# Timeline of St. Louis

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.
** First drug store opens.
* 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.
** Grand Opera House opens under the name Varieties Theatre
* 1853 – Washington University founded.
* 1854 – Czech Slavonic Benevolent Society founded.
* 1856
** Academy of Science founded.
** St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair begins.
* 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
* 2022 - CityPark opens