History UsefulNotes / StLouis

* [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams The St. Louis Cardinals]] ([[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} MLB]]). The Cardinals are second only to the UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} Yankees in total World Series titles and have a strong following. Indeed, in many ways they punch well above their weight in terms of prominence for a market of their size. That's largely due to the historical circumstances of having been for a very long time (like the entire first half of the 20th century until the move of the Dodgers and Giants to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively) the MLB team furthest west and furthest south. That landed their games on a large network of first radio and then television stations for "local" broadcasts, which they still maintain to a surprisingly large extent. Especially prominent is radio flagship KMOX, which, because of the flat topography of the American Midwest, the nature of AM broadcasting on medium wave radio, and the power of the signal, can be heard as far away as Canada.

* Bob Chandler, who founded a shop in the suburbs where his personal pickup truck evolved into Bigfoot, the first ever
monster truck, creating a whole new motor sport.

* [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams The St. Louis Cardinals]] ([[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} MLB]]). The Cardinals are second only to the UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} Yankees in total World Series titles and have a strong local following. St. Louis used to be home to another MLB team, the Browns, which played in the city for the entire first half of the 20th century but moved to Baltimore right around when it became clear St. Louis wasn't going to stay big enough for two teams.
* The St. Louis Blues ([[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]]). One of six teams that joined the NHL when it doubled in size in 1967, they went to the [[UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup Stanley Cup]] Finals in their first three seasons, aided greatly by a league format that saw the "Original Six" in one conference and the expansion teams in the other. However, they lost all three, twice to UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} and once to UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}. In the middle of the 2018–19 season, it looked like they'd continue their ignominious streak of being the only active team from the 1967 expansion never to lift Lord Stanley's Mug, seeing that they were ''dead last'' in the league. They then pulled a 2015–16 Leicester City,[[note]]who went from dead last in the UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague in April 2015 to champions in May 2016[[/note]] making the playoffs and then winning their first Stanley Cup.

* Scott Joplin

* William Tecumseh Sherman

St. Louis has [[TheRival running rivalry]] with fellow Midwestern giant UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} dating back to when they were the biggest cities in the Midwest. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more widely known as the "St. Louis World's Fair") was held there in 1904, which also hosted the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames third Olympic Games]], the first held in America--Chicago's still kinda mad about this, since ''they'' were supposed to have the games before they switched to take advantage of the fair. Today, the only thing St. Louis really competes directly with Chicago (outside of sports) is its crime rate; St. Louis' violent crime rate is regularly the highest in the nation.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for now, which is a real shame considering its history. St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement; the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river. This location helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation; at the start of the 20th century, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the entire country. However, the city has been declining in importance (and population) for quite awhile now. It's lost population in every census since 1950, is no longer even in the top ''fifty'' largest cities in the U.S., and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri. (There's an asterisk there, as we'll discuss below: Many of those people just moved to the suburbs, and the total metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's.)

St. Louis is nicknamed "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties, Missouri has 114 of them, plus the City of St. Louis, which is ''not'' in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day--still a major downgrade from its earlier prominence to be sure but not nearly as bad a drop as it looks on paper. Part of that metro area lies across the river in Illinois; those go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons.

* Redd Foxx

St. Louis is nicknamed "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties, Missouri has 114 of them, plus the City of St. Louis, which is ''not'' in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day, still a major downgrade from its earlier prominence to be sure but not nearly as bad a drop as it looks on paper. Part of that metro area lies across the river in Illinois; those go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for now, which is a real shame considering its history. St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement; the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river. This location helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation; at the start of the 20th century, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the entire country. However, the city has been declining in importance (and population) for quite awhile now. It's lost population in every census since 1950, is no longer even in the top ''fifty'' largest cities in the U.S., and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri. (There's an asterisk there, as we'll discuss below: Many of those people just moved to the suburbs, and the total metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's)

* Beau Willimon: Born in [[UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC Alexandria, VA]], but mostly raised in St. Louis.[[note]]He was a [[MilitaryBrat Navy brat]]; his father settled in St. Louis after he finished his Navy service to be a lawyer.[[/note]] Creator of ''Film/TheIdesOfMarch'' and the [[TransAtlanticEquivalent American adaptation]] of ''Series/{{House of Cards|US}}''. Also a veteran of Jon Hamm's 8th-grade drama class.

St. Louis is nicknamed "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties, Missouri has 114 of them, plus the City of St. Louis, which is ''not'' in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually still the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day, still a major downgrade from its earlier prominence to be sure but not nearly as bad a drop as it looks on paper. Part of that metro area lies across the river in Illinois; those go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons.

The city ''was'' home to two notable [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] franchises. The Chicago Cardinals moved to the city in 1960. They played there for 28 years and were quite mediocre; they only visited the playoffs thrice in that span, never actually won in the postseason, and left for Arizona in 1988. The city put up the bill for a new stadium in the '90s hoping to attract a team and brought in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Rams when owner Georgia Frontiere, a St. Louis native, thought the team would do better in her hometown than the crowded LA market. For a time, it actually did: "The Greatest Show on Turf", which lasted from 1999 to 2001, won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans and made it to the Big Game again in 2001 only to lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. After Frontiere's death in 2008, however, they didn't put up a single winning season. Since their lease allowed them to depart if their stadium was deemed subpar and the economically struggling city couldn't afford to renovate it, the Rams eventually hightailed it back to LA in 2016.

The city ''was'' home to two notable [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] franchises. The Chicago Cardinals moved to the city in 1960. They played there for 28 years and were quite mediocre; they only visited the playoffs thrice in that span, never actually won in the postseason, and left for Arizona in 1988. The city put up the bill for a new stadium in the '90s hoping to attract a team and brought in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Rams when owner Georgia Frontiere, a St. Louis native, thought the team would do better in her hometown than the crowded LA market. For a time, it actually did: "The Greatest Show on Turf", which lasted from 1999 to 2001, won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans and made it to the Big Game again in 2001 but lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. After Frontiere's death in 2008, however, they didn't put up a single winning season. Since their lease allowed them to depart if their stadium was deemed subpar and the economically struggling city couldn't afford to renovate it, the Rams eventually hightailed it back to LA in 2016.

The city ''was'' home to two different notable [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] franchises. The Chicago Cardinals moved to the city in 1960. They played there for 28 years and were quite mediocre; they only visited the playoffs thrice in that span, never actually won in the postseason, and left for Arizona in 1988. The city put up the bill for a new stadium in the '90s hoping to attract a team and brought in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Rams when owner Georgia Frontiere, a St. Louis native, thought the team would do better in her hometown than the crowded LA market. For a time, it actually did: "The Greatest Show on Turf", which lasted from 1999 to 2001, won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans and made it to the Big Game again in 2001 but lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. After Frontiere's death in 2008, however, they didn't put up a single winning season. Since their lease allowed them to depart if their stadium was deemed subpar and the economically struggling city couldn't afford to renovate it, the Rams eventually hightailed it back to LA in 2016.

* [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams The St. Louis Cardinals]] (UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}; used to be home to the football ones also, but they moved to Arizona in 1988. The Cardinals are second only to the UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} Yankees in total World Series titles won.)

The city ''was'' home to the St. Louis Rams ([[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]]), who moved to town in 1995 from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles when owner Georgia Frontiere, a St. Louis native, thought the team would do better in her hometown than the crowded LA market. "The Greatest Show on Turf", which lasted from 1999 to 2001, won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans and made it to the big game again in 2001 but lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. From 1995 to 2007, they went 103-95 and made the playoffs five times; after Frontiere's death in 2008, they didn't put up a single winning season and went 42-101-1 before hightailing it back to LA.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for now, which is a real shame considering its history. St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement; the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river. This location helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation; at the start of the 20th century, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the entire country. However, the city has been declining in importance (and population) for quite awhile now. It's lost population in every census since 1950, is no longer even in the top ''fifty'' largest cities in the U.S., and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri (though, there's an asterisk there, as we'll discuss below: some of those people just moved to the suburbs--the metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's).

Its nickname is "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties, Missouri has 114 of them, plus the City of St. Louis, which is ''not'' in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually still the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day, a major downgrade from its earlier prominence to be sure but not nearly as bad. Part of that metro area lies across the river in Illinois; those go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for now, which is a real shame considering its history. St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement; the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river. This location helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation; at the start of the 20th century, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the entire country. However, the city has been declining in importance (and population) for quite awhile now. It's lost population in every census since 1950, is no longer even in the top ''fifty'' largest cities in the U.S., and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri (though some of those people just moved to the suburbs--the metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's).

St. Louis has [[TheRival running rivalry]] with fellow Midwestern giant UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} dating back to when they were the biggest cities in the Midwest. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more widely known as the "St. Louis World's Fair") was held there in 1904, which also hosted the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames third Olympic Games]], the first held in America--Chicago's still kinda mad about this, since ''they'' were supposed to have the games before they switched to take advantage of the fair. Today, the only thing St. Louis really competes directly with Chicago (outside of sports) is its crime rate; St. Louis' violent crime rate is regularly the highest in the nation. Anheuser-Busch was founded in St. Louis, and it is still home to the North American headquarters (Maybe the two are linked?).

These days almost nobody says "Saint Louie" unless they're joking. Or they're referencing WesternAnimation/YogiBear.

St. Louis has [[TheRival running rivalry]] with fellow Midwestern giant UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} dating back to when they were the biggest cities in the Midwest. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more widely known as the "St. Louis World's Fair") was held there in 1904, which also hosted the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames third Olympic Games]], the first held in America--Chicago's still kinda mad about this, since ''they'' were supposed to have the games before they switched to take advantage of the. Anheuser-Busch was founded in St. Louis, and it is still home to the North American headquarters.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for now, which is a real shame considering its history. St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement; the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river. This location helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation; at the start of the 20th century, St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in the entire country. However, the city has been gradually declining in importance (and population) for quite awhile now. It's lost population in every census since 1950, is no longer even in the top ''fifty'' largest cities in the U.S., and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri (though some of those people just moved to the suburbs--the metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's).

Its nickname is "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties, Missouri has 114 of them, plus the City of St. Louis, which is not in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. (Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually still the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day, a major downgrade from its earlier prominence to be sure but not nearly as bad.) Part of that metro area lies across the river in Illinois; those go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons. St. Louis has [[TheRival running rivalry]] with fellow Midwestern giant UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} dating back to when they were the biggest cities in the Midwest. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more widely known as the "St. Louis World's Fair") was held there in 1904, which also hosted the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames third Olympic Games]], the first held in America--Chicago's still kinda mad about this, since ''they'' were supposed to have the games before they switched to take advantage of the. Anheuser-Busch was founded in St. Louis, and it is still home to the North American headquarters.

The Gateway Arch has a viewing area at its apex which can be reached by so-called tram cars that ascend either leg of the arch. Each tram consists of a chain of cars with circular cross-sections, which remain horizontal as they travel up and down the changing inclines. Definitely not for the claustrophobic, however, since each car holds five people with no standing room, and looks a bit like a washing machine drum.

St. Louis, Missouri, is known for the Gateway Arch and... well, actually, that's pretty much what it's known for. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more widely known as the "St. Louis World's Fair") was held there in 1904. Also headquarters of one of the world's largest brewing conglomerations, before they were bought by ''another'' of the world's largest brewing conglomerations, though St. Louis is still the North American headquarters.

St. Louis sits just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, a naturally strategic place for a major settlement (the ancient UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} city of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in what would become the US, was more or less just on the other side of the river) which helped it grow into a huge city and made it a big deal back when riverboats were considered a speedy form of transportation. However, the city has been gradually declining in importance (and population) for quite a while now. It's lost population in every census since 1950 and is no longer even the largest city in Missouri, though some of those people just moved to the suburbs and the metropolitan area still has a larger population than UsefulNotes/KansasCity's. The suburbs across the river in Illinois go by the description "Metro East" for obvious reasons.

Its nickname is "the Gateway to the West" (''cf.'' the Gateway Arch), presumably because a gateway is a place you ''go through'' to get to where you were ''actually interested in going''. Missourians who live more than a couple of dozen miles from the Arch may instead call it "the Exit from the East." Politically, St. Louis is a fairly deep blue stronghold in an otherwise mostly pink-to-red state, a trait it shares with Jackson County (Kansas City) and Boone County (the University of Missouri–Columbia). Speaking of counties ... Missouri has 114 counties, plus the City of St. Louis, which is not in any county. It used to be part of St. Louis County but voted to secede in 1876. (Besides affecting the city's tax base and infrastructure, this separation has also contributed to St. Louis's population shrinkage by comparison with other major U.S. cities--since the borders of the city itself are fixed, the common practice of incorporating outlying suburbs has been halted for the last century and a half. The full metro area is actually the 20th most populous in the U.S. to this day.)

The city ''was'' home to the St. Louis Rams ([[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]]), who moved to town in 1995 from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles when owner Georgia Frontiere, a St. Louis native, thought the team would do better in her hometown than the crowded LA market. "The Greatest Show on Turf", which lasted from 1999 to 2001, won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans and made it to the big game again in 2001 but lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. From 1995 to 2007, they went 103-95 and made the playoffs five times, with a 6-4 record there; after Frontiere's death in 2008, they didn't put up a single winning season and went 42-101-1 before hightailing it back to LA.

* [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams The St. Louis Cardinals]] (UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}; used to be home to the football ones also, but they moved to Arizona. The Cardinals are second only to the UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} Yankees in total World Series titles won.)

The city ''was'' home to the St. Louis Rams ([[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]]); they moved to town a few years after the Cardinals left.... before they moved back to Los Angeles in 2016. As the Greatest Show on Turf, which lasted from 1999 to 2001, they won the Super Bowl in 1999 by one yard against the Titans, made it to the big game in 2001 but lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. From 1999 to 2006, they went 78-40 and made the playoffs five times, with a 6-4 record.

* Creator/EllieKemper--perhaps best known as Erin from ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' and now starring as the title character in ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt''--was born in Kansas City but moved to St. Louis as a child. Fun fact: she went to the same high school as Jon Hamm had, and he taught her eighth grade acting class.

* Jane Smiley (UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning novelist): Born in L.A., grew up in the Webster Groves suburb.