Authored by Mark Peters in Missouri
Published on 12-28-2008
One of the gems of the American Midwest is the city of St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is known as the Gateway City and has a history of being the point where settlers headed west departed from in the east. The city has existed under the French and Spanish flag as well as the American flag that flies over it today. St. Louis has had a great sports history and is known for possessing some of the best sports fans in the entire country. The history of the city of St. Louis is fascinating, much about the city is known, but here are five little known facts about the city of St. Louis, Missouri.
1. The city for many years has had a fantastic reputation as a great sports town. The first Olympic Games held in the United States were held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri.
2. When the city of St. Louis was attacked by the British during the American Revolution, the forces that defended the city were actually made up of French Creole and Spanish infantry.
3. During the 1830s, one of the engineers that supervised work on the St. Louis harbor and the construction of levees on the Illinois side of the river was future Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
4. Though not nearly as famous, Forest Park in St. Louis is actually much larger than New York City’s Central Park.
5. The tallest building in St. Louis is One Metropolitan Square which was completed in 1989 at a height of 593 feet. Though this is the tallest building, it is not the tallest structure in the city as St. Louis’s famous Gateway Arch measures in at 630 feet high.
A visit to the city of St. Louis offers many things to any traveler lucky enough to choose it as their destination. The city has a great deal of historical sites to visit that would impress anyone interested in learning more about the immediate area or about major events in the history of the country that happened in the area. The city also has a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities available, both within its borders as well as in the surrounding area. A visit to the city of St. Louis is a great place to spend both a long weekend or an entire vacation.
