St Louis

From Town to City.

In 1808, on petition of two-thirds of the inhabitants, the territorial officers incorporated the town, and a board of trustees composed of two French inhabitants and three Americans was elected. The same year the Louisiana Gazette was established, this being the first newspaper west of the Mississippi river. The publication of the territorial laws in 1808 marked the appearance of the first book to be printed in what is now the State of Missouri. The total revenue of the town government in 1810 was only $529.68; by 1815 the population probably did not exceed 2,600. Not until 1819 were primitive fire engines supplied by private subscription. The same year Market street from Main to the levee was paved. In 1821, at the time of the admission of Missouri to the Union, there were 621 buildings and a population of 5,600. In 1822 the State legislature incorporated St. Louis as a city. During the territorial period the composition of the popu lation had undergone a distinct change. The French element, although still socially and financially prominent, was being en gulfed by people from Virginia and Kentucky, but there was also a sprinkling of New Englanders, and the Irish were numerous enough in 1819 to form a Hibernian Benevolent society.

Fur Trade.

The fur trade continued to be a principal source of wealth. Up to 1809, with the exception of the original firm of Maxent, Laclede and Company, and the later Clamorgan com pany, the trade had been largely a matter of individual enterprise, aided occasionally by special concessions such as the Chouteau monopoly of the Osage trade.

But in 1807 Manual Lisa ascended the Missouri river and built a post at the mouth of the Big Horn and, in 1809, formed the Missouri Fur company. A rival organization headed by William H. Ashley in 1822 founded the Rocky Mountain Fur company; the American Fur company, of which John Jacob Astor was the principal figure established an office in St. Louis in 1822 and soon became the dominant factor in the fur trade. Astor retired in 1834 and the western department of the company was sold to Pratte, Chouteau and company. This organization continued to control most of the western fur trade until 1860. St. Louis was also the outfitting place for much of the trade with the North Mexican provinces.

Immigration and River Trade.

After 1812 St. Louis at tracted many settlers including a large foreign element, which, in the '20S and '3os was predominantly German. The failure of the reform movement of 1848 brought another tide of German mi gration. In 1840 the population was 16,469; after that the growth was rapid, the population in 1850 being 77,86o and ten years later 160,773. In 1817 steamboats began to operate to St. Louis, in 1832, 8o steamboats arrived; in 1838, 154, and in 1845, 213. In 1854 St. Louis ranked third in enrolled tonnage among American cities. Af ter that the river traffic increased tremendously; in 1860 5,178 vessels arrived at St. Louis and 5,218 departed, the total tonnage for the year being In the '3os St. Louis, like other towns in the West, became interested in the development of railroads. The Pacific Railroad

Company, the parent of the Missouri Pacific, was organized in 1850; the line was begun in 1851, and the first 4o m. were opened to Franklin, Mo., two years later. In 1855 it reached Jefferson city, and Sedalia in 1861. A south-western branch of the Missouri Pacific was opened to Rolla in 1861. The St. Louis and Iron Mountain railway, incorporated in 1851, was opened from St.

Louis to Pilot Knob, Mo., in 1858. The St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern railway was completed as far as Macon, Mo., in 1859. Thus before the Civil War St. Louis became the terminal for four western railroads. The Ohio and Mississippi railroad, to Cincinnati, was completed in 1857 ; it connected with the Balti more and Ohio railroad, thus giving St. Louis rail access to the Atlantic coast.

By 1860 the city extended for about 6-i m. along the river front and reached westward between 3 and 4 miles. Most of the houses were built of brick, as were many of the sidewalks. Soft coal was used as fuel, frequently creating a pall of smoke. Missouri was a slave State, but only 1,50o slaves were owned in St. Louis and most of these were in domestic service. The Germans and the newcomers from the North were abolitionists. Many of the business men, regardless of their views on the slavery question, were opposed to secession. They feared that a break in the Union would be injurious to business, and felt that it was vital to St. Louis to have the Mississippi river under the control of the United States.

Civil War Period.

Soon after Lincoln's election it became evident that Governor Jackson was a secessionist and intended to take the State out of the Union. He was backed by a secession ist legislature. The State Government authorized the election of delegates to assemble in convention to consider the question of the secession of Missouri. The delegates concluded that there was no adequate cause for Missouri to dissolve her connection with the Union.

The next step of the Unionists was to prevent the St. Louis arsenal from falling into the hands of the secessionists. Capt.

Nathaniel Lyon, with the assistance of the "Wide Awakes," who had been transformed into military companies known as "home guards," succeeded in protecting the arsenal and in shipping most of its guns to Illinois. The governor then authorized the assembly of militia near St. Louis. A camp, named after the governor, was laid out on the western outskirt of the city. Lyon and Blair believed that the purpose of the establishment of Camp Jackson was the seizure of the city. On May Io, 1861, Lyon sent three columns of home guards to capture the camp. The force was overwhelming and Frost, the commander, surrendered with out a struggle. An unfortunate outbreak of violence occurred while the prisoners were under guard and about 25 people, several of them civilians, were killed or wounded. For 48 hours the citizens were in a state of panic, but when no other acts of violence occurred, the excitement subsided, and those who had fled returned to their homes.