History of St Louis, Missouri, USA

1764 - February 15 - St. Louis, Missouri founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue

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1804 - May 14 - Lewis & Clark set out from St Louis for Pacific Coast

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May 14, 1804

1806 - September 23 - Lewis & Clark return to St Louis from Pacific Northwest

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1808 - The first newspaper, the Missouri Gazette, began publication in St. Louis

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1816 - August 24 - The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.

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1832 - Saint Louis University received a formal charter from the state of Missouri in 1832, making it the oldest University west of the Mississippi.

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1847 - St. Louis connected to the East by telegraph

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1849 - A cholera epidemic struck St. Louis - over 4000 people died

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1849 - May 17 – The St. Louis Fire starts when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.
From the St. Louis Union.
TREMENDOUS CONFLAGRATION!
23 Steamboats Burned!
SEVERAL SQUARES IN ASHES.
LOSS OF LIFE!!
Five Millions of Property Destroyed!!!

About ten o'clock last night, the steamer White Cloud lying near the head of the levee, was discovered to be on fire. At the time, there was a stiff breeze blowing from the north east, which soon carried the flames across to the Edward Bates, the next boat below, the heat from these, set fire to the Eudora, lying above them; the Belle Isle, next below the Bates, then caught fire. By this time, one or two boats below were dropped down, leaving a vacancy between those on fire and the boats below them.

At this time the Edward Bates being about half burnt up, was cast loose and went floating down the levee, setting fire to those boats still lying at the levee, as she approached them, in the following order: -- The Julia - but slightly injured; the Uncle Sam, also but slightly injured. The Bates but barely touched these boats,... Read MORE...

1854 - St Louis
St. Louis, a city, port of entry, and seat of justice of St. Louis county. Missouri, is situated on the right bank of the Mississippi river, 20 miles below the entrance of the Missouri, 174 above the mouth of the Ohio, 744 below the Falls of St. Anthony, 1194 above New Orleans, and 128 miles E. from Jefferson City. Lat. 38° 37' 28" N., Lon. 90° 15' 16" W. The site rises from the river by two plateaus of limestone formation, the first 20 and the other 60 feet above the floods of the Mississippi. The ascent to the first plateau, or bottom as it maybe termed, is some what abrupt ; the second rises more gradually, and spreads out into an extensive plain, affording fine views of the city and river. St. Louis extends in all nearly 7 miles by the curve of the Mississippi, and about 3 miles back ; the thickly settled portion, however, is only 2 or 2 1/ 2 miles in length, following the river, and about 1 1/ 2 miles in breadth. The city is well laid out, the streets being for the most part 60... Read MORE...

1857 - The Dred Scott decision handed down by U.S. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney;
the case originated in St. Louis. Scott was allowed to sue for his freedom from slavery based on the fact that he had previously lived in a free territory.
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1866 - MISSOURI - DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO AT ST. LOUIS. BUILDINGS UNROOFED AND DEMOLISHED - MANY PERSONS INJURED - DAMAGES ESTIMATED AT $100,000.
St. Louis, Monday, Oct. 22.
The most terrific wind storm that ever visited this section of the country swept over this city at 4:30 yesterday afternoon, (doing an incredible amount of damage,) from the south, bearing a little eastward. It seemed to twist like a screw; lasted from ten to fifteen minutes; was about a quarter of a mile wide when it first struck, but grew narrower as it proceeded north.

Scores of buildings were unroofed and hundreds were more or less damaged. Trees and fences were uprooted in every direction; shutters, sign-boards, timbers and all loose things were carried through the air almost like feathers. No lives have yet been reported lost, but several persons were severely injured.

The following are some of the most serious injuries sustained: All the chimneys of the City Hospital were blown down, and the adjoining house completely wrecked. The unfinished brick stables of the People's Railway Company, near Lafayette Park, were blown down, and the old... Read MORE...

1869 - A St. Louis dispatch of the 22d reports that General Sherman had been quite ill for several days past.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 30, 1869

1870 - The first train of the Atlantic-Pacific Railway, which became the St.Louis-San Francisco Railway, or "Frisco," arrived in 1870.

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1870 - Fires
St. Louis, Mo., July 8. - The freight warehouses of the St. Louis and Vandalia, and Illinois Control Railroad Companies, on Second-street, between Spruce and Myrtle, containing a large quantity of hemp, whisky, flour, hides, &c., were burned at 2 o'clock this morning. The insurance has not been ascertained. The fire was the work of an incendiary...

The lumberyard of HARTMAN & GRAHAM, on the corner of Monroe and Main streets, was damaged by fire to the amount of $8,000 last night. Insured for $7,500, in the Germania, of New-York; Cleveland Fire, and City Fire, of Hartford, Insurance Companies.
The New York Times
New York, New York
July 8, 1870

1873 - Surprising Outcome
A charitable lady of St. Louis sent one of her last year's dresses to a destitute woman on the 6th. She was somewhat surprised to have it returned with the statement that it was too full behind for the present style, and would she take out a breadth and change the trimming.
Harrisburg Telegraph
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
March 1, 1873

1876 - Barge Hits Booneville Bridge
A barge was crushed against the Booneville Bridge, near St. Louis, on Tuesday. Six lives were lost. The barge had 1,000 bushels of corn on board.
The Weekly Era
Raleigh, North Carolina
April 13, 1876

1877 - July 16 – Great railroad strike of 1877:
Riots by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad railroad workers in Baltimore, Maryland lead to a sympathy strike and rioting in Pittsburgh, and a full-scale worker's rebellion in St. Louis, briefly establishing a Communist government before U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes calls in the armed forces.
wikipedia.org
July 16, 1877

1882 - St. Louis
It was nearly a century and a quarter ago that St: Louis's first arrival proclaimed the site of the future metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. In 1762 M. Pierre Laclede Liquesto and his two companions, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, landed upon the site which was destined to become a great city. They were the avant couriers and principal members of a company which had certain privileges secured to them by the governor of the Territory of Louisiana, which then included the whole of Missouri, that of trading with the Indians, and which was known as the Louisiana Fur Company, with the privilege further granted of establishing such posts as their business might demand west of the Mississippi and on the Missouri rivers. They had been on a prospecting tour and knew something of the country, and on February 15, 1774, Laclede, with the above named companions, took possession of the ground which is now the city of St. Louis. They established a trading post, took formal possession of the... Read MORE...

1888 - In St Louis on the 13th a case of leprosy was discovered, the patient being Choo Fay, a Chinese laundryman. Fay has been in this country several years.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
March 17, 1888

1889 - The malt-house attached to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis was burned on the 3d, causing a loss of $200,000.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
February 9, 1889

1890 - March 31 - Saint Louis, MO, received 20 inches of snow in 24 hours.

WeatherForYou.com
March 31, 1890

1893 - February 1, Thunder and lightning accompanied sleet and snow at Saint Louis MO during the evening hours, even though the temperature was just 13 degrees above zero.

The Weather Channel
February 1, 1893

1895 - St Louis
Saint Louis, sent loo'is or loo'ee (Fr. sáN" loo'ee'), the chief city of Missouri, the fifth in population of the cities of the United States, and a port of delivery of the district of New Orleans, is situated on the W. bank of the Mississippi River, 21 miles below the mouth of the Missouri, and by rail 696 miles N. of New Orleans, 1108 miles W.S.W. of New York, and 2434 miles E. of San Francisco. Lat. 38° 37' 28' N.; lon. 90° 15' 16" W. The centre of one of the finest agricultural districts, with admirable facilities for water transportation and vast railroad systems, St. Louis possesses almost unrivalled business advantages. The great Mississippi gives it direct communication with many thou sands of miles of navigable water, and 22 great lines of rail road radiate from St. Louis as a centre, and place it in communication with all sections of the country. Among the railroads of the St. Louis system are the St. Louis & San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, ... Read MORE...

1895 - Blizzard - THE STORM STILL HOVERS OVER THE UNITED STATES. IT IS SEVEREST IN THE EAST. TRAFFIC ALMOST ENTIRELY AT A STANDSTILL -- RAILROAD TRAINS BLOCKADED -- BUSINESS PARALYZED -- PEOPLE FROZEN TO DEATH AT SEVERAL PLACES...
...Temperature In Missouri.
St. Louis, Feb. 9. - A special to The Republic from Centralia, Mo., says: "The mercury registered 27 degrees below zero at 5 o'clock this morning, which is the coldest weather in this section of the state for 11 years. Ponds are frozen to the bottom and many farmers are out of stock water. At Edina the thermometer registered 28 below zero last night."...
The Delphos Daily Herald
Ohio
February 9, 1895

1896 - St. Louis, Mo. - May 27, 1896 - Twister
The tornado that came through St. Louis, Missouri on May 27th, 1896 originally formed only six miles west of the Eads Bridge. It swept away or damaged many of the homes and buildings that were built along the river but left the steel span bridge largely undamaged. The St. Louis tornado was part of a major outbreak that caused significant damage throughout several states. It passed through the main part of the city, laying waste to buildings and killing 137 people in a mile-wide path of destruction.

weather.about.com/ od/ tornadoe1/ tp/ deadlytornado.htm


The St. Louis Outbreak - May 27, 1896 - The outbreak in Missouri and Illinois devastated parts of St. Louis. Of the 305 killed, 255 were in and around St. Louis, Mo. There were 1,000 injuries and $10 million in damage in St. Louis alone.

www.weather.com
May 27, 1896

1897 - VAULTS SAVE. St. Louis' Largest Jewelry Firm From Being Wiped Out by Fire. BUILDING AND ALL GO. But Half of the Stock Was Saved by Being in Fire Proof Vaults. FAMILY'S NARROW ESCAPE.
St. Louis, Dec. 19. - Fire started in the basement of the building occupied by the Mermod & Jaccard Jewelry Company, at the corner of Locust street and Broadway, early this morning. The five story building is a total loss, $335,000, fully insured. It is thought the fire started in the boiler room.

W. A. Rutledge, the engineer, and his family lived on the fourth floor. The fireman dragged them unconscious from their beds and carried them down the fire escapes. Five minutes later the floors fell. Several other tenants in the building had narrow escapes, but there were no fatalities.

The Mermod & Jaccard Jewelry Company is one of the largest in the world, and it being Christmas season, carried an immense stock. One-half of the stock had been placed in two large vaults and was saved, but the rest, as well as the building and its fixtures, was totally destroyed. So fierce was the fire that not a dollar's worth of salvage was taken out.

The Model Clock Company in the northeast... Read MORE...

1899 - St. Louis - John S. Thurman invented the gasoline powered vacuum cleaner (which he called the "pneumatic carpet renovator") in 1899.
His vacuum was patented on Oct. 3, 1899 (patent #634,042). It may have been the first motorized vacuum cleaner. Thurman had a run a horse drawn, door-to-door carpet vacuuming service in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, charging $4 per visit (which was a large amount of money at the time).
www.enchantedlearning.com/ inventors/ us.shtml

1901 - St. Louis - The Future Great by William Marion Reedy
Situated at the heart of the continent, between the East and West, the North and South, St. Louis is a unique mixture of the characteristics of all sections of the United States. In the early seventies a weird character named L. U. Reavis wrote a book called St. Louis, the Future Great City of the West, in which he advocated the removal hither of the seat of the national Government and predicted great things for the city. The fourth of American cities in population, St. Louis is preparing to hold a World's Fair in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana territory, on a scale of magnificence which attracts universal attention. With the completion of the Chicago drainage canal, destined soon to be a ship canal connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River, with the necessary improvement of the Mississippi to its mouth, and with the certain construction of an Isthmian canal, St. Louis is sure to be in as close touch with the world at large... Read MORE...

1904 - TEN DROP TO THEIR DEATH - EMPLOYES OF THE BROWN SHOE COMPANY AT ST. LOUIS CROWD AT ELEVATOR. BREAK DOWN THE GUARDS
And Shove Those Next to the Carriage Into the Shaft and To a Fatal Fall of Six Stories.

St. Louis, Jan. 13 – A crowd of employes pressing against an elevator gate tonight on the sixth floor of the Brown Shoe company building caused ten persons to plunge down the shaft. Six were taken out dead and of the other four two died in the hospital and two are fatally injured. The dead:

JOSEPH PROVANZENIK.
GEORGE ROTHMANN.
ANTONIO GIACOMA.
LORENZ GIACOMA.
Three unidentified.
Fatally injured:
Tony Kirschner.
William Pearson.

James Johnson, the elevator operator, was arrested pending an investigation. Johnson said the elevator door did not break, but that it had been raised by the employes while waiting for the car to descend to the floor, and suddenly the employes in the rear of the crowd began pushing, precipitating them down the shaft. Factory Superintendent Fray corroborated Johnson’s story.
Decatur Herald
Decatur, Illinois
January 15, 1904

1904 - April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).
Ice-cream cones were first served in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition world's fair in St. Louis. Also, at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, the ice cream cone was invented. An ice cream vendor ran out of cups and asked a waffle vendor to help by rolling up waffles to hold ice cream.
www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ missouri.html
April 30, 1904

1904 - July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, United States as part of the World's Fair.
There were only representatives from 13 countries. Eighty-five percent of the competitors were Americans, and eight percent were Canadians.
topendsports.com
July 1, 1904

1904 - IN ST. LOUIS. Tornado Kills Two and Injures Many — Heavy Property Loss.
St. Louis, Aug. 20.— A tornado of small proportions but of extreme fury, swept down upon the residence portion of North St. Louis Friday, resulting in the death of two persons, injury to probably 50 and damage to property estimated at $100,000.

Venice, Ill., Aug. 20—The tornado that swept across the river from North St. Louis late Friday killed Mrs. Margaret Beal here, injured ten others and caused considerable damage to property.




Waconia Patriot
Waconia, Minnesota
August 26, 1904

1905 - The Gateway Arch (Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) was completed in St. Louis

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1906
Saint Louis, sent loo'is or loo'ee, the chief city of Missouri and the fourth in population of the cities of the United States, is situated on the W. bank of the Mississippi River, 20 miles below the mouth of the Missouri, 600 miles (direct) N. by W. of New Orleans, and 875 miles WSW. of New York. Lat. of observatory, 38° 38' 3" N. ; Lon. 90° 12' 17" W. The centre of one of the finest agricultural districts, with admirable facilities for water transportation and vast railroad systems, St. Louis possesses almost unrivalled business advantages. The Mississippi gives it direct communication with many thousands of miles of navigable water, and numerous great lines of railroad radiate from St. Louis as a centre and place it in communication with all sections of the country. Among the railroads of the St. Louis system are the St. Louis and San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the Burling ton Route, the Wabash, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. LouiB, ... Read MORE...

1907 - Scalp Surgery
Miss Elizabeth Gallighan, of St. Louis, leaned too near a fast revolving fly wheel in the shoe factory in which she is employed and her entire scalp was torn from her head. The scalp was removed from the fly wheel intact and surgeons performed a rare operation by sewing it back in place.
The Clinton Mirror
Clinton, Iowa
August 24, 1907

April 26, 1921: First U.S. weather report broadcast, by WEW in St. Louis, Missouri

The Old Farmer's Almanac www.almanac.com
April 26, 1921

1927 - September 29 - A tornado (possibly two tornadoes) cut an eight-mile long path across Saint Louis MO, to Granite City IL, killing 79 persons. The damage path at times was a mile and a quarter in width.

The Weather Channel
September 29, 1927

1959 - February 10 - Tornado in St Louis kills 19 & injures 265

historyorb.com
February 10, 1959

Here's a list of places to go and things to do in St. Louis:
Gateway Arch: This iconic monument is a must-visit. Take a tram to the top for stunning views of the city and the Mississippi River.

Forest Park: One of the largest urban parks in the United States, Forest Park is home to the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, and the St. Louis Science Center.

City Museum: This is not your typical museum. City Museum is a playground for all ages, with caves to explore, a giant outdoor sculpture, and even a rooftop Ferris wheel.

The Hill: Known for its Italian heritage, The Hill is a neighborhood with delicious Italian restaurants, bakeries, and shops. It's a great place to grab a meal.

Soulard: This historic French neighborhood is famous for its vibrant nightlife, especially the Soulard Farmers Market. It's a great place to experience local culture.

Missouri Botanical Garden: A beautiful place to spend a day, the garden features stunning landscapes, a Japanese garden, and even a tropical rainforest... Read MORE...