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 established.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 opens.
1997
* City website online.
* 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.
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