St. Louis (city) - geography. I INTRODUCTION Skyline of St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis,

St. Louis (city) - geography. I INTRODUCTION Skyline of St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis, Missouri, lies on the banks of the Mississippi River. The stainless steel Gateway Arch dominates the city's skyline. The arch, which rises to a height of 192 m (630 ft), was built in 1965 to commemorate the role of St. Louis as a gateway to the West. Owaki-Kulla/Corbis - geography. St. Louis (city) or Saint Louis, city in eastern Missouri, extending along the west bank of the Mississippi River where it makes a great bend to the east. The hub of the largest metropolitan region in Missouri, St. Louis is one of the Midwest's principal industrial, commercial, educational, and cultural centers. It is a city of predominately brick buildings, softened by abundant trees that line streets and shelter homes. St. Louis is located a short distance downstream from the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River; the city is situated on land that gently rises from the river shoreline. Average elevation is 139 m (455 ft). The city's location in the middle of the North American continent gives it very changeable weather. It is influenced by both warm air masses from the Gulf of Mexico and cold air masses from Canada. Annual precipitation averages 953 mm (37.5 in), with most of the rain coming in late spring and early summer. Winter snowfalls account for about 500 mm (about 20 in) of the precipitation. Winters, while cold, are rarely severe and summers can be quite hot. The average high temperature in January is 3°C (38°F) and the average low is -6°C (21°F); in July highs average 32°C (89°F) and lows average 21°C (70°F). St. Louis was established in 1764 by French fur traders and named in honor of Louis IX, a 13th-century king of France canonized as a saint. In 1876 the state legislature granted St. Louis a special status as an independent city and separated it from surrounding St. Louis County. This was done at a time when the city was wealthy and surrounding rural lands poor, but fortunes have since reversed and St. Louis now covets the tax base of its prosperous suburbs. Attempts to rejoin the county have been rebuffed. II ST. LOUIS AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA The city of St. Louis stretches along the Mississippi River for 31 km (19 mi) and covers a land area of 160.3 sq km (61.9 sq mi). St. Louis has been expanding to the west almost from the time of its founding, with its downtown core slowly moving away from the Mississippi and its population migrating to ever distant suburbs. Today the central city is surrounded by a hodgepodge of small cities. The spectacular Gateway Arch stands at the river's edge on the site where St. Louis was founded more than two centuries ago. The 192-m (630-ft) high city landmark, completed in 1965, is the focal point of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Historic Site and commemorates the city's role as a major gateway to the West during the 19th century. Within the historic site, which has undergone large-scale redevelopment since the 1950s, are two noted 19th-century buildings: the Basilica of Saint LouisKing and the Old Courthouse, where the Dred Scott case, an early test of the rights of blacks, was argued. Another extensive riverside project, also completed in the 1960s, was the 50,000-seat Busch Stadium. It was replaced in 2006 by a new Busch Stadium. Laclede's Landing, a historic district along the river north of the arch, was converted into a zone of shops, restaurants, nightclubs, and other tourist attractions. The central business district--downtown St. Louis--lies just west of the Gateway Arch. Market Street, the main downtown thoroughfare, extends from east to west through downtown and separates the northern and southern sections of the city. Just west of downtown, Market Street forms the main axis of Memorial Plaza, site of the major public buildings in St. Louis. Dominating the plaza are the Civil Courts Building, City Hall, the recently renovated Henry W. Kiel Municipal Auditorium, and the Soldiers Memorial Building. Near Memorial Plaza is Aloe Plaza, the site of a magnificent group of fountains designed by noted Swedish American sculptor Carl Milles. The Wainwright Building, a forerunner of the modern skyscraper, is in the downtown area; designed by Louis Sullivan, it was completed in 1891. A convention center complex, America's Center, occupies redeveloped land on either side of Seventh Street on the northern fringe of the central business district. The city's professional football team, the St. Louis Rams, plays in the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center. Concerts and trade shows also take place inside the dome. An urban mall, the popular St. Louis Union Station, is located on the western edge of downtown. Another downtown shopping mall, the multi-storied St. Louis Centre, opened in 1984 but by the early 2000s had lost nearly all its tenants as customers preferred suburban malls. Developers planned to convert the St. Louis Centre into condominiums and retail space. North and south of downtown St. Louis, tenements, row houses, and one-family dwellings merge with industrial areas. Centered on Forest Park, in a section near the city's western limits known as the Central West End, are tall apartment buildings, mansions, and tree-shaded streets, all of which make up the city's most fashionable residential district. Overlooking Forest Park is Hospital Row, a group of medical buildings that constitute one of the nation's leading medical centers. North of Lindell Boulevard, which forms the northern edge of Forest Park, is one of the city's large areas of black population. South of Forest Park are neighborhoods inhabited primarily by people of Italian and German descent. The Anheuser Busch brewery in southern St. Louis covers seven city blocks. Nearby along South Broadway is Soulard Market, where fruits and vegetables from surrounding farms are sold. West of the market, many of the elegant Victorian homes in the Lafayette Square neighborhood, formerly in decrepit condition, have been restored. They date from the late 1800s, when St. Louis was the fourth-largest U.S. city.