History of St. Louis, MO

 St. Louis is the second largest city in Missouri, United States. It lives near the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, on the west bank of the latter. As of 2019, the appropriate city had an estimated population of about 300,000, while the metropolitan area, extending to Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second largest in Illinois, seventh the largest in the Great Lakes Megalopolis, and the 22nd largest in the United States.

Prior to European settlement, the area was the center of the Native American Mississippian region. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764 by French wool merchant Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, who named him Louis IX of France. In 1764, after the French conquest in the Seven Years' War, the property was handed over to Spain. In 1800, it was repurchased in France, which sold three years later to the United States as part of the Louisiana acquisition; The city at the time was the starting point for the Corps of Discovery in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In the 19th century, St. Louis became a major port on the Mississippi River; from 1870 until the 1920 census, it was the fourth largest city in the country. Separated from St. Louis County in 1877, became an independent city and reduced its political boundaries. ISt. Louis had a brief history as a world-class city in the early 20th century. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the summer Olympics