Historic St. Louis: 250 Years Exploring New Frontiers

FOREWORD
Above: Mayor Francis Slay, City of St. Louis.
Below: Official anniversary logo of the
stl250 Committee; used with permission as a
registered Signature Event.
The brilliance of St. Louis’s celebration of its 250th anniversary year is that only the barest
attention is being paid to the actual details of our foundation as a fur trading post by Pierre Laclede
and Auguste Chouteau.
Instead, our civic focus will be on other things: the river itself; the immigrants who found their
way here; the buildings and neighborhoods in which they settled; the churches and civic
cathedrals in which they congregated; the sports they adored; the great public spaces they built;
the foods they popularized; the strength with which they struggled with the injustices of slavery
and segregation, the ravages of Depression; and the mistakes they made.
Like most St. Louisans, I am the descendent of immigrants. I was raised on a block in which
I knew everyone. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis is my idea of a church and the Eads is my
idea of a bridge. I have never lived farther than a half mile from a park. I bleed red and blue for
the Cardinals, Blues, and Rams. I have a taste for provel, in quantity.
I have long thought that the Great Divorce of 1876, in which the city of St. Louis separated
itself from St. Louis County, was our biggest civic misjudgment. From it can be traced the roots
of a dozen other consequences that continue to vex us.
The year in which we celebrate our founding is our most recent best opportunity to reflect
on the courage and ingenuity of St. Louisans who faced flood, fire, discrimination, and violence;
kept faith in their home; and built—if not yet a Shining City Upon a Hill, at least a vibrant and
diverse city perched on the bank of a great river, where all are welcome.
–Mayor Francis Slay, City of St. Louis
H I S T O R I C S T . L O U I S
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