Saint Louis questions...

[Trinity Moses]

Some St Louis questions:

A. Is there much left from the French/Spanish era? This can be original townsites (other than St Louis proper...I heard that "Carondelet" was a settlement or townsite that predated the US era...wonder if there are others?), mission sites, land grants, lot lines, roads, etc...I seriously doubt there are buildings left from that era, but was wondering if there are other manifestations of the pre US times.

B. Age of urban fabric. I understand St Louis grew up as a break-in-bulk point on the Mississippi (due to the Chain of Rocks), so it pre-dated the big railroad era, and was actually larger than Chicago for many years...so is alot of the city fairly old, as in pre 1870s or so....

[JivecitySTL]

Saint Louis was first settled by the French in the mid-1600s, but it was officially founded in 1764 and really boomed into a big city during the 1850s and 1860s. Chicago first surpassed St. Louis in population in 1880, but the two were neck-and-neck until the early 1900s. As for the French/Spanish era, you can find French influences in almost every corner of the city, especially the oldest neighborhoods such as Soulard, Benton Park, Marine Villa, Old North St. Louis and Mount Pleasant. Spanish influences here are more subtle, but still present. One curious fact is that Cahokia, IL (now a suburb of STL) was the largest prehistoric settlement north of Mexico. You can find a great deal about Cahokia on the internet.

In short, St. Louis was a thriving river city before Missouri was even incorporated as a state. It's an old motherf*cker. Cincinnati has a similar history, but it never grew as large or as important as STL.

[Jaxspra]

In addition to the French architecture in St. Louis City, there is an entire area known as Frenchtowne in St. Charles, Missouri. St. Charles is a few years younger than St. Louis and not as large but there is still a lot of French architecture in the area...St. Charles is only about 20 minutes from the City of St. Louis.

[Trinity Moses]

In addition to the French architecture in St. Louis City, there is an entire area known as Frenchtowne in St. Charles, Missouri. St. Charles is a few years younger than St. Louis and not as large but there is still a lot of French architecture in the area...St. Charles is only about 20 minutes from the City of St. Louis.

Thats interesting about St Charles...did it also predate the US aquistion of the area?

[Trinity Moses]

Spanish influences here are more subtle, but still present.

...I would presume this would be similar to California or the Pensacola area, where the old land-grants (im assuming there where some) influenced property lines and subdivision patterns?