St. Louis

St. Louis is a city in eastern Missouri, United States, on the west bank of the Mississippi River just below the mouth of the Missouri. The Gateway Arch, a curve of stainless steel 192 m (630 ft) tall on the riverfront, honors its role as the starting point for travelers heading west.

Pierre Laclède and his stepson Auguste Chouteau founded the town in 1764 as a fur-trading post and named it after King Louis IX of France. The town passed to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase, and the expedition of Lewis and Clark set out from the area soon afterward. Steamboats on the river made it a busy port in the 19th century, and the city separated from St. Louis County in the 1870s. In 1904 it held a world's fair in Forest Park together with the first Olympic Games in the United States.

Anheuser-Busch brews Budweiser at its brewery in the Soulard district, where its Clydesdale horses are stabled in brick barns. Nestlé Purina PetCare makes its dog and cat food under the checkerboard logo from its head office in the city. Toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake are both said to have been first made in St. Louis kitchens.

T. S. Eliot, Josephine Baker and Chuck Berry were all born in St. Louis. The Missouri Botanical Garden, opened by Henry Shaw in the 1850s, keeps a Japanese garden and the Climatron, a geodesic dome of tropical plants. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis is lined inside with mosaics of tiny colored glass tiles. The City Museum fills an old shoe warehouse with slides, tunnels and climbing frames built from salvaged parts.