St. Louis

St. Louis (pronounced /seɪnt ˈluːɪs/ or /sænt ˈluː.iː/; French: Saint-Louis or St-Louis, [sɛ̃ lwi] ( listen)) is an independent city and the second largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. The city itself has an estimated population of 354,361 and is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,879,934, the largest urban area in Missouri and 16th-largest in the United States.

The city was founded in 1764 just south of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in what is today the Midwestern United States by colonial French traders Pierre Laclède and René Auguste Chouteau, who named the settlement after King Louis IX of France. The city, as well as the future state of Missouri, became part of the Spanish Empire after the French were defeated in the Seven Years' War. In 1800, the land was secretly transferred back to France, whose leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, sold it to the United States in 1803. Nicknamed the "Gateway to the West" for its role in the westward expansion of the United States, the city gave the moniker in 1965 to the new Gateway Arch built as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial; the Arch has become the iconic image of St. Louis.

Once the 4th-largest U.S. city, St. Louis proper has seen its population slip to 52nd. At the peak of the city's influence St. Louis hosted the 1904 World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games.

In the 19th century, immigration from Italy, Germany, Bohemia, and Ireland flooded St. Louis, coloring the cuisine and architecture of the city. Many African-Americans moved north to the city during the Great Migration.

St. Louis has been at the forefront of the 21st-century wave of urban revitalization, receiving the World Leadership Award for urban renewal in 2006. In 2008, the U. S. Census Bureau reported St. Louis had a net population gain of 6,172 from the 2000 Census, to 354,361, the first gain the city has had since 1950.  Advertise with mobile billboards in St. Louis.  Call American Mobile Ads at (330) 864-9490.