St. Louis History:

St. Louis began with a land grant, in 1764, from King Louis IV of France to Pierre Laclede Liguest and Auguste Chouteau, for which our Laclede's Landing (a hot night spot) and Chouteau Blvd are name.  St. Louis began as a french fur trading post, choosen by Laclede and Chouteau because of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

It didn't remain Laclede and Chouteau's very long for in 1770 it became the property of Spain.  However, because of the Napoleon wars, in 1803 the territory of St. Louis became the property of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. Legend has it that St. Louis flew under three different flags in one day.....Spain, France, and the United States.

A year later, in 1804, after St. Louis became the territory of the United States, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Merriwether Lewis and William Clark to do an expedition of the newly purchase territory. Lewis and Clark used St. Louis and the starting point for their Louisiana Purchase Expedition.

St. Louis was incorportated as a city in 1823, two years after Missouri became a state in the United States.

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