St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis (pronounced in English,

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in French), sometimes written Saint Louis, encompasses an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri (the "City of St. Louis") and its metropolitan area (Greater St. Louis). This area includes counties in the states of Missouri and Illinois; it is the 18th largest in the United States with a population of 2,698,672 as of the 2000 census. According to the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA), the 2004 population is approximately 2,764,054.

The city, which is named after Louis IX of France, is adjacent to, but not part of, St. Louis County, Missouri and has a population of 352,572. [1] St. Louis has the state's largest metropolitan area population. In relation to the Midwest region, the City of St. Louis is the 10th largest city in population (between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Wichita, Kansas).

The city has several common nicknames, including the "Gateway City", "Gateway to the West", "Baseball City USA", and "Mound City". St. Louis is also sometimes called "St. Louie", "River City" or "Baseball Heaven". Alternatively, many young people who live in St. Louis have begun to call it "The 'Lou". Another popular synonym for St. Louis is "The STL" in reference to the airport code for the city (STL) and a long-standing use of an interlocked S, T and L by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.

History

Prior to the arrival of French explorers in 1673 the area that would become St. Louis was a major center of the Mississippian mound builders. The presence of numerous mounds, now almost all destroyed, earned the later city the nickname of "Mound City."

City founding and early history

European exploration of the area had begun nearly a century before the city was founded. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, both French, traveled through the Mississippi River valley in 1673, and five years later, La Salle claimed the entire valley for France. He called it "Louisiana" after King Louis XIV; the French also called their region "Illinois Country." In 1699, a settlement was established across the river from what is now St. Louis, at Cahokia. Other early settlements were downriver at Kaskaskia, Prairie du Pont, Fort de Chartres, and Sainte Genevieve. In 1703, Catholic priests established a small mission at what is now St. Louis. The mission was later moved across the Mississippi, but the small river at the site (now a drainage channel near the southern boundary of the City of St. Louis) still bears the name "River Des Peres" (River of the Fathers).

In 1763, Pierre Laclède, his 13-year-old "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, and a small band of men traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans. In November, they landed a few miles downstream of the river's confluence with the Missouri River at a site where wooded limestone bluffs rose 40 feet above the river. The men returned to Fort de Chartres for the winter, but in February, Laclede sent Chouteau and 30 men to begin construction. The settlement was established on February 15, 1764.

The settlement began to grow quickly after word arrived that the 1763 Treaty of Paris had given England all the land east of the Mississippi. Frenchmen who had settled to the river's east moved across the water to "Laclede's Village." Other early settlements were established nearby at Saint Charles, Carondelet (now a part of the city of St. Louis), Fleurissant (renamed Saint Ferdinand under the Spaniards and now Florissant), and Portage des Sioux. In 1765, St. Louis was made the capital of Upper Louisiana.

Apotheosis of Saint Louis, a bronze statue of the city's namesake on horseback, was widely used as a symbol of the city before construction of the Arch.

An aerial view of downtown looking south.

From 1766 to 1768, St. Louis was governed by the French lieutenant governor, Louis Saint Ange de Bellerive. After 1768, St. Louis was governed by a series of Spanish governors, whose administration continued even after Louisiana was secretly returned to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. The town's population was then about a thousand.

St. Louis was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The transfer of power from Spain was made official in a ceremony called "Three Flags Day." On March 8 1804, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French one raised. On March 10, the French flag was replaced by the United States flag.

19th Century expansion and growth

The Lewis and Clark Expedition left the St. Louis area in May 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1805, and returned on 23 September 1806. Many other explorers, settlers, and trappers (such as Ashley's Hundred) would later take a similar route to the West. Missouri became a state in 1820. St. Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9 1822. A U.S. arsenal was constructed at St. Louis in 1827.

The steamboat era began in St. Louis on July 27 1817, with the arrival of the "Zebulon M. Pike." Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats, and "Pike" and her sisters soon transformed St. Louis into a bustling boomtown, commercial center, and inland port. By the 1850s, St. Louis had become the largest U.S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York.

Immigrants flooded into St. Louis after 1840, particularly from Germany, Bohemia, Italy and Ireland, the latter driven by an Old World potato famine. The population of St. Louis grew from fewer than 20,000 in 1840, to 77,860 in 1850, to just over 160,000 by 1860.

Two disasters occurred in 1849: a cholera epidemic killed nearly one-tenth of the population, and a fire destroyed numerous steamboats and a large portion of the city. These disasters led to political action: old cemeteries were removed to the outskirts of the town; sinkholes were filled and swamps drained; water and sewer public utilities started; and a new building code required structures to be built of stone or brick.

In the first half of the 19th century, a second channel developed in the Mississippi River at St. Louis. An island ("Bloody Island") formed between the two channels, and a smaller island ("Duncan's Island") developed below St. Louis. It was feared that the levee at St. Louis might be left high and dry, and federal assistance was sought and obtained. Under the supervision of Robert E. Lee, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward the Missouri side and eliminate the second channel. Bloody Island was joined to the land on the Illinois side, and Duncan's Island was washed away.

Militarily, the Civil War (1861-1865) barely touched St. Louis; the area saw only a few skirmishes in which Union forces prevailed. But the war shut down trade with the South, devastating the city's economy. Missouri was nominally a slave state, but its economy did not depend on slavery, and it never seceded from the Union. The arsenal at St. Louis was used during the war to construct ironclad ships for the Union.

St. Louis during the Gilded Age

On July 4, 1876 the City of St. Louis voted to secede from St. Louis County and become an independent city. At that time the County was primarily rural and sparsely populated, and the fast-growing City did not want to spend their tax dollars on infrastructure and services for the inefficient county. The move also allowed some in St. Louis government to increase their political power.

As St. Louis grew and prospered during the late 19th and early 20th Century, the city produced a number of notable people in the fields of business and literature. The Ralston-Purina company (headed by the Danforth Family) was headquartered in the city, and Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewery, remains a fixture of the city's economy. The City was home to both International Shoe and the Brown Shoe Company. Notable residents in the field of literature included poets Sara Teasdale, and T.S. Eliot as well as playwright Tennessee Williams. Eliot always spoke fondly of his hometown, while Williams despised the city.

St. Louis is one of several cities that claims to have the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets and is today used by the State of Missouri as a government office building.

Nikola Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio communication here in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of radio communication. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube.

In 1896, one of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history struck St. Louis and East St. Louis. The confirmed death toll is 255, with some estimates above 400, and injuries over 1,000. It left a mile wide continuous swath of destroyed homes, factories, mills, saloons, hospitals, schools, parks, churches, and railroad yards. Damages adjusted for inflation (1997 USD) make it the costliest tornado in U.S. history at an estimated $2.9 billion. Several other tornadoes have hit the city making it the worst tornado afflicted large city in the U.S.; with the most deadly and destructive occurring in 1871 (9 killed), 1890 (4 killed), 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured), 1927 (79 killed, 550 injured), and 1959 (21 killed, 345 injured).

By the time of the 1900 census, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country [2]. In 1904, the city hosted a World's Fair and the Olympic Games, making the United States the first English-speaking country to host the Olympics. Citizens of St. Louis still look back fondly on the events of 1904; there were several events held in 2004 to commemorate the centennial.

Early 20th century

St. Louis was developed primarily as an industrial city. The uranium used in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb was refined in St. Louis by Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., starting in 1942. The industrial development that had fueled the city's growth in the 19th Century became a liability in the 20th Century. Through the 1950's, St. Louis struggled with a severe air pollution problem that was caused in part by the many coal-fired furnaces used to heat older homes. Many of the city's older neighborhoods were densely developed around the factories that formed the base of the city's economy.

The city first lost population between the 1930 and 1940 census, and efforts to expand the city's boundaries to include some of the newly developing suburbs failed. The city reached its peak population at the 1950 census, reflecting a national housing shortage after World War II. The continued trend of suburban development and highway construction would lead to a decline in the city's population over the next several decades. As noted below, St. Louis' population is growing once again.

Recent developments

Washington Avenue Loft District

Recently, there has been a significant upturn in construction in downtown St. Louis. The Bottle District, an entertainment district named after a large Vess soda bottle that stands near Interstate 70, will open in spring 2007 and will be located in an area just north of the Edward Jones Dome. The St. Louis Cardinals' new Busch Stadium opened in 2006. Ballpark Village will be built where the former Busch Stadium stood. For several years, the Washington Avenue Loft District has been gentrifying with an expanding corridor along Washington Avenue from the Edwards Jones Dome westward almost two dozen blocks. Rehabilitation of other downtown areas is planned, such as around the Old Post Office and Cupples warehouses. The Forest Park Southeast neighborhood near the Missouri Botanical Garden and the old Gaslight Square district are also going through extensive renovations.

St. Louis' population is growing again following a half-century of decline. As of 2005, St. Louis' population has grown over what it was at the time of the 2000 Census.

Geography

The Rivers around St. Louis

St. Louis is located at (38.648056, -90.212222).

The city is built primarily on bluffs and terraces that rise 100-200 feet above the western banks of the Mississippi River, just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling prairie that features low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains.

Limestone and dolomite of the Mississippian epoch underlies the area and much of the city is a karst area, with numerous sinkholes and caves, although most of the caves have been sealed shut; many springs are visble along the riverfront. Significant deposits of coal, brick clay, and millerite ore were once mined in the city, and the predominant surface rock, the St. Louis Limestone, is used as dimension stone and rubble for construction.

The St. Louis Geologic fault is exposed along the bluffs and was the source of several historic minor earthquakes; it is part of the St. Louis Anticline which has some petroleum and natural gas deposits outside of the city. St. Louis is also just north of the New Madrid Seismic Zone which in 1811-12 produced a series of earthquakes that are the largest known in the contiguous United States. Seismologists estimate 90% probability of a magnitude 6.0 earthquake by 2040 and 7-10% probability of a magnitude 8.0 [3], such tremors could create significant damage across a large region of the central U.S. including St. Louis.

Near the southern boundary of the City of St. Louis (separating it from St. Louis County) is the River des Peres, virtually the only river or stream within the city limits that is not entirely underground. Most of River des Peres was either channelized or put underground in the 1920s and early 1930s. The lower section of the river was the site of some of the worst flooding of the Great Flood of 1993.

Near the central, western boundary of the city is Forest Park, site of the 1904 World's fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, and the 1904 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic Games held in North America. At the time, St. Louis was the fourth most populous city in the United States.

The Missouri River forms the northern border of St. Louis County, exclusive of a few areas where the river has changed its course. The Meramec River forms most of its southern border. To the east is the City and the Mississippi River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 171.3 km² (66.2 mi²). 160.4 km² (61.9 mi²) of it is land and 11.0 km² (4.2 mi² or 6.39%) of it is water.

Metropolitan statistical area

The St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area is the 18th largest in the United States, and has a total population of 2,764,054 as of 2004. This area includes St. Louis County (1,016,235), the independent City of St. Louis (350,705), the Missouri counties of Saint Charles (320,734), Jefferson (210,397), Franklin (98,234), Lincoln (45,618) and Warren (27,809), and the Illinois counties of Madison (264,350), Saint Clair (259,132), Clinton (36,065), Monroe (30,491) and Jersey (22,320).

Cityscape

Lafayette Square Homes

The city is divided into 79 neighborhoods. The divisions have no legal standing, although some neighborhood associations administer grants or hold veto power over historic-district development. Nevertheless, the social and political influence of neighborhood identity is profound. Some hold avenues of massive stone edifices built as palaces for heads of state visiting the 1904 World's Fair. Others offer tidy working-class bungalows or loft districts Many of them have succesfully retained a remarkable camaraderie that is missing from many American towns today.

Among the best-known, architecturally significant, or well-visited neighborhoods are Downtown, Midtown, Benton Park, Carondelet, the Central West End, Clayton/Tamm (Dogtown), Dutchtown South, Forest Park Southeast, Grand Center, The Hill, Lafayette Square, Princeton Heights, Old North St. Louis, Shaw (home to the Missouri Botanical Garden and named after the Garden's founder, Henry Shaw), Southwest Garden, Soulard (home of the second-largest Mardi Gras festival in the nation), Tower Grove East, Tower Grove South, Hortense Place (home to many grand mansions) and Wydown/Skinker.

Climate

St. Louis has a continental temperate climate, and has neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature. The area is affected by both cold Canadian arctic air, and also hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. The city has four distinct seasons. The average annual temperature for the years 1971-2000, recorded at nearby Lambertâ€"St. Louis International Airport, is 56.3 °F (13.5 °C), and average precipitation is 38.75 inches (980 mm). The normal high temperature in July is 90 °F (32 °C), and the normal low temperature in January is 21 °F (âˆ'6 °C), although these values are often exceeded. Temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C) or more occur no more than five days per year, while temperatures of 0 °F (-17.8 °C) or below occur 2 or 3 days per year on average. The official all-time record low is -22 °F (-30.0 °C) and the record high is 115 °F (46.1 °C). Hundreds were killed by extreme heat and humidity in 1995 and 1999.

Winter is the driest season, averaging about 6 inches of total precipitation. Springtime, March through May, is typically the wettest season, with just under 10.5 inches. Dry spells of one or two weeks duration are common during the growing seasons.

Thunderstorms can be expected on 40 to 50 days per year. A few of them will be severe with locally destructive winds and large hail, and occasionally accompanied by tornadoes (see St. Louis tornado history). The two costliest tornadoes and the costliest hailstorm in history occurred in St. Louis. Other occasional weather hazards include blizzards and ice storms. A period of unseasonably warm weather late in autumn known as Indian summer is common â€" roses will still be in bloom as late as November or early December in some years.

Flora and fauna

Before the founding of the city, the area was prairie and open forest maintained by burning by Native Americans. Trees are mainly oak, maple, and hickory, similar to the forests of the nearby Ozarks; common understory trees include Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, and Flowering Dogwood. Riparian areas are forested with mainly American sycamore. Most of the residential area of the city is planted with large native shade trees. The largest native forest area is found in Forest Park. In Autumn, the changing color of the trees is notable. Most species here are typical of the Eastern Woodland, although numerous decorative non-native species are found; the most notable invasive species is Japanese honeysuckle, which is actively removed from some parks.

Female bald eagle on an egg in nest near Chain of Rocks Bridge

Large mammals found in the city include urbanized coyotes and occasionally a stray whitetail deer. Eastern Gray Squirrel, Cottontail rabbit, and other rodents are abundant, as well as the nocturnal and rarely seen Opossum. Large bird species are abundant in parks and include Canada goose, Mallard duck, as well as shorebirds, including the Great Egret and Great Blue Heron. Gulls are common along the Mississippi River; these species typically follow barge traffic. Winter populations of Bald Eagles are found by the Mississippi River around the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The city is on the Mississippi Flyway, used by migrating birds, and has a large variety of small bird species, common to the eastern U.S. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow, an introduced species, is limited in North America to the counties surrounding St. Louis. Tower Grove Park is a well-known birdwatching area in the city.

Frogs are commonly found in the springtime, especially after extensive wet periods. Common species include the American toad and species of chorus frogs, commonly called "spring peepers" that are found in nearly every pond. Some years have outbreaks of cicadas or ladybugs. Mosquitos and houseflies are common insect nuisances; because of this, windows are nearly universally fitted with screens, and "screened-in" porches are common in homes of the area. Populations of honeybees have sharply declined in recent years, and numerous species of pollinator insects have filled their ecological niche.

People and culture

City Population [4]
Census year	Population
1830	4,977
1840	16,469
1850	77,860
1860	160,773
1870	310,864
1880	350,518
1890	451,770
1900	575,238
1910	687,029
1920	772,897
1930	821,960
1940	816,048
1950	856,796
1960	750,026
1970	622,236
1980	453,085
1990	396,685
2000	348,189
2005	est. 352,572

Social changes in the twentieth century influenced radically the sorts of people who live in St. Louis now. From 1810, the date of the first Federal census, to 1880, the population totals include with the city of St. Louis the population of St. Louis County, which in 1880 was separately enumerated at 31,888 people.

In 1910, 687,029 people lived in the city. 125,706 foreign-born people were residents in 1910. 47,765 of those persons were natives of the German Empire. In 1910, 11.3 per cent of the foreign-born people were of Irish nativity, 4.1 percent of English, 12.3 of Russian, 6 of Italian, and 8.8 of Austrian. 43,960 African Americans composed 6.4% of the total population.

Like other large American cities, St. Louis experienced a large population shift to the suburbs in the twentieth century; first because of increased demand for new housing following the Second World War, and later in response to demographic changes, whether real or perceived, in existing neighborhoods.

Populations of city and county: 1810, 5,667; 1820, 10,049; 1830, 14,145; 1840, 35,979; 1850, 104,978; 1860, 190,524; 1870, 351,189.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 348,189 people, 147,076 households, and 76,920 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,171.2/km² (5,622.9/mi²). There were 176,354 housing units at an average density of 1,099.7/km² (2,847.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 51.20% African American, 43.85% White, 1.98% Asian, 0.27% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.80% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.02% of the population. Historically, North St. Louis City has been primarily African American while South St. Louis City has been primarily White. This has changed in recent years as large portions of North St. Louis City have been depopulated, with African-American residents moving either south or to surrounding counties. Since the mid-1990's, an estimated 30,000 - 40,000 Bosnian immigrants have settled in the St. Louis metropolitan area, primarily concentrated in the Bevo neighborhood of south St. Louis and adjacent parts of St. Louis County.

There are 147,076 households, out of which 25.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.2% were married couples living together, 21.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.7% were non-families. 40.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,156, and the median income for a family was $32,585. Males had a median income of $30,106 versus $24,987 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,108. About 20.8% of families and 24.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.4% of those under age 18 and 17.4% of those age 65 or over.

Cuisine

*Anheuser-Busch beers
*Mayfair salad dressing, created at the former Mayfair Hotel in St. Louis
*Fried-brain sandwiches
*Gooey butter cake
*Missouri wine
*Pork steak
*Provel cheese
*St. Louis-style pizza, exemplified by regional chain Imo's Pizza
*Schlafly beers
*Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
*Fried Tripe sandwiches
*Toasted ravioli
*Vess soda
*St. Paul sandwich,
*Pig Snoot (Snout), fried and barbequed. Served with potato salad.
*St. Louis-style barbecue, often featuring spare ribs and thin, tangy tomato-based barbecue sauce
*Slingers

Museums and other points of interest

City Museum

There are several museums and attractions in the city. The City Museum offers a variety of interesting exhibits, including several large caves and a huge outdoor playground. It also serves as a meeting point for St. Louis' young arts scene. The Eugene Field House, located in downtown St. Louis, is a museum dedicated to the distinguished children's author. The Missouri History Museum presents exhibits and programs on a variety of topics including the 1904 World's Fair, and a comprehensive exhibit on Lewis and Clark's voyage exploring the Louisiana Purchase.

The Fox Theatre, originally one of many movie theatres along Grand Boulevard, is now a newly restored theatre featuring a Byzantine facade and Oriental decor. The Fox Theatre presents a Broadway Series in addition to concerts.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

View of the Arch from the Old Cathedral.

There are several notable churches in the city, including the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis (New Cathedral), a large Roman Catholic cathedral designed in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The interior is decorated with lovely mosaics, the largest mosaic collection in the world. The Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (1834), also known as the "Old Cathedral," is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River. The Old Cathedral is located adjacent to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

The Hill is an historically Italian neighborhood where many of the area's best Italian restaurants can be found. The Hill was the home of Yogi Berra and many other noted baseball players. The International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame and St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum is also located near Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.

Laclede's Landing, located on the Mississippi Riverfront directly north of the historic Eads Bridge, is popular for its restaurants and nightclubs. St. Louis also possesses several distinct examples of 18th and 19th century architecture, such as the Soulard Market district (1779-1842), the Chatillon-de Menil House (1848), the Bellefontaine Cemetery (1850), the Robert G. Campbell House (1852), the Old Courthouse (1845-62), the original Anheuser-Busch Brewery (1860), and two of Louis Sullivan's early skyscrapers, the Wainwright Building (1890-91) and the Union Trust Building.

The Lemp Mansion, home of the fated Lemp family which had multiple suicides, is considered one of the most haunted places in the nation.

There are also several notable museums in surrounding cities. The Delmar Loop, in University City, just west of the St. Louis city line, is a popular entertainment, cultural and restaurant district. The Butterfly House is located in western St. Louis County.

The Museum of Transportation is in Kirkwood, a suburb in southwestern St. Louis County. Many large steam locomotives, classic cars, and even a boat are some of the spectacles.

Six Flags St. Louis, known as "Six Flags over Mid-America" when it opened in 1971, is an amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, in far west St. Louis County. It is one of the original Six Flags.

Saint Charles is the seat of St. Charles County and first capital of the state of Missouri.

Cahokia Mounds, located 8 miles east of St. Louis near Collinsville, Illinois, holds the ruins of a city of the ancient Mississippian aboriginal culture. Similar mounds within St. Louis, used as construction fill in the 1800s, gave the city one of its nicknames, "Mound City".

Magic House, a children's hands-on exploration museum, and Worldways Children's Museum, an international children's cultural museum, are both in Kirkwood.

Media

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the region's major daily newspaper. Founded by Joseph Pulitzer in the 1800s, the paper was owned by Pulitzer Publishing until 2005, when the company was acquired by Lee Enterprises. The company also owns the Suburban Journals, a collection of local newspapers. The daily Belleville News Democrat, published in Belleville, Illinois, serves many Illinois communities in the St. Louis Metro Area.

The St. Louis Business Journal, published weekly on Fridays, covers the region's business news.

In 1900, St. Louis had at least five daily newspapers: the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the St. Louis Republic in the morning, and the Post-Dispatch and Star-Chronicle in the afternoon, as well as the German-language Westlische Post. One by one, these papers folded or consolidated. The Post-Dispatch bought out its remaining afternoon competitor, the Star-Times, in 1951. Until the mid-1980s, the morning Globe-Democrat, which was editorially more conservative than the Post-Dispatch, served as the Post's main rival. Although the Post-Dispatch and the Globe-Democrat maintained a joint operating agreement for years, the Globe-Democrat folded shortly after the Post-Dispatch switched from afternoon to morning publication.

The city's main alternative weekly publications include the Evening Whirl and the Riverfront Times. African-American weeklies include the St. Louis Argus (est. 1912), the Saint Louis American (est. 1928), and the St. Louis Sentinel (est. 1969). A variety of glossy monthly and quarterly publications cover topics such as local history, cuisine, and lifestyles. St. Louis is also home to the last remaining metropolitan journalism review, the St. Louis Journalism Review, based at Webster University in the suburb of Webster Groves.

The St. Louis metro area is served by a wide variety of local television stations, and is the twenty-first largest designated market area (DMA) in the U.S., with 1,222,380 homes (1.11% of the total U.S.). The major network television affiliates are KMOV 4 (CBS), KDNL 30 (ABC), KSDK 5 (NBC), KTVI 2 (FOX), KPLR 11 (WB/CW), and WRBU 46 (UPN/My Network TV). There is also a PBS station at KETC 9. In September of 2006, KPLR will become the St. Louis Tribune Broadcasting O&O station for the new The CW, a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Time-Warner. Additionally, in September 2006, WRBU will become an affiliate of News Coporations's My Network TV.

The region's radio airwaves offer a variety of locally produced programming. KMOX (1120 AM), which pioneered the call-in talk radio format in the 1960s, retains significant regional influence due to its 50,000-watt clear-channel signal and an unusually active newsroom operation. Public radio station KWMU (90.7 FM), an NPR affiliate, also provides extensive, locally produced programming treating social issues, politics, and the arts. St. Louis is one of only a handful of U.S. cities to have its own independent community radio station, KDHX (88.1 FM), which features a wide range of music and talk from local residents. Washington University in St. Louis' college radio station, KWUR (90.3 FM), also provides community broadcasting and an eclectic mix of underground music.

Music

St. Louis is the home of the world-renowned Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra which was founded in St. Louis in 1880and which has over the years been honored with six Grammy Awards and fifty-six nominations. Historic Powell Symphony Hall on North Grand Boulevard has been the permanent home of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra since 1968. Leonard Slatkin has served as one of the orchestra's previous conductors; presently he conducts the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.

The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is an annual summer festival of opera performed in English, originally co-founded by Richard Gaddes in 1968; he is now the director of the Santa Fe Opera. Union Avenue Opera Theatre, formed in the early 1990s, is a smaller but thriving company that performs opera in the original languages.

St. Louis has long been associated with great ragtime, jazz and blues music. Early rock and roll singer/guitarist Chuck Berry is a native St. Louisan and continues to perform there several times a year. Soul music artists Ike Turner and Tina Turner and jazz innovator Miles Davis began their careers in nearby East St. Louis, Illinois. St. Louis has also been a popular stop along the infamous Chitlin Circuit.

Popular Music and entertainment in St. Louis peaked in the 1960s due to the popularity of Gaslight Square, a thriving local nightclub district that attracted nationally known musicians and performers. This area was all but extinct by the early 1970s and today is the site of a new housing development.

In the 1990s, the metro area produced several prominent alt-country artists, including Uncle Tupelo, a Belleville, Illinois trio often considered the originators of the style, and The Bottle Rockets. More recently, the rise of Nelly, The Saint Lunatics, Murphy Lee, Chingy, J-Kwon, Ebony Eyez and other musicians have made it one of the centers of rap and hip-hop, often mentioned side-by-side with New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

Parks and outdoor attractions

Old footbridge in Forest Park.

The city operates 105 parks that serve as gathering spots for neighbors to meet, and contains playgrounds, areas for summer concerts, picnics, baseball games, tennis courts, and lakes.

Forest Park, located on the western edge of the central corridor of the City of St. Louis, is one of the largest urban parks in the world, outsizing Central Park in New York City by 500 acres. It offers many of St. Louis' most popular attractions: the Saint Louis Zoological Park, the Municipal Theatre (also known as, The Muny, the largest and oldest outdoor musical theatre in the United States), the St. Louis Science Center (with its architecturally distinctive McDonnell Planetarium), the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, several lakes, and scenic, open areas. Forest Park completed a multimillion dollar renovation in 2004 for the centennial of the St. Louis World's Fair. The Zoo, Art Museum, and Science Center are all world-class institutions. The Zoo-Museum Tax District provides them operating funds, so general admission to them, as well as to the History Museum, is free.

The Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw's Garden, is one of the world's leading botanical research centers. It possesses a beautiful collection of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, and includes the Japanese Garden, which features a lake filled with koi and gravel designs; the woodsy English Garden; the Home Gardening Center; a rose garden; the Climatron; a children's garden and playground; and many other scenic gardens. Immediately south of the Missouri Botanical Garden is Tower Grove Park, a gift to the City by Henry Shaw.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is a 90.96 acre national park located on the downtown riverfront where the city was first founded in 1764, and commemorates the westward growth of the United States between 1803 and 1890. The centerpiece of the park is the stainless steel Gateway Arch, which is the most recognizable structure in the city. It was designed by noted architect Eero Saarinen and completed on October 28, 1965. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest manmade monument in the United States. Located below the Arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion, which contains an extensive collection of artifacts and details the story of the thousands of people who lived in and settled the American West during the nineteenth century. Nearby and also part of the memorial is the historic Old Courthouse, one of the oldest standing buildings in St. Louis. Begun in 1839, it was here that the first two trials of the Dred Scott case were held in 1847 and 1850. This park is also the location of the annual July 4th festival, Fair Saint Louis.

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