Downtown St. Louis
| Downtown | |
|---|---|
| St. Louis neighborhood | |
The Gateway Arch from Laclede's Landing.
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|
 Location of Downtown within St. Louis |
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| Country | United States |
| State | Missouri |
| City | St. Louis |
| Wards | 7 |
| Government | |
| • Aldermen | Phyllis Young |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.01 sq mi (2.6 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 3,721 |
| • Density | 3,700/sq mi (1,400/km2) |
| ZIP code(s) | Parts of 63101, 63102 |
| Area code(s) | 314 |
| Website | stlouis-mo.gov |
Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the east, Chouteau Avenue to the south, and Tucker Boulevard to the west. (If the neighborhood defined by the city as Downtown West, St. Louis is included, however, then it extends further west to Jefferson Avenue.) The downtown is the site of many corporate headquarters, including Stifel Nicolaus, HOK, Laclede Group, and a host of other companies.
The founding history of the downtown area of St. Louis relates to the founding of the city. Pierre Laclede chose to found the city on the bluffs because it had access to the river for trade and transportation, was above most floods and defensible against hostile Native Americans. Laclede found the present-day downtown area the perfect place to run a bustling fur trade with the Native Americans of the region.
In the community's early days, Laclede acted as the de facto leader of St. Louis. While the settlement was named after King Louis IX of France, most residents called it "Laclede Village." Laclede planned the format of the city streets, and oversaw the construction of the settlement's first buildings. Although initial growth was slow, the settlement received a stimulus when France surrendered all of its territorial holdings east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain after the Seven Years' War. Many French colonists moved from east of the Mississippi River to St. Louis to escape British rule. By 1776 St. Louis had 300 residents and almost 75 buildings. By 1804 the population had tripled to 900, yet the village was still without a local government. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, a flood of immigrants from the United States came to the village. As the newcomers established an American system of government, French influence and use of the French language began to wane, but the leading French colonial mercantile families continued to have power.
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Wikipedia