The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Saint Louis (city)

SAINT LOUIS, the chief city of Missouri, county seat of St. Louis co., and the commercial metropolis of the central Mississippi valley, on the right bank of the Mississippi river, 20 m. below the entrance of the Missouri, about 175 m. above the mouth of the Ohio, 1,170 m. above New Orleans, and 125 m. E. of Jefferson City; lat. 38° 37' 28" N., lon. 90° 15' 16" W.; pop. in 1810, 1,600; in 1820, 4,598; in 1830, 5,852; in 1840, 16,469; in 1850, 77,860; in 1860, 160,773; in 1870 (when it was the fourth city in the United States in population), 310,864, of whom 22,088 were colored; in 1875, estimated by local authorities as high as 490,000. Of the population in 1870, 161,796 were males and 149,068 females, 198,615 natives and 112,249 foreigners, of whom 2,652 were born in Bohemia, 2,008 in British America, 2,788 in France, 59,040 in Germany, 5,367 in England, 32,239 in Ireland, 1,202 in Scotland, and 2,902 in Switzerland. There were 59,431 families, with an average of 5.23 persons to each, and 39,675 dwellings, with an average of 7.84 to each. Of the 108,691 persons 10 years old and over returned

as engaged in all occupations, 810 were employed in agriculture, 41,418 in professional and personal services, 28,219 in trade and transportation, and 38,244 in manufactures and mining.—The city is many feet above high water. It is built on three terraces, the first rising gently from the river for about 1 m. to 17th street, where the elevation is 150 ft. above the stream. The ground then gently declines, rises in a second terrace to 25th street, again falls, and subsequently rises in a third terrace to a height of 200 ft. at Côte Brillante or Wilson's hill, 4 m. W. of the river. The surface here spreads out into a wide and beautiful plain. The corporate limits extend 11⅓ m. along the river, and in extreme width 3 m. back from it; area, 13,216 acres or 20⅔ sq. m. The densely built portion is comprised in a district of about 6 m. along the river and 2 m. in width. The city is for the most part regularly laid out, the streets near the river running parallel with its curve, while further back they are generally at right angles with those running W. from the river bank. Grand avenue, in part 120 ft. wide, extends through the city from N. to S., and in the centre is about 3 m. from the river. Washington avenue, one of the widest and finest in St. Louis, runs back from the river; at its foot is the terminus of the great bridge. Front street, 100 ft. wide, extends along the levee, and is built up with massive stone warehouses. The wholesale trade is chiefly on Main and 2d streets, but is extending into Washington avenue and 5th street. The fashionable promenade is 4th street, containing the leading retail stores. There are 14 street railroad companies, running to various parts of the city, and one over the bridge to East St. Louis. The city is remarkably well built, largely of brick or stone.



New Court House.

The principal public buildings are the city hall, the court house, erected at an expense of $1,200,000, the jail, the county insane asylum, the Masonic temple, the polytechnic building, the custom house and post office, costing $350,000, the United States arsenal (a large and imposing structure in the S. E. part of the city, surrounded with fine grounds), the merchants' exchange, the mercantile library hall, the city hospital, the marine hospital, the high school building, Washington university, St. Louis university, several hotels (the chief of which are the Southern, Planters', Barnum's, Lindell, and Laclede), the Roman Catholic cathedral (136 ft. long and 84 ft. wide, with a front of polished free stone), St. George's (Episcopal) church, the church of the Messiah (Unitarian), the first and second Presbyterian churches, the Baptist church at 6th and Locust streets, the Jewish temple at 16th and Pine streets, the Union Methodist church at llth and Locust streets, the Lutheran church at 8th and Walnut streets, the Congregational church at 10th and Locust streets, and the Presbyterian churches at 11th and Pine and 16th and Walnut streets. A new custom house and post office

and a new exchange are in course of erection (1875). The public squares and parks embrace in the aggregate about 2,000 acres. Missouri park, Hyde park, Gravois park, Jackson place, Carr place, St. Louis place, and Washington square, with from 1½ to 12 acres each, are within the settled portion of the city. Lafayette park, in the S. portion, contains about 30 acres; it is handsomely laid out, and surrounded by elegant dwellings. The Northern park, 180 acres, on the bluffs in the N. portion, is noted for its fine trees. Lindell park, 60 acres, on the line of Forest Park boulevard, is tastefully laid out, and filled with native forest trees. Forest park, 1,350 acres, still mostly covered with primitive trees, W. of the centre of the city and about 4 m. from the river, is bounded by wide boulevards. Lindell boulevard (194 ft. wide) and Forest Park boulevard (150 ft. wide), each about 2 m. long, extend from it toward the heart of the city. The Des Pères river meanders through this park. Other public grounds are Carondelet, Laclede, and Benton parks, Exchange square, and Clinton and Marion places. Tower Grove park, adjoining Shaw's botanical garden, is in the S. W. part of the city, and contains 277 acres. The garden (109 acres) is owned by Henry Shaw, who has opened it to the public, and intends it as a gift to the city. The fair grounds of the St. Louis agricultural and mechanical association, 85 acres, N. W. of the centre of the city, are handsomely laid out and ornamented, and contain extensive buildings; the amphitheatre will seat 25,000 persons. The handsomest cemeteries are Bellefontaine (350 acres) and Calvary (262

acres), in the N. part of the city, about a mile from the river. On the opposite bank of the Mississippi is East St. Louis, a city of St. Clair co., Ill., incorporated in 1865, and containing in 1875 upward of 10,000 inhabitants. It has a river front of 2 m., numerous manufactories, several railroad shops, an elevator, and the extensive national stock yard. It is connected with St. Louis by ferry and by the great bridge, before the completion of which it was the terminus of all the railroads extending east. The bridge is of steel, and rests on four piers. (See , vol. iii., p. 276.) It passes over a viaduct of five arches (27 ft. span each) into Washington avenue. The lower roadway runs into a tunnel, 15 ft. wide, 17 ft. high, and 4,800 ft. long, which passes under a large portion of the city, terminating near 11th street, where a great central railroad depot is in course of construction (1875).—St. Louis communicates by river and rail with a vast extent of fertile country. Sixteen lines of railroad centre here, viz.: the Ohio and Mississippi; Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis; Indianapolis and St. Louis; Atlantic and Pacific; Missouri Pacific; St. Louis, Kansas City, and Northern; St. Louis and Iron Mountain; St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute, and Indianapolis; Rockford, Rock Island, and St. Louis; Belleville and Southern Illinois; Toledo, Wabash, and Western; St. Louis and Southeastern; Illinois and St. Louis; Missouri, Kansas, and Texas; Illinois Central; and Cairo and St. Louis. The arrivals of barges and canal boats in 1874 numbered 951; of steamers, 2,332, viz.: from the upper Mississippi, 1,063; lower Mississippi, 752; Illinois river, 269; Missouri river, 104; Ohio river, 113; elsewhere, 31.

RECEIPTS OF FREIGHT FOR FOUR YEARS.

The principal articles of receipt and shipment are breadstuffs, live stock, provisions, cotton, lead (from the Missouri mines), hay, salt, wool, hides and pelts, lumber, tobacco, and groceries. The trade in dry goods is also extensive.

There are, including those in East St. Louis, six grain elevators and warehouses, five establishments for storing and compressing cotton, and two stock yards. The movement of breadstuffs for ten years has been as follows:

St. Louis is noted for the manufacture of flour, being in this respect the first city in the Union. There were 24 mills in operation in 1874. The production for ten years has been as follows: 1865, 743,281 bbls,; 1866, 818,300; 1867, 765,298; 1868, 895,154; 1869, 1,068,592; 1870, 1,351,773; 1871, 1,507,915; 1872, 1,494,798; 1873, 1,420,287; 1874, 1,573,202. The movement of live stock and provisions for ten years was as follows:

LIVE STOCK.

PROVISIONS.

The number of hogs packed for a series of years has been as follows: 1869-'70, 241,316; 1870-'71, 305,600; 1871-'2, 419,032; 1872-'3, 538,000; 1873-'4, 463,793. The cotton trade has increased rapidly during the past few years. The receipts and shipments of cotton, together with the receipts and consumption of lead, for five years, are shown in the following table:

St. Louis is a port of delivery in the customs district of New Orleans, and a port of entry under the act of 1870 permitting the shipment of foreign goods in bond to interior ports from the port of first delivery. The value of direct importations under this act in 1873 was $1,120,455; in 1874, $843,313. The value of foreign goods warehoused during the latter year was $4,046,428; remaining in warehouse

on Dec. 31, $276,547; amount of import duty collected during the year, $1,674,116 53.—Notwithstanding the extent of its commercial interests, the prosperity of the city is chiefly due to its manufactures, in which it is surpassed only by New York and Philadelphia among the cities of the Union. The number of establishments in the county (mostly within the city limits), according to the United States census of 1870, was 4,579, employing 425 steam engines of 15,118 horse power, and 40,856 hands, of whom 32,484 were males above 16, 3,455 females above 15, and 4,917 youths; capital invested, $60,357,001; wages paid during the year, $24,221,717; value of materials used, $87,388,252; of products, $158,761,013. The particulars of some of the principal branches are contained in the following table:

There has been a large increase since 1870 in nearly all branches of manufacture except iron, which since the panic of 1873 has declined; the value of products for 1874 has been estimated at nearly $240,000,000. Extensive Bessemer steel works are now (1875) in course of

There are 7 national banks, 19 state banks, and 30 savings institutions, with an aggregate capital of about $20,000,000. On July 1, 1874, the aggregate deposits were $42,088,214 59; loans and discounts, $48,544,501 51; cash and exchanges, $11,903,758 03. The city

contains a safe deposit company and 31 insurance companies, of which five are life insurance companies. There are a chamber of commerce, a merchants' exchange, a board of trade, a cotton exchange, a mechanics' and manufacturers' exchange, and a mining exchange.—St. Louis is divided into 12 wards, and is governed by a mayor and a city council composed of two members from each ward, elected biennially. There are also a comptroller, treasurer, and auditor. The United States courts for the E. district of Missouri and terms of the state supreme court are held here. The special city courts are the court of criminal correction and four police courts. The headquarters of the United States army were established here in 1874. The police force is under the control of five commissioners, including the mayor ex officio, whose jurisdiction extends over 30 sq. m. of territory beyond the limits of the city. The force on April 1, 1875, numbered 462 officers and men. The fire department comprises 18 engine companies, 14 hose companies, and three hook and ladder companies; the number of men is 150. The water supply of the city is taken from the Mississippi at Bissell's point, near the N. boundary. It is raised into four reservoirs, each 240 by 660 ft., with an average depth of about 20 ft, by two pumping engines, each with a capacity of 17,000,000 gallons a day. In these reservoirs it remains 24 hours, to free it from sediment. It then passes into a small reservoir near the two high-service engines, which raise it to the storage reservoir, covering about 17 acres on Compton hill, 26 ft. above the highest street grade. The board of health consists of five members, including the mayor as president ex officio. It is asserted that St. Louis is one of the healthiest cities in the country. The number of deaths for eight years, according to the health officer's report, has been as follows: 1867, 6,167, or 28.2 per 1,000; 1868, 5,193, 20.6; 1869, 5,884, 20.6; 1870, 6,670, 21.3; 1871, 5,265, 16.8; 1872, 8,047, 18.2; 1873, 8,551, 21.36; 1874, 6,506, 14.45. Of the deaths in 1874, 30.43 per cent. were from zymotic, 18.29 from constitutional, 41.74 from local, and 6.56 from developmental diseases, and 2.99 per cent, from violence. The number of deaths from consumption was 581, being 8.93 per cent, of the whole. The assessed value of property in 1864 was $63,059,078; in 1874, $172,109,270. The balance in the treasury on April 14, 1874, was $289,404 20; receipts during the following year, $6,003,819 56, of which $2,236,121 86 were from taxes, 2,005,120 from the sale of bonds, $1,150,000 from temporary loans, and $612,577 70 from miscellaneous sources; expenditures, $6,231,286 72, of which $372,000 were for the payment of matured bonds, $1,035,631 38 of interest on debt, $1,450,000 of temporary loans, and $3,373,665 34 for other purposes; balance, April 12, 1875, $61,937 04. The bonded debt on April 13, 1875, was

on which the annual interest is $950,710; temporary debt, $1,027,000. The assets of the city on the same date amounted to $13,044,315 38, including, besides a sinking fund of $738,126 65, the water works, engine houses, public parks, &amp;c. There are 2.61 m. of paved and macadamized wharf, 220.81 m. of macadamized streets, 10.2 m. of Nicolson pavement, 40.68 m. of improved alleys, 162 m. of sewers, and 160 m. of water pipe. The public institutions not already mentioned are the workhouse, house of refuge, female hospital, city dispensary, and quarantine hospital. Under the management of various societies, there are 9 hospitals and 27 asylums and homes, including a deaf and dumb asylum conducted by the sisters of St. Joseph, and St. Vincent's insane asylum.—The public schools of St. Louis are under the control of a board of 24 members, two from each ward, which appoints a superintendent and two assistants. There are three courses of study, viz.: the normal school course, for females only, two years; the high school course, four years; and the district school course, eight years. There are also separate schools for colored children, and evening schools, the O'Fallon polytechnic institute serving as an evening high school. German is taught in the district schools to such pupils as elect to study it. According to the school census taken in April, 1874, there were 138,133 persons from 5 to 21 years of age inclusive, of whom 95,539 were from 6 to 16; there were 33,511 attending public schools and 21,789 attending private schools; total attending school, 55,300. In 1866 there were only 30 school houses, with 11,055 seats; number of pupils enrolled, 16,228; average attendance, 9,597; average number of teachers, 236; total expenditures, $331,694 36. In 1874-'5 there were 57 day schools (1 normal, 6 high and branches, 44 district, 6 colored); number of pupils enrolled, 35,941; average attendance, 24,438; number of teachers, 654; number of evening schools, 21; pupils enrolled, 5,751; average attendance, 2,644; teachers, 115; number of school houses, 56; rooms, 625; seats, 30,070; value of school lots, $715,736; of school buildings and furniture, $1,715,230; expenditures, $792,019 37, of which $522,350 09 were for teachers' salaries, $44,345 57 for permanent improvements, and $225,323 71 for current expenses. The public school library contains about 38,000 volumes, and has a good reading room; it is open to the public for consultation. Several scientific and other societies have merged their collections with it. There are about 70 parochial schools, under the management of the Roman Catholics and other denominations, and a number of academies and private schools, including one for the deaf and dumb. There are also seven medical colleges and a college of pharmacy. The St. Louis university, under the direction of members of the society of Jesus, was founded in 1829, and incorporated in 1832.

It has a very valuable museum, philosophical and chemical apparatus, and a library of more than 16,500 volumes. The select libraries open to the students form a separate collection of more than 8,000 volumes. The university has a classical course of six years, a commercial course of four years, and a preparatory class. The number of instructors in 1874-'5 was 22; of students, 353. Washington university, incorporated in 1853, is intended to embrace the whole range of university studies, except theological. It comprises the academy, essentially a preparatory school to the higher departments, with a primary class; the Mary institute, organized in 1859; the college, 1859; the O'Fallon polytechnic institute, or polytechnic school, 1857; and the St. Louis law school, 1867. The college course is similar to that of other American colleges. The Mary institute is a female seminary, with studies of all grades. In the polytechnic school there are five regular courses, each occupying four years, viz.: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, mining and metallurgy, and building and architecture. An evening school is conducted by the O'Fallon institute under the supervision and control of the board of public schools. The number of instructors and students in the different departments in 1874-'5 was as follows:

The college has a library of 5,500 volumes, the polytechnic school one of 30,000 volumes, and the law school one of upward of 2,500 volumes. The college of the Christian Brothers (Roman Catholic) was chartered in 1855 and organized in 1859. It has a library of 10,000 volumes. Concordia college and theological seminary (German Evangelical Lutheran) was organized in 1839 and chartered in 1853. It has a library of 4,500 volumes. The Missouri institution for the education of the blind was established in 1851. The academy of science, founded in 1856, has a large museum and a library of 3,000 volumes. Other libraries are the mercantile, 43,000 volumes; St. John's circulating library, 27,000; and the law library, in the court house, 7,100. The Missouri historical society, established in 1865, has a large historical collection. The newspapers and periodicals are as follows : 10 daily (4 German), 4 tri-weekly, 1 semi-weekly, 32 weekly (5 German), 5 semi-monthly (1 German), 28 monthly (2 German), 1 bi-monthly, and 3 quarterly. There are 162 churches and missions, viz.: 16 Baptist (6 colored), 3 Christian, 4 Congregational, 15 Episcopal (1 colored),

1 Evangelical Lutheran, 1 Free Methodist, 1 Friends', 9 German Evangelical, 12 German Evangelical Lutheran, 2 Independent Evangelical Protestant, 4 Jewish, 13 Methodist Episcopal (4 colored), 9 Methodist Episcopal, South, 2 New Jerusalem (1 German), 23 Presbyterian, 38 Roman Catholic, 2 Unitarian, and 7 miscellaneous.—In 1762 M. d'Abbadie, director general of Louisiana, granted to a company of merchants, of whom Pierre Ligueste Laclede was the leader, the exclusive right of trade with the Indians on the Missouri. This company after careful examination established themselves on the present site of St. Louis, Feb. 15, 1764, and erected a large house and four stores. In 1770 the number of settlers had increased to 40 families, and a small garrison was maintained. On Aug. 11, 1768, a company of Spanish troops under Capt. Rios took possession of it in the name of the king of Spain, under whose sway it remained till the cession of Louisiana in 1800 to France, which in 1803 sold the territory to the United States. In 1780 an unsuccessful attack, supposed to have been instigated by the British, was made upon it by a considerable body of Indians. For many years it was only a trading post for the fur traders, and the furs collected there reached an annual value of about $200,000 at the beginning of the present century. It was incorporated as a town in 1809. The first newspaper was published in 1808, the first brick house erected in 1813, and the first bank established in 1816. In 1817 the first steamboat arrived, and the same year the first board of school trustees was formed. In 1822 St. Louis was chartered as a city. The growth of Illinois, which began to be rapid after 1825, gave St. Louis its first great impulse; and the ascent of steamers to the Great falls soon created a thriving trade, which began to assume magnificent proportions in 1840. The city suffered from cholera in 1832, and from cholera and fire in 1849. In 1851 the first railroad was begun, and to the extension of its railroad facilities is mainly due its rapid growth since that date. By a legislative act of 1867, taking effect in 1870, Carondelet, adjoining it on the south, was annexed to the city.