- Location: Missouri, Missouri
- Legal status: Independent city
- Population: 348,189 (Change since 1990: -12.2%)
- Name origin: King Louis IX of France
- Previously known as: Laclede's Village and Paincourt
- Latitude: 38°37'38" N (+38.6272)
- Longitude: 90°11'52" W (-90.1978)
- Land area: 61.9 square miles
- Water area: 4.2 square miles
Name origin
Named for King Louis IX of France by Pierre Laclede Liguest
Timeline
- Nov. 1763
- Site selected for a trading post by Pierre Laclede Liguest
- Feb. 1764
- Laclede dispatched thirty men, led by Auguste Choteau, to clear the site
- May 28, 1780
- Indians attacked the fortified village, resulting in several casualties
- 1809
- Incorporated as the Town of St. Louis, including an area of 7.63 square miles
- Dec. 9, 1822
- Incorporated as a city by act of the State Legislature
- 1876
- The City of St. Louis split from St. Louis County to form an independent, home-rule city
| Year | Population | Percent change |
|---|
| 1830 | 4,977 | -- |
| 1840 | 16,469 | +230.9% |
| 1850 | 77,860 | +372.8% |
| 1860 | 160,773 | +106.5% |
| 1870 | 310,864 | +93.4% |
| 1880 | 350,518 | +12.8% |
| 1890 | 451,770 | +28.9% |
| 1900 | 575,238 | +27.3% |
| 1910 | 687,029 | +19.4% |
| 1920 | 772,897 | +12.5% |
| 1930 | 821,960 | +6.3% |
| 1940 | 816,048 | -0.7% |
| 1950 | 856,796 | +5.0% |
| 1960 | 750,026 | -12.5% |
| 1970 | 622,236 | -17.0% |
| 1980 | 452,801 | -27.2% |
| 1990 | 396,685 | -12.4% |
| 2000 | 348,189 | -12.2% |