TRAARVTEL
Gateway to the West
The St. Louis Arch, built in
1965, represents the importance
of our nation’s Western
development following the
Louisiana Purchase.
158 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE
St. Louis, Missouri
By Margaret Word Burnside and Aaron R. Fodiman
Photography by Gram and Noraa
| SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
The Arch
was designed by
Eero Saarinen.
St. Louis began in 1764 as a trading post near the confluence of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers. In 1765, it was named for King Louis IX of France. The
site was transferred to the Spanish in 1770, then returned to France’s possession
until the Louisiana Purchase made it a part of the United States in 1803.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their expedition from there that same
year. St. Louis, which became a city in 1823, attracted numerous immigrants looking
for a new life on the edge of the American Frontier. During the Civil War, St. Louis
and its surrounding areas, which were under Union control, remained battle free.
By 1900, the city had become a major manufacturing center and the country’s fourth
largest city, due at least in part to its access to both rail and water transportation.