ve crossed the whole and entire state of Missouri, three hundred and ninety miles—from one great city to another great one.
“St. Louis—Kansas City! Each in her day has been the Gate to the West. In 1847, Independence, over to the left, was going back, and even the new boat landing of Westport was within the year to be called Kansas City. ”

“ Missouri is bounded south by Arkansas; east by Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee; west by Missouri territory and north by Iowa. It contains about sixty thousand square miles; its length being two hundred and seventy, and its breadth two hundred and twenty miles. Its limits are between thirty-six degrees and forty degrees thirty minutes north latitude; and between eighty-nine degrees and ninety-four degrees ten minutes west longitude. It is divided into fifty-one counties. The city of Jefferson, which has been laid out within a few years, is the seat of government. St. Louis is the largest town. ”

“ Louis as far as Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri. A few of the passenger boats were equipped with a calliope, or steam organ, and would play old plantation melodies on approaching or departing from a town. To hear "Suwanee River," "The Old Folks at Home" or "Susannah" reverberating from the hills on a calm summer's evening was charming.
There were not many towns on the Missouri in 1855; the principal ones that I remember were St. Charles, Hermann, Jefferson City, Booneville, Glasgow, Kansas City, Leavenworth and St. ”

“ Louis Chapter, vice state regent and state regent of Missouri. At the sixteenth Continental Congress she was elevated to the high position of vice-president-general of the National Society. She was chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, where the entertainments arranged by her were a great success. She has served the Daughters well on the Continental Hall Committee, as the liberal contributions from Missouri show. She is a member of the Daughters of 1812, of the Colonial Dames and the Colonial Governors and of many local clubs for betterment. ”

“ Thus, even in the years of the Civil War, there was no apparent set-back. Of the aggregate of 1900, 63·7% lived in “rural districts” (i.e. those outside all places of a population of 2500 or upwards) , and 27·1% in the three great cities of the state, St Louis (pop. 575,238) , Kansas City (163,752) and St Joseph (102,979) ; 5·2% were negroes—their increase from 1890 to 1900 being less than half as rapid as that of the whites; and 7·0% only were foreign-born. Slightly more than half of all foreigners are Germans ”

“ Louis, preaching to some Indians on the way, until they reached Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, early in 1831. That county forms a part of the western border of the state, and from 1832, until the railroad took the place of wagon trains, Independence was the eastern terminus of the famous Santa Fe trail, and the point of departure for many companies destined both for Oregon and California. Pratt, describing their journey west of St. Louis, says: "We travelled on foot some three hundred miles, through vast prairies and through trackless wilds of snow ”

“ Among the Illinois suburbs thus brought into closer touch with the western side of the river are East St. Louis,—a growing city of about 75,000,—Venice, Madison, Granite City, and Belleville. Being principally manufacturing communities, these cities contribute in no small degree to St. Louis' importance as an industrial center.
A MISSOURI COAL MINE
St. ”

“ Louis, the Metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, Missouri in 1860, after 40 years of Statehood, had only 1,182,012 people, against 1,711,951 in Illinois, 1,350,428 in Indiana, 674,913 in Iowa, 172,023 in Minnesota, 2,329,511 in Ohio, 749,113 in Michigan, 775,881 in Wisconsin, with nearly 150,000 in Kansas and Nebraska.
More than a million settlers who had crossed the Mississippi within a few years had shunned her contaminated borders for the free air of otherwise less attractive localities. ”

“ In times of great popular excitement, when partisans are using their utmost efforts to carry elections, it is less surprising than hurtful that politicians should appeal for support to every class of citizens. The German population of St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, Cole, and some other counties and cities had increased rapidly in the past few years, and now for the first time began to make their presence and power felt in Missouri politics. ”

“ Throughout the Union the political conflict was fierce, but in Missouri, and in its great commercial 15city, St. Louis, it was unusually hot and acrimonious. African slavery was the distracting problem. None attempted to disguise it. Men on every hand spoke plainly and boldly. Most of the people of the slave states, and the citizens of Missouri among the rest, believed with all their hearts that if the Republican party should be successful at the polls, henceforth slavery would probably be excluded from the territories, and, at no distant day, would become extinct even in the states. ”

“ A HUMBLE BIRTHPLACE
Florida, Missouri, was a small village in the early thirties—smaller than it is now, perhaps, though in that day it had more promise, even if less celebrity. The West was unassembled then, undigested, comparatively unknown. Two States, Louisiana and Missouri, with less than half a million white persons, were all that lay beyond the great river. St. Louis, with its boasted ten thousand inhabitants and its river trade with the South, was the single metropolis in all that vast uncharted region. ”

“ Always the natural commercial centre of the Mississippi Valley, since it became the focus of a mighty network of railroads St. Louis has been the market of the prosperous West, the new South and the great Southwest, with its wealth of agriculture, mining, manufactures, and its almost magic development, shown, for instance, in the fact that Texas is now only a few thousand behind Missouri in population, and must in consequence of the recent discoveries of enormous oil lands soon overtake States like Illinois and Ohio and Pennsylvania. ”