St. Louis is an extremely vibrant and popular city that is located on the banks of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. This is an independent urban hub that boasts of having an extremely intriguing culture and heritage. It additionally is regarded to be among the most important destinations that come under the incredible state of Missouri. John Eilermann St. Louis points out that this city is especially quite famous for its intriguing Native American Mississippian culture, as well as for housing some of the prime landmarks of Missouri.
The St. Louis city of Missouri is quite often referred to as the Gateway to the West, and is famed for its exceptional basketball team and beer. John Eilermann St. Louis, however, stresses upon the fact that there is a lot more to this city than these elements. Here are few of the interesting facts and insights that he shares about the St. Louis city:
- This city has named after the French King, Louis IX. The St. Louis city was basically founded sometime in 1764 by Pierre Laclede. This was initially a fur trading village. Pierre Laclede went on to honor the patron saint of Louis XV, the then French king by opting to name this city after him.
- It was in the year 1817 that the very first steamboat arrived at St. Louis. A few years down the line, in the 1850s, steamboats used to travel throughout the city each and every year.
- In the very early days, the city of St. Louis used to be referred to as the “Mound City”. This was due to the several Native American mounds that were present throughout this neighborhood.
- When the Louisiana Purchase was ultimately signed by Thomas Jefferson, St. Louis was already a several decades-old river town. The famous explorers Clark and Lewis, in fact, started their west word tour from this region in the year of 1804.
- St. Louis features more free important tourist attractions than almost any of the cities of the country, only second to Washington, D.C. People do not have to pay any kind of fees for the purpose of entering the science center, zoo, history museum and even the art museum of St. Louis.
- The St. Louis zoo was founded after the bird exhibit present at the 1904 World’s Fair in the city proved to be exceptionally popular. The first flight cage of this zoo was bought by St. Louis for $3500 and was commissioned by the Smithsonian.
- John Eilermann St. Louis says that the brilliant Gateway Arch of St. Louis is known to be among the prime tourist attractions of the United States. People can get the chance to witness an incredible view of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from the top of this Arch on a clear day.
These interesting facts about the St. Louis city can surely help people to understand its culture and history a bit better.