About St. Louis, Central West End, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County, Missouri Area. 

ST. LOUIS 

Pierre Laclede Liguest, recipient of a land grant from the King of France, and his 13-year-old scout, Auguste Chouteau, selected the site of St. Louis in 1764 as a fur trading post. Laclede and Chouteau chose the location because it was not subject to flooding and was near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Construction of a village, named for Louis IX of France, began the following year. St. Louis transferred to the Spanish in 1770, returned to France under a secret treaty with Napoleon and, following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, became part of the United States. According to legend, on the day of transfer of the territory to the United States in 1803, St. Louis flew under three flags in one day--French, Spanish, and American.
St. Louis incorporated as a city in 1823. During the 19th-Century, St. Louis grew into an important center of commerce and trade, attracting thousands of immigrants eager to find a new life on the edge of the frontier. Between 1840 and 1860, the population exploded with the arrival of many new immigrants. Germans and Irish were the dominant ethnic groups settling in St. Louis, especially in the wake of the German Revolution and the Irish Potato Famine. After the Civil War, St. Louis continued its rapid growth, and by 1900 was a major manufacturing center. By the 1890s, St. Louis was the nation's fourth largest city.
The 1965 construction of the Gateway Arch and 1966 construction of Busch Memorial Stadium (home of the Cardinals baseball team) helped promote the revitalization of the central business district. A thirty-year downtown building boom followed, including such projects as the Cervantes Convention Center in 1978, the Union Station rehab in 1985, and St. Louis Centre in 1986. At the same time, growing interest in preservation of historic neighborhoods--partly fueled by Federal tax credits--led to the revitalization of the Central West End, DeBaliviere Place, Soulard, and Lafayette Square neighborhoods during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Although the 1986 tax reform and the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s slowed growth considerably, several major projects were completed such as the MetroLink light rail line, the Convention Center expansion, Kiel Civic Center (home of the Blues), and Trans World Dome (home of the Rams). Medicine at Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis University Hospitals, brewing at Anheuser-Busch, and banking at Bank of America and Firstar Bank are leading industries in the City; five Fortune 500 corporations are headquartered in the City limits, and many of the older industrial buildings in the City serve as incubators for small business. Despite the challenges, the City of St. Louis is ready to grow into its fourth century.
 

Experience a magical world forged of recycled, recovered and reshaped treasures. This is a place invented by dreams. The City Museum is located at 701 North 15th St. St.Louis, MO 63103. You must visit!!!! For more information go to www.citymuseum.org 

CENTRAL WEST END 

To the west of Midtown, along St. Louis's central corridor, is a broad area known as the Central West End. The basic characteristic of the Central West End in recent years has been one of change. Central West End is primarily a residential area with an intermittent mixture of commercial, industrial and institutional uses. With the exception of large single family homes in private streets and along the main boulevards, the residential buildings are principally apartments, flats and rooming houses. 

Change has been good for the Central West End. The medical center is expanding, and has plans for redeveloping the area. The renaissance of Maryland Plaza is nearly complete and the intersection of Euclid and Laclede is currently being rehabilitated. Erection of the Maryland Gardens apartments and rehabilitation of the Convent Garden apartment building are hopeful indicators of things to come.  

The area's asset of central location and urban convenience is attractive to new middle income residents, giving the Central West End a favorable outlook for the future.  

Originally four miles outside the City limit, Forest Park today sits in the heart of St. Louis. More than 10 million visitors come to the park each year to participate in softball, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, archery, lacrosse and soccer. They also ride bikes, ice and roller skate, roller-blade, jog, fish and ride horseback. An estimated half million people attend special events, such as the Great Forest Park Balloon Race and an additional half million patronize the Muny. You can learn more about what is going on at Forest Park by visiting www.slfp.com  

ST. LOUIS COUNTY 

St. Louis County came into existence just nine years after the Louisiana Purchase and nine years before Missouri attained statehood. After their historic exploration of the Louisiana Purchase and beyond, both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark served as territorial governors of the area that included Missouri. 

St. Louis County has a diverse economic base with the largest number of jobs in the service and retail industries. It's manufacturing sector, while declining, still provides nearly a fifth of the aggregate wage and salary income.  

Recent additions and improvements to state, county, and local recreation areas in conjunction with the establishment of the Metropolitan Park and Recreation Taxing District represent a continuing trend in St. Louis County of providing a wide array of excellent recreational opportunities to the County's citizens and visitors. One such site is Faust park. Come take a ride on St. Louis' only permanent antique working carousel. There are 60 hand carved horses!! 

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, St. Louis County residents have become more diverse, better educated, living in smaller households than in the past and continuing to increase in number at a very moderate rate of two percent per decade.
 

St. Louis has many attractions such as The Butterfly House, Botanical Gardens, and Six Flags located in the city and the local suburbs. You can easily find this information by visiting http://stlouis.about.com or www.stltoday.com.. 

ST CHARLES COUNTY 

Before Missouri was granted statehood on August 10, 1821, various locations in St. Louis has served as the seat of government for territorial affairs. Until the new Capitol could be constructed on an undeveloped tract of land located in the center of the state overlooking the Missouri River, several cities vied for the honor of hosting the temporary seat of government. The citizens of St. Charles, located on the Missouri River at the end of Boonslick Road, pledged free meeting space if their city was chosen. 

After years of decay, the state of Missouri bought the Capitol complex, located at 200-216 S. Main, in 1961 and began a ten-year restoration project that initiated the revitalization of the historic core of St. Charles. Eleven rooms in the complex have been restored. The Peck brothers' residence and general store also have been restored and furnished as they might have looked in the mid-1800s. 

Today, visitors can experience early St. Charles as a prosperous trading center along the ten-block Nationally Registered Historic District with brick streets, gas lights, lovingly restored buildings and Missouri's First State Capitol.  

The Frenchtown District welcomes visitors with unique antique and collectible shops, fine restaurants, tea rooms, several wineries, and a micro brewery. 

The bustling City of St. Charles, with a population of over 60,000, is host to year round activities including the Lewis and Clark Rendezvous in May, a traditional Fourth of July Festival, Festival of the Little Hills in August, Bluegrass Festival and the Civil War Reenactment in September, Oktoberfest and the St. Charles Christmas Traditions on South Main Street. The popular Katy Trail, a 230 mile hiking/bicycling trail, begins in St. Charles at Frontier Park on the Missouri Riverfront.
 

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