Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent

Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent (also spelled Saint-Maxent) (1724 – August 8, 1794) was a merchant and military officer who played a major role in the development of French and Spanish Louisiana.

Maxent was born in Longwy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, in Lorraine, France.

In 1747 he moved to New Orleans, the French colonial capital of Lower Louisiana. He enlisted in the French Army and in 1749 married the wealthy Elizabeth La Roche. He used the dowry to open a business on Conti Street to supply fur traders.

In 1753 he was promoted to colonel and commandant of the Louisiana Regiment, by Governor Louis de Billouart Kerlerec. He was to distinguish himself in battles defending Louisiana against incursions by the British and Chickasaws in the French and Indian War.

In 1755 Kerlerec gave Maxent exclusive rights to deal with Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.

Maxent's most ambitious effort was the formation of Maxent, Laclede and Company in which he gave 25 percent ownership to Pierre Laclède. In 1763 LaClede selected a site on a bluff above the west side of the Mississippi River, just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, for a settlement that was to be called St. Louis. According to legend, work on clearing the site began on Saint Valentine's Day of 1764.

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