70 Fun Facts About St. Louis

The city was founded in 1764 by French fur traders and named after which French monarch?

Louis IX was the crusader-king canonised as Saint Louis in 1297, which is why the city gets a saint's name rather than a plain royal one.

Which two French fur traders are usually credited with founding the city, along with Gilbert de St. Maxent?

Chouteau was only about 14 when he led the work party that started clearing the site; Laclède was his stepfather in all but name.

How tall is the Gateway Arch?

It is exactly as wide at the base as it is tall, and it was designed to sway up to 18 inches in high wind.

Which Finnish-American architect designed the Gateway Arch?

The competition jury picked his entry unanimously in February 1948; his father Eliel, also an entrant, was reportedly congratulated by mistake at first.

In what year was construction of the Gateway Arch completed?

Building started in February 1963 and the last piece went in on October 28, 1965; the public did not ride to the top until June 1967.

The Gateway Arch is clad in which material?

The skin is quarter-inch grade 304 stainless steel, which is why the monument shifts colour with the sky and never needed painting.

What geometric shape does the Gateway Arch take?

A catenary is the curve a hanging chain makes; flip it and it stands entirely in compression, which is why the arch needs no internal frame.

Roughly how much did the Gateway Arch cost to build?

That is close to $100 million in today's money, still a bargain for the tallest arch on Earth.

Which world's fair did St. Louis host in 1904?

It marked 100 years since the purchase (a year late), sprawled over 1,270 acres and drew nearly 19.7 million people.

Which food is most famously said to have been popularised at the 1904 St. Louis fair?

Historians stress popularised, not invented: the waffle-style cone existed already, but the fair is where America met it.

Which soft drink was introduced to a national audience at the 1904 fair?

Puffed Wheat cereal made its national debut at the same fair, shot from cannons as a crowd-pulling stunt.

The 1904 fair's Palace of Fine Arts, designed by Cass Gilbert, survives today as what?

Almost everything else at the fair was temporary plaster; the art palace was built in stone precisely so it could outlast the party.

The giant organ built for the 1904 fair's Festival Hall ended up in which city's department store?

John Wanamaker bought it, tripled its size, and it is still played daily as the Wanamaker Organ in what is now a Macy's.

The 1904 Olympics in St. Louis were the first Games held where?

Chicago had originally won the Games, but they were moved to coincide with the fair, and most competitors turned out to be American.

Which medal format debuted at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics?

Earlier Games had handed out silver to winners and bronze to runners-up; St. Louis set the podium everyone knows.

American gymnast George Eyser won six medals at the 1904 Games despite what?

He lost the leg after being run over by a train, and still took gold on the parallel bars, vault and rope climb.

The 1904 Olympic marathon winner Thomas Hicks was helped along by his handlers with what?

The first man across the line, Fred Lorz, was disqualified for riding part of the course in a car, and only 14 of 32 starters finished.

Cuban runner Andarín Carvajal finished fourth in the 1904 marathon despite doing what mid-race?

Another runner, Len Taunyane, was chased about a mile off course by a dog and still finished ninth.

How many World Series titles have the St. Louis Cardinals won?

That is the most in the National League and second overall only to the Yankees.

Which Cardinals pitcher posted a modern-record 1.12 ERA in 1968?

His season was so dominant that baseball lowered the pitcher's mound the following year.

The Cardinals' famous 'birds on the bat' logo first appeared in what year?

The club had only adopted the name Cardinals in 1900, having played its first years as the Brown Stockings and then the Browns.

Which nickname was given to the rowdy Cardinals team that won the 1934 World Series?

Ozzie Smith, decades later, would give the club its next signature image with backflips and a record 13 Gold Gloves at shortstop.

What is the seating capacity of the current Busch Stadium, opened in 2006?

It is the third ballpark to carry the Busch name and hosted the 2009 All-Star Game.

The St. Louis Blues hockey team is named after a song by which composer?

The Blues joined the NHL in the 1967 expansion and lost their first three Stanley Cup Finals in a row.

In what year did the Blues finally win their first Stanley Cup?

They beat Boston in Game 7 after sitting dead last in the league on January 3 that season.

Which 1980s pop song became the Blues' unofficial victory anthem during their 2019 Cup run?

Players heard it in a Philadelphia bar after a road win and adopted it for every home victory that followed.

Which NFL team won Super Bowl XXXIV while based in St. Louis?

Linebacker Mike Jones stopped Tennessee's Kevin Dyson just short of the goal line on the final play, a moment known simply as 'The Tackle'.

The Rams left St. Louis to return to Los Angeles after which season?

In 2021 the NFL and owner Stan Kroenke paid the city $790 million to settle the lawsuit over the move.

The Hill's signature appetizer, 'toasted' in name only, is actually prepared how?

Legend says a chef on The Hill dropped a ravioli into the fryer by accident in the 1940s, and 'toasted' just sounded nicer than 'fried'; it comes with marinara for dipping.

A famous sticky St. Louis cake is said to have been born in the 1930s when a baker made what mistake?

He reversed the proportions of butter and flour, producing the dense, sweet slab now called gooey butter cake, which the city has refused to give up ever since.

St. Louis-style pizza is topped with which processed cheese?

It is a blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone, and the thin yeastless crust is cut into squares rather than wedges.

How is a St. Louis-style pizza traditionally cut?

The 'party cut' is often traced to Imo's founder Ed Imo, a former tile-layer, and helps the cracker-thin crust carry its toppings.

Ted Drewes, the famous frozen-custard stand on old Route 66, calls its signature dessert what?

It is served upside down to prove nothing falls out, and the shop sells Christmas trees when custard season winds down.

Which brewing giant has its headquarters in St. Louis?

It began as the Bavarian Brewery in 1852; Adolphus Busch was the first American brewer to pasteurise beer and ship it in refrigerated railcars.

In what year did Adolphus Busch first use the name Budweiser for a new beer?

The name was borrowed from the Bohemian town of Budweis, which is why a Czech brewery still fights over it in court.

The Budweiser Clydesdales made their public debut on April 7, 1933, to celebrate what?

August Busch Jr. gave the team to his father as a surprise; a case of beer was then hauled to the White House for President Roosevelt.

How many horses pull the Budweiser Clydesdale hitch at any one time?

Ten travel with each team so two can rest, and a Dalmatian has ridden beside the driver since the 1950s.

Roughly how much bigger is Forest Park than New York's Central Park?

At 1,326 acres it holds the zoo, art museum, science center, history museum and the Muny, and draws more than 12 million visitors a year.

How much does it cost to enter the Saint Louis Zoo?

A regional cultural tax district picks up the bill; the zoo's first exhibit was the 1904 fair's giant Flight Cage.

Which zoo director became a TV star as host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom?

Perkins ran the St. Louis zoo from 1962 to 1970 while the show made him one of the best-known faces on American television.

Which St. Louis neighborhood is known for Italian heritage and Italian-flag fire hydrants?

Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up across the street from each other there.

The Eads Bridge, opened in 1874, pioneered the large-scale structural use of which material?

Before the public was allowed on, a circus elephant was walked across it, on the theory that elephants refuse unsafe footing.

Which U.S. president dedicated the Eads Bridge on July 4, 1874?

Fifteen workers died of caisson disease, the bends, while sinking the bridge's foundations into the riverbed.

Dred Scott first sued for his freedom in 1846 in the courts of which place?

The case climbed to the Supreme Court, which ruled 7-2 against him in 1857; freed later that year, he worked as a hotel porter in the city until his death in 1858.

On what date in 1806 did Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery arrive back in St. Louis?

They had set out from Camp Dubois, just across the river, on May 14, 1804, with orders from Jefferson to map the newly bought Louisiana Territory.

Charles Lindbergh's plane carried the name Spirit of St. Louis in honour of whom?

The single-seat Ryan monoplane carried him from Long Island to Paris in 33 hours 30 minutes in May 1927.

Which St. Louis-born rock pioneer played monthly at Blueberry Hill from 1996 to 2014?

His 'Johnny B. Goode' is the only rock song aboard the Voyager Golden Record now leaving the solar system.

St. Louis rapper Nelly's diamond-certified 2000 debut album was called what?

He came up through the local group the St. Lunatics, and 'Hot in Herre' later won him a Grammy.

The Delmar Loop takes its name from what?

In 2007 the American Planning Association named it one of the 10 Great Streets in America; brass Walk of Fame stars line its sidewalks.

When the city's grand railway terminal opened in 1894, what distinction did it hold?

Its 31 tracks are long gone; the shed now shelters an aquarium and a 200-foot observation wheel.

St. Louis's City Museum occupies a building that once belonged to which company?

Sculptor Bob Cassilly opened it in 1997; a school bus now hangs off the roof beside a Ferris wheel and a ten-storey slide.

Which St. Louis institution founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw is home to the Climatron?

The Climatron, opened in 1960, was one of the first geodesic-dome greenhouses, and the site's Japanese garden is the largest in North America.

St. Louis is one of three US independent cities outside Virginia. Which is another?

St. Louis voted to secede from St. Louis County in 1876, a 'Great Divorce' that still shapes the region's politics; Carson City is the third.

In the 12th century, Cahokia, across the Mississippi from St. Louis, was possibly larger than which European capital?

Monks Mound there is the largest earthen construction north of Mexico, and the site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

Which architect designed the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex, imploded on TV in 1972?

Yamasaki went on to design New York's original World Trade Center towers.

Which architect designed the 10-storey Wainwright Building, an early skyscraper, with his partner Dankmar Adler?

Wright called it the first tall steel office building to be treated as architecture; PBS listed it among 10 Buildings That Changed America.

Founded in 1818, the Jesuit school whose teams are the Billikens holds what distinction?

Saint Louis University has also run a campus in Madrid for more than 50 years.

How many U.S. presidential debates has Washington University in St. Louis hosted?

Founded in 1853 and chartered on George Washington's birthday, it hosted debates in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2016 plus a 2008 vice-presidential debate.

The St. Louis Browns, the city's American League team, left in 1954 to become which club?

Their only pennant came in 1944, when they lost a World Series to the Cardinals played entirely in one ballpark.

In 1951 Browns owner Bill Veeck sent up a pinch hitter who stood how tall?

Eddie Gaedel wore the number 1/8, walked on four pitches, and was banned from further appearances by the league within days.

St. Louis reached its peak population at which census?

It counted 856,796 residents then; by 2020 the city proper had shrunk to about 301,578.

Which 1944 MGM musical, starring Judy Garland, is set in the run-up to the 1904 World's Fair?

It introduced 'The Trolley Song' and 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas', and its director Vincente Minnelli married his star.

A National Historic Landmark in St. Louis preserves the rented home of which ragtime composer?

Joplin lived in the city from 1901 to 1907 and received a posthumous special Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

The Missouri History Museum's Jefferson Memorial Building was paid for with what?

Inside is a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis and other Lindbergh memorabilia.

Between 1900 and 1929, St. Louis was home to roughly how many automakers?

That was close to one in ten of all American carmakers, back when the industry had not yet settled in Detroit.

Which Major League Soccer club began play in St. Louis in 2023?

St. Louis City SC joined MLS in 2023; the city also hosts the Battlehawks of the UFL.

Between the 1870 and 1920 censuses, St. Louis ranked where among US cities by population?

The river port peaked at 856,796 residents in 1950 before suburbanisation drained the city proper to about 300,000 by 2020.

Because of the earthworks left by the Mississippian culture, St. Louis earned what nickname?

The culture's great regional centre at Cahokia Mounds was active from about 900 to 1500.

How old was Auguste Chouteau when Laclède sent him with 30 settlers to found the city in February 1764?

Laclède had picked an elevated site above the Mississippi floodplain not far below its meeting with the Missouri.

The F4 tornado that struck downtown St. Louis on 27 May 1896 killed at least how many people?

It remains one of the deadliest tornadoes in American history; a record 1.8-mile-wide EF3 hit the city again in May 2025.