St. Louis
St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St. Louis is the largest metro in Missouri. Sometimes written as Saint Louis, the city is named for King Louis IX of France. It is separate from St. Louis County, which borders much of the city itself.
St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, although it has since slipped to 52nd. The 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games, the first ever held in the United States, were both held in St. Louis. The St. Louis region is home to some of the country's largest privately-held corporations, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Graybar, Scottrade, and Edward Jones. St. Louis is also home to some of the largest public corporations, including Emerson, Energizer, Anheuser Busch-InBev, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Purina, Charter Communications, Monsanto, and Wachovia Securities.
The city has many nicknames, the most popular being "Gateway City", as it is seen as the Eastern/Western US dividing mark. St. Louis is also called "Gateway to the West" on behalf of the many people who migrated west through St. Louis via the Missouri River (first leg of the Oregon Trail) and other wagon trails.
St. Louis lies at the heart of Greater St. Louis, a metropolitan area of nearly three million people in both Missouri and Illinois. The St. Louis metropolitan area ranks in the top 200 on the List of urban areas by population in the world. The Illinois portion is commonly known as the Metro-East. The Greater St. Louis area was the 16th largest metro area in the U.S. as of the July 2007 US Census estimate, with 2,871,421 people. The city itself is the 52nd largest city by population in the 2000 census and had an estimated population of 355,663 in 2007.
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