Timeline of St. Louis facts for kids
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
Prior to 19th-century
- 1764 – St. Louis founded by Pierre Laclède in Louisiana, New Spain.
- 1767 - It was "a log-cabin village of perhaps 500 inhabitants".
- 1770 - Spanish in power.
- 1780 – "Indian attack."
- 1785 - Floods.
- 1799 – Population: 925.
19th century
1800s–1850s
- 1800 – St. Louis becomes part of French Louisiana.
- 1804
- St. Louis becomes part of U.S. territory per Louisiana Purchase.
- Post Office established.
- 1805 – St. Louis becomes capital of the U.S. Louisiana Territory.
- 1808 – Missouri Gazette newspaper begins publication.
- 1809
- Town incorporated.
- Missouri Fur Company established.
- 1811 – December 16: New Madrid earthquake.
- 1812 – St. Louis County established.
- 1815 – Theatre opens.
- 1816 – Bank of St. Louis incorporated.
- 1818
- Saint Louis Academy founded.
- Baptist Church built.
- 1819 – Erin Benevolent Society founded.
- 1820
- June: Missouri constitutional convention held.
- September: Missouri General Assembly convenes.
- 1821
- St. Louis becomes part of the new U.S. state of Missouri.
- City Directory begins publication.
- 1822
- City of St. Louis incorporated.
- Area of city: 385 acres.
- 1823 – William Carr Lane becomes mayor.
- 1825 – Lafayette visits town.
- 1826 – Catholic Diocese of St. Louis established.
- 1828 – County Courthouse built.
- 1830 – Population: 4,977.
- 1832 - Cholera.
- 1834
- Daily Evening Herald newspaper begins publication.
- Cathedral of St. Louis consecrated.
- 1835 – Anzeiger des Westens German-language newspaper begins publication.
- 1836 – Chamber of Commerce established.
- 1837 – Daniel Webster visits city.
- 1840
- City boundaries expanded.
- Population: 16,469.
- 1841
- United Hebrew Congregation founded.
- Area of city: 4.5 square miles.
- 1844
- Anti-immigration unrest.
- Floods.
- 1846
- Dred Scott files lawsuit.
- Mercantile Library Association established.
- 1847 – Boatmen's Savings Institution chartered.
- 1849
- Concordia Seminary relocates to St. Louis.
- Cholera epidemic.
- Fire.
- Bellefontaine Cemetery established.
- 1850
- Third Baptist Church established.
- Population: 77,860.
- 1851 – Bates' Theatre opens.
- 1852
- Iron Mountain railroad built.
- Bavarian Brewery in business.
- 1853 – Washington University founded.
- 1854 – Czech Slavonic Benevolent Society founded.
- 1856
- Academy of Science founded.
- St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair begins.
- Grand Opera House opens.
- 1857
- For the next quarter century, the city was "the centre of an idealistic philosophical movement".
- St. Louis Fire Department established.
- Lindell Hotel in business.
- Dred Scott decision in March, 1857.
- Westliche Post (German language newspaper) established. (closed 1938)
- 1859
- Horse-drawn streetcars begin operating .
- Mary Institute founded.
- Synagogue consecrated on Sixth Street.
- Missouri Botanical Garden founded.
1860s–1890s
- 1860 – Population: 160,773.
- 1861 – Western Sanitary Commission and Ladies Union Aid Society established.
- 1862 – Hoelke and Benecke photo studio in business.
- 1865
- Sokol sport club, and Germania Association established.
- St. Louis Public Library established.
- Southern Hotel and Meyer & Brother drug store in business.
- 1866
- Cholera epidemic.
- Missouri Historical Society headquartered in city.
- Olympic Theatre opens.
- 1867 – City Board of Health and Compton Hill Reservoir Park established.
- 1869 – Congregation Shaare Emeth founded.
- 1870
- Carondelet becomes part of St. Louis.
- Area of city: 17.98 square miles.
- Population: 310,864.
- 1871
- 1871 St. Louis tornado.
- Puck German-language magazine begins publication.
- 1872
- Maryville College of the Sacred Heart and University Club founded.
- Catholic Amerika begins publication.
- Smallpox outbreak.
- 1873 – Laclede Gas Light Company in business.
- 1874 – Eads Bridge opened.
- 1875
- Merchants Exchange opens.
- Brownell and Wight Car Company in business.
- 1876
- June: City hosts 1876 Democratic National Convention.
- Forest Park opens.
- Busch's Budweiser beer introduced.
- Area of city: 61.37 square miles.
- 1877
- City secedes from St. Louis County.
- July: 1877 St. Louis general strike.
- 1878 – St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper begins publication.
- 1879
- Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association and J.C. Strauss photo studio in business.
- St. Louis Children's Hospital opened.
- St. Louis School of Fine Arts opened.
- Pope's Theatre opens.
- 1880
- St. Stanislaus Kostka Church built.
- Population: 350,518.
- 1882 – Mallinckrodt Chemical Works incorporated.
- 1883 – St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall opens.
- 1884 – St. Louis Maroons baseball team active.
- 1886
- May 1: Labour strike.
- St. Louis Watchmaking School and Congregation Temple Israel founded.
- 1888 – City hosts 1888 Democratic National Convention.
- 1889
- Missouri Botanical Garden established.
- Tower Grove Park established.
- Merchants Bridge opened.
- 1890
- Portland and Westmoreland Places begin to develop.
- Population: 451,770.
- 1891
- Rubicam Business School established.
- Wainwright Building constructed.
- Washington University School of Medicine opened.
- American Car Company in business.
- Air conditioning installed in the Ice Palace beerhall.
- 1892
- St. Louis Browns baseball team active.
- St. Louis Country Club established.
- Stix Baer & Fuller (shop) in business.
- National People's Party founded in St. Louis.
- 1894 – Union Station opens.
- 1896
- May: 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado.
- June: Flood.
- City hosts 1896 Republican National Convention.
- Busch's Michelob beer introduced.
- 1898 – Compton Hill Water Tower erected.
20th-century
1900s–1970s
- 1900
- St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900.
- Monsanto Chemical Works in business.
- Population: 575,238.
- 1902 – Sportsman's Park opens.
- 1903 – Missouri Athletic Club founded.
- 1904
- Buckingham Hotel built.
- Inside Inn an hotel built of wood.
- April: St. Louis World's Fair opens;
- Saint Louis Art Museum built.
- City hosts 1904 Summer Olympics and 1904 Democratic National Convention.
- Louisiana Purchase Exposition held.
- 1905
- May Department Store relocates to St. Louis.
- Shaare Zedek Synagogue founded.
- 1906
- Racquet Club of St. Louis founded.
- Statue of Louis IX of France unveiled in Forest Park.
- 1908
- Aero Club of St. Louis incorporated.
- Aeronautic Supply Company in business.
- St. Louis Coliseum re-built.
- Fairground Park established.
- 1909 – October: City centennial.
- 1910 – Population: 687,029.
- 1911
- Urban League branch established.
- Famous-Barr (shop) in business.
- Benoist Flying School established.
- 1912
- Ethical Society building constructed.
- St. Louis Argus newspaper begins publication.
- Missouri Peace Society founded.
- 1913 – Henry Kiel becomes mayor.
- 1914
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis begins operating.
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.
- Railway Exchange Building constructed.
- "Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis" held.
- St. Louis Zoo incorporated.
- Barnes Hospital opened.
- New charter adopted reducong the elective officers to terms of four years.
- Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis completed.
- 1915 – Junior League of St. Louis organized.
- 1917
- MacArthur Bridge opens.
- St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (The Muny) opens
- 1918
- Poro beauty school opens.
- 1919
- League of Women Voters of St. Louis organized.
- City Hospital No. 2 begins operating.
- Pine Street YMCA opens.
- 1920
- Chase Hotel built.
- Population: 772,897.
- 1921
- WEW radio begins broadcasting.
- American Association of University Women chapter active.
- 1925 – St. Louis Theater opens.
- 1926
- Southwestern Bell Building constructed.
- New Masonic Temple built.
- 1927
- Racquet Club of St. Louis funds Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis airplane.
- Tornado.
- B.F. Mahoney Aircraft Corporation in business.
- 1928 – St. Louis American newspaper begins publication.
- 1929
- Fox Theatre opens.
- St. Louis Arena opened.
- 1930 – Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport dedicated.
- 1931 – Rombauer's Joy of Cooking published.
- 1933
- Firmin Desloge Hospital opens.
- Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser Clydesdales established.
- 1935 – Neighborhood Gardens (housing) opens.
- 1937 – Floral Conservatory built in Forest Park.
- 1939
- 1939 St. Louis smog.
- Oldani's restaurant in business.
- 1940 – Population: 816,048.
- 1942 – George Hudson Orchestra debuts.
- 1943 – Campbell House Museum opens.
- 1947 – Congress of Racial Equality chapter organized.
- 1948 – U.S. Supreme Court decides Shelley v. Kraemer lawsuit.
- 1949 – Fairground Park riot.
- 1950 – Population: 856,796.
- 1951 – Veterans' Memorial Bridge built.
- 1954
- KETC television begins broadcasting.
- Pruitt–Igoe housing built.
- 1955
- Peabody Coal Company relocates to St. Louis.
- Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum architects in business.
- 1958 – Landmarks Association of St. Louis established.
- 1959 – St. Louis sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement.
- 1960
- Population: 750,026.
- Sister city relationship established with Stuttgart, Germany.
- The National Football League's Chicago Cardinals relocate to St. Louis. They will remain through 1987.
- 1962 – St. Louis Community College established.
- 1963
- University of Missouri–St. Louis established.
- MetroBus begins operating.
- Planetarium opens.
- 1964
- LaClede Town (housing) opens.
- Imo's Pizza in business in Shaw.
- Cardinals win the World Series, defeating New York Yankees in seven games
- 1965
- Gateway Arch erected.
- Regional East-West Gateway Council of Governments established.
- 1966 – Busch Stadium opens.
- 1967
- Poplar Street Bridge completed.
- St. Louis Blues - National Hockey League - NHL Expansion ice hockey team formed.
- K-SHE 95 (94.7) FM radio station begins broadcasting its current Rock n' Roll format.
- Cardinals win the World Series, defeating Boston Red Sox in seven games
- 1969 – Laclede Gas Building constructed.
- 1970
- Student antiwar demonstration.
- Population: 622,236.
- 1972 - Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe begins and will last four years.
- 1974
- St. Louis Port Authority created.
- Sister city relationship established with Suwa, Japan.
- 1976 – Sister city relationship established with Lyon, France.
- 1977
- St. Louis Convention Center opens.
- James F. Conway becomes mayor.
- Sister city relationship established with Galway, Ireland.
- 1979 – Sister city relationship established with Nanjing, China.
1980s–1990s
- 1980 - Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis established.
- 1981 – Gwen B. Giles is the first woman and first African-American appointed to lead the St. Louis City Assessor's Office.
- 1982 - Cardinals win World Series, defeating Milwaukee Brewers in seven games
- 1986
- Express Scripts and Galleria Cinema in business.
- Southwestern Bell Telephone Building constructed.
- 1987
- Sister city relationship established with Bologna, Italy.
- Lindbergh Plaza cinema in business.
- Football Cardinals play final season in St. Louis before relocating to Arizona
- 1989 – One Metropolitan Square (hi-rise) built.
- 1990
- Population: 396,685.
- Sister city relationship established with Georgetown, Guyana.
- 1991 - Hindu Temple of St. Louis founded.
- 1992 – Sister city relationships established with Szczecin, Poland and Samara, Russia.
- 1993 – MetroLink begins operating.
- 1994
- Kiel Center arena opens.
- Sister city relationship established with Saint-Louis, Senegal.
- 1995
- St. Louis Rams football team relocates from Los Angeles..
- Trans World Dome (stadium) opens.
- 1997
- City website online (approximate date).
- Ameren Corporation in business.
- Clarence Harmon becomes mayor.
- St. Louis Missouri Temple inaugurated.
21st-century
- 2000 – Population: 348,189.
- 2001
- Pulitzer Arts Foundation museum opens.
- Francis G. Slay becomes mayor.
- William Lacy Clay, Jr. becomes U.S. representative for Missouri's 1st congressional district.
- Veterans for Peace headquartered in St. Louis.
- 2002 – St. Louis Building Arts Foundation active (approximate date).
- 2003 – St. Louis Area Regional Response System headquartered in city.
- 2004 – Sister city relationship established with Bogor, Indonesia.
- 2006
- New Busch Stadium built.
- Cardinals win World Series, defeating Detroit Tigers in five games
- 2007 – Center for Citizen Leadership headquartered in St. Louis.
- 2008 – Sister city relationship established with Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2009 – Citygarden opens.
- 2010 – Population: 319,294; metro 2,812,896.
- 2011
- October: Occupy St. Louis begins.
- Cardinals win World Series, defeating Texas Rangers in seven games
- 2014
- August 9: Shooting in nearby Ferguson, unrest ensues.
- Musial Bridge and Center for Jazz open.
- 2016
- Rams leave St. Louis and become the L.A. Rams once again.
- 2019 - Blues win Stanley Cup for the first time, defeating Boston Bruins in seven games
- 2023 - St. Louis City Stadium scheduled to open
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Timeline of St. Louis Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.