Читать книгу St. Louis - The Fourth City, Volume 1 - Walter Barlow Stevens - Страница 9

Since the first organization of this government, we have exhibited to the American people a spectacle novel and peculiar — an American republic on the confines of the Federal Union, exercising all the powers of sovereign government, with no actual political connection with the United States and nothing to bind us to them but a reverence for the same principles and a habitual attachment to them and their government— Governor McNair's First Message.

History which describes the St. Louis of 1804 as a little settlement of French traders, trappers and boatmen is not accurate as to numbers or character. It does not tell the whole truth. Between the hill and the river the population which the American captain found, when he came to raise the flag in March, 1804, was about 1,000. But north to the Missouri and south to the Meramec and west to Creve Coeur and beyond were land-hungry Americans who had been coming for a decade. They were St. Louisans. They were to be considered.

When the last of the Spanish governors, Delassus, took the census, in 1799, he reported 681 white people, fifty free mulattoes, six free negroes, and 268 slaves in the settlement of St. Louis. But, beyond the palisades and the stone towers, within what are now the city limits and St. Louis county, were living 1203 white settlers, nearly twice the white population of the settlement under the hill; many of them were Americans. From that year, for three decades, the population outside increased more rapidly than did the population inside of the confined settlement along the river bank.

Captain Stoddard asked Governor Delassus for a list of the officials under him. He discovered that the syndics of the rural districts about St. Louis were, in several places, neither French nor Spanish but American. As he proceeded with his inquiries, the captain was somewhat surprised at the number of Americans he found residing in the vicinity of St. Louis. He estimated and reported that at least three-fifths of the country population was American and that in the settlement of St. Louis four-fifths was French and Canadian.

The people living beyond Barn street, which is now Third street, were St. Louisans in their political, business, social, and religious relations. They participated in the making of St. Louis. They were influential in the development of St. Louis— settlement, town and city. From the Atlantic states, from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, from Germany, England and Ireland came, in advance of the flag, these pioneers. In the village of Carondelet were between forty and fifty families, chiefly Canadians. St Ferdinand, which is now Florissant, was a considerable community of such promise that it was mentioned as a rival of St. Louis for the location of the seat of justice not long after the American flag was raised. John Mullanphy, first millionaire of St. Louis, in good faith proposed to pay the cost of the erection of a suitable court house if the removal was made from St. Louis to St. Ferdinand. The mere suggestion was a revelation of the importance of suburban St. Louis at that time. In the northwestern part of what is now St. Louis county was a community called St. Andrews, which, tradition has it, was once larger than St. Louis. It was an agricultural community of Americans who had come from the states to St. Louis and had been given lands by the Spanish governors. The Missouri river encroached upon St. Andrews. Many of the people who first settled there moved to St. Louis after the American flag was raised. They established themselves in business and in the professions here.

Eminently wise was the American policy in St. Louis. Make little if any change in the forms of government, President Jefferson instructed his American captain. Stoddard was level headed. He remained in St. Louis as acting governor from the 10th of March to the 30th of September of that first year. The weeks and the months of American occupation slipped by without trouble. Stoddard studied the people. A New Englander, he was tactful and observant. About the habitants he formed some impressions which he wrote out in the form of "Notes," for the information of the people of the United States:

They mostly limit their desires to vegetables, soups and coffee. They are great smokers of tobacco, and no doubt this gives a yellow tinge to their skins. Ardent spirits are seldom used except by the most laborious classes of society. They even dislike white wines because they possess too much spirit. Clarets and other light red wines are common among them; and those who can afford it are not sparing of this beverage. Great economy is displayed in their family meals. This is not the effect of a parsimonious disposition, nor always of the want of adequate means. It results from a conviction of what their constitutions require. They readily sacrifice what may be termed luxury for the preservation of health, and it is seldom they contract diseases from intemperate excesses. Naturally volatile in their dispositions, they sometimes precipitate themselves from one extreme to another. Hence it is that in making entertainment for their friends, especially for strangers of distinction, they study to render them sumptuous. Their tables are covered with a great variety of dishes; almost every sort of food, dressed in all manner of ways, is exhibited in profusion. The master of the house, out of respect for his guests, frequently waits on them himself. On such occasions no trouble or expense is spared in procuring the best wines and other liquors the country affords. Their desserts are no less plentiful and there is no want of delicacy in their quality or variety. Many of these entertainments cost from $250 to $400.

The American captain did not find St. Louis the "land of steady habits" he had known in his youth. He did, however, discover in the habitants a distinctive character which in his judgment was admirable:

Perhaps the levities displayed and the amusements pursued on Sunday may be considered by some to border on licentiousness. They attend mass in the morning with great devotion, but after the exercises of the church are over they usually collect in parties and pass away their time in social and merry intercourse. They play at billiards and other games, and to balls and assemblies the Sundays are particularly devoted. To those educated in regular and pious protestant habits such parties and amusements appear unseasonable, strange and odious, if not prophetic of some signal curse on the workers of iniquity. It must, however, be confessed that the French people, in these days, avoid all intemperate and immoral excesses, and conduct themselves with apparent decorum. They are of opinion that there is true and undented religion in their amusements, much more, indeed, than they can see in certain night conferences and obscure meetings in various parts among the tombs. When questioned relative to their gaiety on Sundays, they will answer that men were made for happiness, and that the more they are able to enjoy themselves the more acceptable they are to their Creator. They are of opinion that a sullen countenance, attention to gloomy subjects, a set form of speech, and a stiff behavior are more indicative of hypocrisy than of religion; and they say they have often remarked that those who practice these singularities on Sunday will most assuredly cheat and defraud their neighbors during the remainder of the week. Such are the religious sentiments of a people void of superstition; of a people prone to hospitality, urbanity of manners and innocent recreation, and who present their daily orisons at the throne of Grace with as much confidence of success as the most devout Puritan in Christendom.

The American captain and the new Americans of St. Louis and vicinity were not long in arriving at mutual respect. Representatives of the several districts of Louisiana met in St. Louis to prepare statements to Congress. When they adjourned in September, 1804, they expressed to Captain Stoddard "their unfeigned acknowledgments for your judicious attentive and exemplary dispensation of justice within this Territory during your administration, and the readiness which you have always shown to contribute to the public good." The address, which was signed by Charles Gratiot, president, and P. Provenchere, secretary, concluded quaintly: "May Louisiana ever feel the same Regret in parting from its chief Magistrate — and may genuine Philanthropy, solid Parts unblemished Disinterestedness continue to characterize the Governors of Louisiana."

Assimilation wrought its perfect work in the extension of American authority over the Louisiana Territory. By the stroke of a pen the area of the United States was doubled. By the exercise of a wise policy the allegiance of the people was transferred without the firing of a gun, excepting the salutes of the flags. Many of these newly made Americans west of the Mississippi were of alien descent and of different tongues. Furthermore, many events of the decade preceding the purchase had been such as might be expected to provoke and intensify a spirit of hostility. The sentiment of the settlers east of the Mississippi had been more than once dangerously near actual violence against the Spanish rule west. Not long before negotiations culminated in the treaty of acquisition, a United States senator had been exposed in intrigue to incite war by the Indian Tribes of Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi against the Spanish garrisons and people on the Louisiana Territory side. So flagrant were the facts in the case that the senator had been compelled to resign to escape impeachment. On the floor of Congress speeches were made foreshadowing open conflict along the Father of Waters if some settlement of international relations was not reached speedily. It was a period of unrest and of resort to arms the world over. Bonaparte sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States by a treaty of April 30, 1803. Less than three weeks later, on the 16th of May, war was declared by Great Britain against France. Russia put a squadron into commission. Other nations made preparations to take part in a world-wide contest for territory and power. Nevertheless the United States proceeded to extend its authority over the new acquisition from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains without the masking of men, or the show of force. Notably prompt and gratifying was the acknowledgement of the new allegiance made by the people of Upper Louisiana, of which St. Louis was the capital.

How was the assimilation accomplished? The letters of William Henry Harrison, recently obtained for publication, illuminate the policy. From Vincennes the governor of the Northwest Territory worked out the problem with the Governor of Upper Louisiana, Charles De Hault Delassus.

News traveled slowly in those days. Although the treaty was signed in Paris on the 30th of April, 1803, the first information of it reached St. Louis through a letter sent by Governor Harrison to Governor Delassus, dated the 2nd of August at Vincennes, The treaty was not ratified at Washington until the 19th of October. Governor Harrison conveyed the intelligence to Governor Delassus in the following letter:

Vincennes, 12th Novr., 1803.

My Dear Sir:—

Since the beginning of September I have been be severely afflicted with an inflammation in the eyes and am entirely unable to answer the several kind letters which you have written me.

I believe that my trip to your country will be postponed for some time. I have been waiting for final orders which I have not yet received, but it is not impossible that I may receive orders this very day to go on immediately. Enclosed herewith you will receive the message of the President to Congress in which he communicates the purchase of Louisiana to that body. The treaty is now before the Senate whose constitutional power it is to advise the President to ratify it or not. That it will be ratified there is little doubt, but I cannot say when possession will be taken.

There is nothing new from Europe but the probability of a revolt in France — everything seems to prognosticate it, and should it be successful the restoration of Monarchy is thought to be inevitable. Bonaparte, however, still threatens England with an invasion, and the English are straining every nerve to be in readiness to receive them. It is said of late, however, that the First Consul will not command in person because it is supposed that his embarkation will be the signal for the malcontents to rise. Spain has not yet, that we know of, taken part in the war; it is even said that the wishes of the Court are strongly in favor of England. The northern powers (Russia particularly) are very much offended at the operations of the French in Hanover. A strong squadron of Russian ships of war have been put in commission and were daily expected in one of the French Ports. What their ultimate destination may be is not known but it cannot be unfavorable to England aa they are to use the ports of that kingdom to refit.

5 o'clock P. M.

The mail has just arrived and has brought us the intelligence of the Treaty with France having been ratified by the President and Senate of the United States. Enclosed herewith you will receive a copy of the Treaty and Conventions.

Some public business demanding my attention, I conclude with requesting you to present me in the most respectful terms to Madam and Mr. Delassus and believe me

The Honble Sincerely yr. friend

Charles DeHault Delassus (Signed) Will 'm Henry Harrison.

Lt. Governor of Upper Louisiana.

The action of the Senate on October 19 reached Vincennes, it will be observed, on the 12th day of November. The Government at Washington proceeded deliberately in the matter. Not until the 20th of December, 1803, was the authority transferred at New Orleans. Nearly three months more elapsed before the American officer, Captain Stoddard, appeared at St. Louis and, on March 10, 1804, formally raised the American flag.

In the meantime, Governor William Henry Harrison, acting for the administration at Washington, as may be read between the lines, was at work on the plans to make the acceptance of American citizenship easy and profitable to the people of the territory. He had written to Delassus when the first information of the signing of the treaty reached Vincennes:

"I do not know what the United States will do with Upper Louisiana, but think it probable that it will be annexed. Should this be the case, it may give me the opportunity of serving some of your friends. If this opportunity does offer, be assured, my dear sir, that it shall not be neglected."

As the assimilation policy of the administration at Washington developed, Governor Harrison went much farther in his overtures calculated to carry that policy into effect. He extended the assurance that no radical changes were to be made at once in the laws. He informed Governor Delassus that the districts were to remain geographically as constituted, and that commandants were to receive the pay and emoluments of colonels in the American Army. He even suggested the probability that one of these very important commissions might be bestowed upon the father of the Spanish governor. On the 25th of February, 1804, about three weeks before the transfer at St. Louis, Governor Harrison sent this letter to Governor Delassus.

Vincennes, 25th February, 1804.

My Dear Sir: —

I have delayed writing to you for some time under the expectation of being able to inform you of the final arrangement of our Government relative to Louisiana. I am, however, disappointed, for as yet I have seen only the draft of a law on the subject which has not yet been adopted, but I believe that or something very like it will ultimately pass. For Upper Louisiana a governor is to be appointed who is to be vested with all the powers of the late governor-gen'l., and the laws now in force are to prevail. The commandants, however, of the several districts are to be appointed by the President, their duties to be as heretofore, their compensation the pay and emoluments of a Colonel in our service, which is 75 dollars per month, twelve rations per diem and forage to the amount of (12 per month, making altogether a sum not less than $2,000 per annum. If your venerable father -should determine to remain where he is, assure him, my friend, that every exertion in my power will be made to procure for him one of these appointments. I am not by any means sure that I shall succeed, but my friends have some influence. I mean to write myself immediately to the President on the subject, and I have some reason to believe that he will respect my recommendation.

I would like to know as soon as possible when you propose to take your departure, and if you go to New Orleans or embark at Philadelphia for Spain — in the latter case I would have the pleasure of seeing you here.

I am My Dear Sir Yours Most Sincerely.

(Signed) Will'm Henry Harrison.

The Hon'ble

Charles DeHault Delassus

Colonel in the Service of His Catholic Majesty, etc., etc.

St. Louis.

Even after the formal transfer of sovereignty, when his authority was no more, Governor Delassus was sought and cultivated for the moral effect of his influence. In May, two months after the stars and stripes had been raised at St. Louis, Governor Harrison addressed Delassus as "My Dear Friend," and bespoke his good will and action in the arrangement of details as follows:

Vincennes, 6th May, 1804.

My Dear Friend: —

Since I wrote to you last I have received a letter from you, for which I thank you. The law for the Government of Louisiana has at length been published. The upper part of that province, viz. from the 33 degree of latitude, is placed under my government, but as a separate territory, entirely distinct from Indiana.

By the above mentioned law it becomes my duty to lay out the Province in Suitable Districts and form the Inhabitants of each into a Militia, but as I am entirely unacquainted with the strength and situation of the several settlements I must request your friendly aid in the affair and will thank you to give me as soon as possible a list of the several settlements, their distance from each other, their strength of population, white and black, together with any other facts you may think proper to mention. Each of the above mentioned districts is to have an officer of Militia, who is, besides his commission in the Militia, to have brevet rank from the United States and is to command under the Governor the Regular troops as well as Militia in his District. He is to be under the same pay with an officer of the same rank in the Regular Army. It will be my endeavor to procure for your Respected father one of these appointments.

I am sorry to be under the necessity of troubling you for the information asked for above but I know of no person who possesses so much knowledge on that subject as yourself and as the information is necessary to me I am sure you will give it with cheerfulness. My powers do not extend to Louisiana until the 1st of October but it is necessary that every arrangement should be previously made particularly as I have to communicate with the President on the subject of the Districts.

If I was not very much pressed with business at this moment I would answer by the present conveyance a letter which I received some days ago from your venerable father. I will however soon write to him. In the meantime present me Respectfully both to him and Madam your Mother.

I shall not fail to pay all the attention in my power to the gentlemen you were so good as to mention to me.

As soon as you know your destination let me hear from you. If it is to be Madrid I wish you to take a letter to an intimate friend who is Secretary to the American Ambassador there and will by the time you reach it probably be our Charge d' affaires.

God bless and prosper you. Your friend

(Signed) Will'm Henry Harrison.

Col 'o Delassus

I recommend the bearer hereof Judge Jones to your notice.

Charles DeHault Delassus, Esq.

Colonel in the Service of His Catholic Majesty.

St. Louis.

Thus was paved the way to peaceful acquisition of St. Louis and of all Upper Louisiana by the United States. The result was a transfer of territory and of citizenship which could hardly have taken place more smoothly if it had been annexation sought by the people rather than involuntary sale to serve the ends of a European government.

When congress met it authorized the governor and the judge of Indiana Territory, which extended to the Mississippi, to put into form some laws for the District of Louisiana, as it was called. William Henry Harrison was the new governor of Louisiana. He had been looking forward to this work. He came over to St. Louis for a close view of conditions.

A court of quarter sessions was established for St. Louis. The District of Louisiana was divided into five sub-districts — St. Louis, St. Charles, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid. Each sub-district had a sheriff.

One of the earliest acts of the court was the fining of James Rankin, sheriff, $6.33 "for insolence and contempt of court."

St. Louis, as seen from the Illinois side in 1807, was inspiring. So it seemed to a lady traveler. With artistic vision and facile pen the impression was preserved. It appeared in the "Literary Gazette" of Cincinnati. The name of the writer does not accompany the article. Influx of "the Bostons,", as the old French habitants called the newcomers, had begun. It is surmised that the contributor to this pioneer periodical was the wife or daughter of some American who was staking his fortune on the future of St. Louis:

The traveler that pauses upon the eastern bank of the river immediately directs his eye to the opposite side of the river. He there contemplates a bold and rocky eminence, where the primeval materials of nature's strength seem piled in rude and disordered magnificence. The ascent is steep and difficult, and has the aspect at a distance of threatening to exclude you from the town, which it beautifully elevates to a considerable height above the water, at the same time proving an impenetrable rampart to ward off the encroachments of the river. You would almost believe the houses were united and that the roofs upheld and supported one another, so gradually and so beautifully has nature bent her brow for the reception of this village. From the opposite shore it has a majestic appearance, which it borrows from its elevated site and from a range of Spanish towers that crown the summit of the hill and lend their Gothic rudeness to complete a picture which scarcely has a parallel. The principal houses of St. Louis are surrounded by massive walls of stone to serve as defense in time of danger, the port holes with which they are pierced testifying that they were constructed as fortifications to repel the bold and sanguinary savage. Within these rough enclosures are planted trees of various descriptions, which, like infancy smiling in the arms of age, serve to decorate the otherwise somber aspect of the town.

St. Louis became a town under act of the territorial legislature which "authorized the people of any village in the territory on petition of two-thirds of their taxable inhabitants to be incorporated into a town on application to the proper court." This act became effective on the 18th of June, 1808. Residents of St. Louis lost no time in moving to incorporate. They circulated a petition in this form:

To the Honorable Court of Common Pleas for the District of St. Louis:

By virtue of a law passed by the legislators, which authorizes the inhabitants of the towns and villages of this Territory to incorporate themselves if two-thirds of them should agree to the same, the undersigned citizens of the circuit of St. Louis, forming at least the number required by the said law, and wishing to establish an incorporation, beg of you to put the said law in force, in order that they may procure themselves the good order and a durable police in the inward parts of the circuit of their town and common, according to the plan that has been made of the said common, and following as much as possible the enclosure that served to separate the lands of the inhabitants and those of the common.

The undersigned reposing themselves in your wisdom have the honor to remain,

Gentlemen, your most devoted servants.

St. Louis, the 5th of July.

Then followed the signatures of eighty residents of St. Louis. Below the names was the statement that eighteen were absent from home and that three refused to sign. At the bottom was written:

"The subscribers hereby certify that we were present when all of the above names were signed. Witness whereof we have set our hands and seals this 7th day of July, 1808." The witnesses were P. Lee and L. A. Beavis.

The original of this petition for town incorporation of St. Louis is in the hall of the Missouri Historical Society. It was written in French and in English, the two side by side. The signatures of the French were written underneath the petition in that language.

On the 23rd of July, 1808, the first election in St. Louis for any purpose was held at the court house. The people assembled in response to a call to organize the town. They elected five trustees to set up the new government. These trustees were Auguste Chouteau, Bernard Pratte, Edward Hempstead. Pierre Chouteau, Sr., and Alexander McNair. Elements of the population of that period were well represented. Auguste Chouteau and Pierre Chouteau, Sr., were of the original settlers. Edward Hempstead was from Connecticut. Alexander McNair was a Pennsylvanian. The representative character of Hempstead and McNair was subsequently shown by the election of Hempstead to be the first delegate to Congress and by the election of McNair to be the first governor. Bernard Pratte was a native of Ste. Genevieve. He stood for the element which recognized thus early that St. Louis was to be the center of business for the new American territory. He enjoyed the distinction of being the father of the first child born in St. Louis after the United States Senate ratified the treaty of purchase of Louisiana.

The trustees proceeded to govern the town. In August, 1808, the first town ordinance was enacted. It was elaborate. The ten sections were prompted by the community needs as the trustees viewed them. They required licenses to be taken out for several kinds of business. But the subject which received most attention was the regulation of the conduct of slaves.

In February, 1809, the trustees took action for protection of the town against fire. They issued a proclamation. All citizens were called upon to organize fire companies. One of the provisions of the fire ordinance required each occupant of a house to provide himself with two buckets. These buckets were to be kept in a place convenient for immediate use whenever a fire started. All fire-fighting at that early date was by bucket brigade.

Another of the provisions ordered by the trustees was that each owner of a building in the town of St. Louis must have the chimney of his house swept at least once a month. If a fire started in a chimney, the law presumed that the chimney had not been swept properly and it provided for a fine of $10.00 against the owner, unless he could show by witness that his chimney had been swept within four weeks preceding the fire.

The act of the legislature required that the petition for incorporation receive the approval of court. The record book of the court of common pleas shows this approval dated November 9, 1809, notwithstanding the fact that trustees had been elected and ordinances had been passed nearly a year and a half previously. The judges of the court were Silas Bent, Bernard Pratte and Louis Labeaume. Mr. Pratte was one of the five trustees elected in July, 1808.

The year of 1808 St. Louis had two hundred houses. Of these fifty were built of stone. The houses were scattered. Nearly every one occupied at least a quarter of a block of ground. Walls were whitened. The early inhabitants knew how to make lime; they used whitewash freely. The houses stood in the midst of orchards.

The Place D'Armes was the block between Main, Market, Walnut and the river front. There the farmers came with their cartloads of produce and wood to sell. The Market Place, rather than the Place D'Armes, it was called as the American element in the population increased.

Another center of interest in the community was the old government house, located at Main and Walnut streets. Dr. Saugrain was waiting for the first vaccine matter to come from the east, in order that he might begin free vaccination in St. Louis. His office was on Second street. The only bakery, LeClerc's was on Main street, between Elm and Walnut. There were three blacksmiths. There was one schoolmaster, Trudeau, who lived and taught in the same house. There were two merchants who had the enterprise to put signs over their store fronts. They were "Falconer & Comegys" and "Hunt & Hankinson." There was one butcher and he did not kill until the beef was spoken for in advance. Prairie chickens could be shot almost anywhere west of what is now Seventh street.

The trade of the town of St. Louis in 1808 was largely dependent upon barter. Advertisements in the earlier issues of the Gazette show how generally the merchants depended upon trade rather than cash customers. One of these advertisements reads as follows:

Cheap Goods.— The subscriber has just opened a quantity of bleached country linen, cotton cloth, cotton and wool cards, Gorman steel, smoothing irons, ladies' silk bonnets, artificial flowers, linen check, muslins, white thread, wool and cotton; a handsome new gig, with plated harness; cable and cordelle ropes, with a number of articles which suit this country, which he will sell on very low terms.

He will take in pay, furs, hides, whiskey, country made sugar and beeswax.

— John Arthur—

P. S.— A negro girl, eighteen years of age, is also for sale. She is a good house servant.

St. Louisans going to eastern cities undertook commissions of almost any character for their neighbors. In the Missouri Gazette of 1809 appeared this announcement which was not an unusual one:

"Joseph Coppinger proposes setting off for New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington on the 1st of February, to return in May. He takes this method of offering his agency to his friends and the public, and expects reasonable compensation for any trust undertaken."

The year the first trustees were elected a regular ferry was established. Jefferson Barracks had not been selected as a site, much less constructed. At Bellefontaine, on the limestone cliff near the mouth of the Missouri, there was a cantonment where General Wilkinson kept a force of troops which contributed $60,000 a year to the volume of St. Louis trade.

The first assessment for town purposes was in 1811. Auguste Chouteau led the list of tax payers, his tax being $268.10 on an assessment of $76,000.

Two years after the Gazette started the editor was able to announce that every house in town was taken and that rents were increasing. During that season the community was congratulated upon the erection of seven buildings. The editor confidently predicted that during 1811 there would be, probably, twice that number added to the town.

The census was taken in 1810. Mr. Charless, the editor, found good ground for complaint that the figures did not do justice to St. Louis. The count included only those residents on the first Monday of August, 1810.

"Since that period," said the editor of the Gazette, "we have received a handsome increase of immigration, which might be set down at one hundred families of seven persons each. We have many of our citizens absent on hunts or down the river, etc.; for instance, there is with Mr. Henry on the west side of the Rocky Ridge 140 men."

This census of 1810 showed for the whole territory of Louisiana, which included Arkansas and Missouri, 20,840 persons. Of this number the town and county of St. Louis had 5,667; the town of St. Louis had about 1,200.

Five years later the sheriff, John W. Thompson, took a census of the town and county, finding 7,395. The population of the town was about 2,000. The government census of 1820 brought the town population up to 4,000 and St. Louis began to move in the direction of a city organization. The county of St. Louis, at that time, had 9,732. In 1828 the sheriff found 5,000 people in the city and 11,880 in the county. It was not until the thirties that the city passed the county in population.

After the starting of the first newspaper and the election of the first board of trustees, St. Louis began to feel the need of public improvements. Up to that time the square between Market and Walnut streets and Main and the river, had been an open plaza. Citizens had generally adopted the name of Centre Square for the earlier designation given by Laclede. The result of the agitation was that in a little over two years after the incorporation of the town, the board of trustees let a contract for the building of a market house on Centre Square. This market house was not much more than a large shed, under which produce might be exposed for sale. It stood on the same block as that occupied in part for many years by the Merchants' Exchange.

One of the progressive steps taken by the town organization was the passage of an ordinance providing for wharfage dues. Every boat of five tons capacity was required to pay a fee of $2.00 for landing.

A little more than a year after St. Louis became a town there occurred an event which caused more general sorrow than any other in the history of the settlement, since the death of the founder, Laclede. It is tradition that during 1808 and 1809 Governor Meriwether Lewis had been subject to mental depression. His friends endeavored to arouse his spirits. They could not understand why he should be depressed. There were no apparent causes for these attacks of melancholy. It was true that the governor complained rather bitterly of the tardiness with which the government at Washington met the obligations incurred in connection with the expedition of Lewis and Clark. But such complaints were general in the community. St. Louis was a long way from Washington. There were others in the community who felt that government business did not receive the prompt attention it should. Friends of Meriwether Lewis looked after him carefully, showing him attention and in many ways endeavoring to cheer him. The governor announced his intention to proceed to Washington. He was encouraged to do so by those about him who thought the change of a journey might be beneficial to his mental condition. Then came the news of the death of the governor by a pistol supposed to have been fired by himself. The town of St. Louis mourned.

Not all of those who flocked here when St. Louis was a town were intending settlers. The observant and inquiring traveler was a frequent arrival. The town began to get into print. Nearly all that was written added to the good fame. Christian Schultz wrote two volumes about "travels on an inland voyage, performed in the years 1807 and 1809, including a tour of nearly 6,000 miles." He arrived in St. Louis on the 22nd of November, 1807. He came by land from Ste. Genevieve, taking the road on the Illinois side of the river, by way of Prairie du Rocher. He said that before arriving opposite St. Louis he rode "fifteen miles over one of the richest and most beautiful tracts I have ever seen. It is called the American bottom and is a prairie of such extent as to weary the eye in tracing its boundaries." Schultz crossed the Mississippi at the Cahokia ferry and rode three miles to "the metropolis of Louisiana." He gave his impressions with evident intention to be accurate. It is to be borne in mind that the time of this visit was only three years after the American flag had been raised. Subsequent to that period, the fur trade was reorganized, extended to the westward and northward and greatly expanded:

St. Louis is beautifully situated on an elevated bank on the west side of the river. It contains about two hundred houses, which, from the whiteness of a considerable number of them, as they are rough-cast and whitewashed, appear to great advantage as you approach the town. It is likewise a French settlement, established in the year 1764; the inhabitants are chiefly Roman Catholics, and have a chapel and a confessor. A small number of American families have of late years settled in this town, and have had so much influence as to give a decided American tone to the fashions of the place; but as their numbers are too few to erect a church of their own, they have, by way of amusement, made arrangement with the father confessor, to give them a little lecture in his chapel every Sunday evening.

I observed two or three big bouses in the town, which are said to have cost from twenty to sixty thousand dollars, but they have nothing either of beauty or taste in their appearance to recommend them, being simply big, heavy, and unsightly structures. In this country, however, where fashion and taste differ so materially from fashion and taste with us, they are considered as something not only grand, but even elegant.

St. Louis has for many years past been the center of the fur trade in this country; but this branch of business I am informed, is now rapidly declining, in consequence of the game becoming scarce.

This town has been strongly fortified by the Spanish government, having two forts, two blockhouses, four stone towers, and one half moon. These encircle the whole town on the land side, and are within gunshot of each other. Some little care is still taken of forts and barracks occupied by the garrison which is stationed at this place, but the towers and blockhouses are entirely neglected, and, for want of repairs, already tumbling to pieces.

The comment on the weather would indicate that the traveler encountered a cold snap unusual for the last of November. He had one very uncomfortable experience. Setting out alone to visit the lead mines at Potosi he lost the way in the hills of the Meramec river, shivered all night and came back to St. Louis:

St. Louis is situated in lat. 38.18. N., long. 89.36. W. from which you would be inclined to believe the climate somewhat warmer than that of New York, in lat. 40.40; but I certainly do not think I ever experienced in that city colder weather, at this season of the year, than I bare felt in St Louis for these few days past. I made this remark to some gentlemen who have lived here for four or five years past, but who formerly resided in Philadelphia; and they were of opinion that the winters generally were equally severe, but did not but so long.

The fame of feminine St. Louis had reached Christian Schultz before he saw the town. He investigated and was satisfied; he found the ladies "eminently entitled" to their reputation:

The ladies of St. Louis I had heard generally celebrated through all the lower country for their beauty, modesty, and agreeable manners, as well as for their taste and the splendor of their dress. I was, therefore, very happy in having an opportunity of accepting an invitation to one of their balls, on the first Sunday evening after my arrival, having previously attended the chapel, for the express purpose of being able to form some kind of judgment with respect to their claims; and I must confess, that they appeared to be eminently entitled to all that I had heard in their favor.

St. Louis, the town, was not without its musical organization, although the association was without name and quite limited in number of performers. There were two musicians. They were inseparable. One of them was an old man with white hair. He was about five feet in height and very fat. He took life comfortably and had an inexhaustible fund of humor. He moved about very slowly and for this reason was commonly known as Monsieur Tardiff. The companion of Monsieur Tardiff was a negro, very tall and gaunt. He looked so much like a deer that he was called Chevreuil. The two musicians afforded the most striking contrast possible in physical appearance. They entertained with their instruments and amused with their looks.

The pioneer paid amusement was announced about 1812. This was a series of sleight-of-hand performances by John Eugene Leistendorfer. Among the "tricks" — for that was what the Gazette frankly called them — which the magician promised were these:

Any person of the company may cut off the head of a living chicken and then he will immediately restore it to life with its bead on.

He will cause a shawl or handkerchief to be cut in two pieces. One of the halves will be burnt, the other cut into small pieces, and he will return it entire.

A new way of proving good whiskey, by putting a penknife or any other light article in a tumbler; and in pouring the whiskey on it, if there is any water in the whiskey, the penknife will move only; but if the whiskey is good, the penknife will jump itself out of the water.

He will catch between his teeth a ball discharged from a pistol, actually loaded and fired by one of the visitors, and after having performed a great many more tricks, too long to be enumerated, be will conclude by eating live coals of fire.

The Gazette explained that the magician was "the same Colonel Leistendorfer who served under General Eaton in the capacity of guide, adjutant, inspector general and chief engineer in passing the desert of Lybia." The Gazette vouched for the colonel with the statement that "certificates from several gentlemen high in office in this government testify to his character and service." From the forecast of these performances it will be inferred properly that the art of advertising was understood by the earliest St. Louis press agent.

Colonel Leistendorfer gave his entertainments once a week for several months. He reaped a harvest. The performances took place at the Robidou house. One evening the magician inspired by a crowded room, and seeing in the gathering some of the most prominent citizens, said he would hatch a chicken from an egg, bring it to full growth, cook it and serve it. There was great applause. Colonel Leistendorfer showed the egg and put it in a box. When the box was closed the chirping of the chicken was heard. When the box was opened there was the chicken. Into and out of several boxes the chicken passed, growing larger with each change, until it was shown full grown. With the spectators following every movement, the colonel cut off the chicken's head. The body was put in a box and when the box was opened a well roasted chicken, with gravy dripping, was lifted out. The colonel called for someone to serve the chicken. William C. Carr, a dignified young lawyer, afterwards circuit judge, was pushed forward. He took the knife and fork, but as he was about to begin by plunging the fork into the breast of the roasted chicken a live chicken flew out of the dish, splashing gravy liberally over his ruffled shirt front.

Colonel Leistendorfer had a very profitable season in the old Robidou house. He liked St. Louis so well that he bought a home in Carondelet, where he raised a large family. The Leistendorfer descendants became quite prominent locally.

Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, an Englishman who traveled in North America and wrote a book, met this strange international character during his visit to St. Louis and Carondelet. He said of him:

His name was given as Leistendorfer. I concluded he must be German but he answered me with such a strange patois in that language that I was soon convinced of my error; upon cross-examination of him I discovered that he was from the Italian side of the Tyrol and that his real name was Santuario. lie boasted of speaking German, French, Spanish, Turkish and English equally well. He was made a sharpshooter in the Austrian army; he was with Bonaparte; he was some years at Constantinople. Then he went to Egypt and contrived to render the pasha some service in Arabia; after which he was employed by General Eaton to assist in his expedition against the Bey of Tripoli, and was instrumental in the settlement of that trouble. For that he was made a colonel in the United States army; he lives now upon the proceeds of some land which he bought with the money earned by his services. He is a strangely prejudiced man but with a fine face and the remains of an athletic frame.

Because the town of St. Louis was small, it is not to be supposed that the Gazette was without sporting news. A local character was a man named Pierce, who was always ready for a fight or a foot race or any other kind of sport. Pierce was a bully. He had a series of encounters which established his supremacy in the community to such a degree that it was impossible to get up a fight with him, except when some stranger, who did not know his prowess, arrived. Pierce was not only a hard hitter but he had a hard head, upon which no blow seemed to have any effect. He was so confident of his skull that one day he offered to fight a ram which was running at large in the commons and was the terror of all the small boys. Pierce said he could whip the ram butting. He offered to try it on a bet of a gallon of whiskey to be given him, if he was successful. The population of the town turned out to see the fight between Pierce and the ram. After the ram had been teased to the fighting point, which did not take long, Pierce got down on his hands and knees. The ram was turned loose and made a bound toward the man. Pierce waited until the ram was almost upon him, then dropped his head and jerked it up in time to strike the under jaw of the ram, breaking the animal's neck. Having won this victory, Pierce was not satisfied to rest upon his laurels. He tried the performance again and again with increasing honors. At length a bout was arranged between Pierce and a ram of unusual size, owned by Colonel Chouteau. The usual preliminaries took place. Pierce following his hitherto successful tactics, dropped his head, but his nose struck a sharp pointed stub of a weed which penetrated the nostril. Involuntarily, Pierce threw up his head too soon and received upon his forehead the full force of the ram's bound. His skull was fractured and he died.

Henry M. Brackenridge, a young man from Pittsburg, came to St. Louis in 1810. While trying to choose between journalism and the law he did some writing for publication. His description of St. Louis as he saw it and studied it was graphic. His forecast was the more remarkable because both Ste. Genevieve and St. Charles at that time crowded St. Louis in population, and immigration seemed to be inclined to favor New Madrid. In his "Views of Louisiana" Brackenridge wrote of St. Louis:

This place occupies one of the best situations on the Mississippi, both as to site and geographical position. In this last respect the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi has certainly much greater natural advantages, but the ground is subject to inundation, and St. Louis has taken a start which it will most probably retain. It is probably not saying too much that it bids fair to be second to New Orleans in importance on this river.

St. Louis will probably become one of those great reservoirs of the valley between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies, from whence merchandise will be distributed to an extensive country. It unites the advantages of three noble rivers, Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri. When their banks shall become the residence of millions, when flourishing towns shall arise, can we suppose that every vendor of merchandise will look to New Orleans for a supply, or to the Atlantic cities! There must be a place of distribution somewhere between the mouth of the Ohio and Missouri. Besides, a trade to the northern parts of New Spain will be opened, and a direct communication to the East Indies by way of the Missouri may be more than dreamt; in this case St. Louis will become the Memphis of the American Nile.

When Brackenridge made his predictions St. Louis had 1400 people. This writer said, of the impression he received as he went about St. Louis, first taking the view from the Illinois bank:

In a disjointed and scattered manner, it extends along the river a mile and a half, and we form the idea of a large and elegant town. Two or three large and costly buildings, though not in the modern taste, contribute in producing this effect. On closer examination the town seems to be composed of an equal proportion of stone walls, houses and fruit trees, but the illusion still continues. In ascending the second bank, which is about forty feet above the level of the plain, we have the town below us, and a view of the Mississippi in each direction, and of the fine country through which it passes. When the curtain of wood which conceals the American bottom shall have been withdrawn, or a vista formed by opening farms to the river, there will be a delightful prospect into that rich and elegant tract. There is a line of works on this second bank, erected for defense against the Indians, consisting of several circular towers, twenty feet in diameter and fifteen feet in height, a small stockaded fort and a stone breastwork. These are at present entirely unoccupied and waste, excepting the fort, in one of the buildings of which the courts are held, while the other is used as a prison. Some distance from the termination of this line, up the river, there are a number of Indian mounds and remains of antiquity, which, while they are ornamental to the town, prove that in former times those places had also been chosen as the site, perhaps, of a populous city.

St. Louis contains according to the last census one thousand, four hundred inhabitants, one-fifth Americans, and about four hundred people of color. There are a few Indians and metiffs, in the capacity of servants or wives to boatmen. This town was at no time so agricultural as the other villages; being a place of some trade, the chief town of the province, and the residence of a number of mechanics. It remained nearly stationary for two or three years after the cession; but is now beginning to take a start, and its reputation is growing abroad. Every house is crowded, rents are high, and it is exceedingly difficult to procure a tenement on any terms. Six or seven bouses were built in the course of the last season and probably twice the number will be built the next. There is a printing office and twelve mercantile stores. The value of imports to this place in the course of the year may be estimated at $250,000. The outfits for the different trading establishments on the Mississippi or Missouri are made here. The lead of the Sac mines is brought to this place; the troops at Bellefontaine put $60,000 in circulation annually. The settlers on both sides of the river repair to this place as the best market for their produce, and to supply themselves with such articles as they may need. The manners of the inhabitants are not different from those in other villages; we distinctly see the character of the ancient inhabitants and of the new residents and of a compound of both. St. Louis, however, was always a place of more refinement and fashion; it is the residence of many genteel families, both French and American.

The suburbs of St. Louis at the time of Judge Brackenridge's coming began where Fourth street is today. A favorite walk, which was westward into the country, was described by him. The springs the writer mentioned were not far from where the Wabash railroad now crosses Manchester avenue:

Looking to the west a most charming country spreads itself before us. It is neither very level nor hilly, but of an agreeable waving surface, and rising for several miles with an ascent almost imperceptible. Except a small belt to the north, there are no trees; the rest is covered with scrubby oak, intermixed with hazels and a few trifling thickets of thorn, crab-apple, or plum-trees. At the first glance we are reminded of the environs of a great city; but there are no country-seats, or even plain farm houses; it is a vast waste, yet by no means a barren soil. Such is the appearance until, turning to the left, the eye again catches the Mississippi. A number of fine springs take their rise here and contribute to the uneven appearance. The greater part drain to the southwest and aid in forming a beautiful rivulet, which, a short distance below the town, gives itself to the river. I have often been delighted, in my solitary walks, to trace the rivulet to its sources. Three miles from town, but within view, among a few tall oaks, it rises in four or five silver fountains, within a short distance of each other, presenting a picture to the fancy of the poet, or the pencil of the painter. I have fancied myself for a moment on classic ground, and beheld the Naiads pouring the stream from their urns. Close to the town there is a fine mill, erected by Mr. Chouteau on this streamlet; the dam forms a beautiful sheet of water, and affords much amusement, in fishing and fowling, to the people of the town. The common field of St. Louis was formerly enclosed on this bank, consisting of several thousand acres; at present there are not more than two thousand under cultivation; the rest of the ground looks like the worn common in the neighborhood of a large town, the grass kept down and short and the loose soil in several places cut open into gaping ravines.

According to John F. Darby, the original boundary of the town of St. Louis began on the Mississippi river near the mouth of Mill creek, called by the French Petite Riviere, and ran nearly due west to a point on Fourth street about a block from Chouteau avenue. Thence the line ran northwardly to a point near where. the northeast corner of the Southern hotel is located, the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets, where there was a fortification and round tower. In Spanish times it was the jail or prison house of the government, and it was continued as a jail by the American authorities till the year 1818, when the new jail was built where the Laclede hotel now stands. The old round tower was about forty or fifty feet high, and, standing as it did on the brow of the hill with no building to obstruct, was a prominent object seen from a distance. The west line of the town then ran northwardly from this point nearly to the southwest corner of what is now Third street and Washington avenue, where there was another stone fort. Thence northwardly the line ran to the eastern line of Third street at Cherry, where there was a large fortification called the bastion. That fortification occupied the most ground and was by far the best of the forts, being built strongly of stone; it looked solid and formidable. From that point the line ran nearly due east, a little north, to Roy's tower on the bank of the river. That tower was large and round, of stone, forty or fifty feet high. The southern, western and northern boundaries as thus marked had been enclosed by pickets ten or twelve feet high, firmly planted in the ground and at different points were gates. At night these gates were secured and guarded. In the year 1818 the pickets were gone but the stone fortifications remained.

John F. Darby was a small boy when his father moved from North Carolina in 1818. His recollections of the two fine mansions of the town were vivid:

Colonel Auguste Chouteau had an elegant domicile fronting on Main street. His dwelling and bouses for his servants occupied the whole square bounded north by Market street, east by Main street, south by what is now known as Walnut street, and on the west by Second street. The whole square was enclosed by a solid stone wall two feet thick and ten feet high, with port holes about every ten feet apart, through which to shoot Indians in case of attack. The walls of Colonel Chouteau's mansion were two and a half feet thick, of solid stone work; two stories high, and surrounded by a large piazza or portico about fourteen feet wide, supported by pillars in front and at the two ends. The house was elegantly furnished, but at that time not one of the rooms was carpeted. In fact no carpets were then used in St. Louis. The floors of the house were made of black walnut, and were polished so finely that they reflected like a mirror. Colonel Chouteau had a train of servants, and every morning after breakfast some of those inmates of his household were down on their knees for hours, with brushes and wax, keeping the floors polished. The splendid abode with its surrounding had indeed the appearance of a castle.

Major Pierre Chouteau also had an elegant domicile, built after the same manner and of the same materials. lie, too, occupied a whole square with his mansion, bounded on the east by Main street, on the south by what is known as Vine street, on the west by Second street, and on the north by what is now known as Washington avenue, the whole square being enclosed with high solid stone walls and having port-holes, in like manner as his brother's.

The town of St. Louis, at that time, contained about two thousand inhabitants, two-thirds of whom were French and one-third Americans. The prevailing language of the white persons on the street was French; the negroes of the town all spoke French. All the inhabitants used French to the negroes, their horses and dogs; and used the same tongue in driving their ox-teams. They used no ox yokes and bows, as the Americans did, in hitching their oxen to wagons and carts; but instead had a light piece of wood about two or three inches thick and about five feet long, laid on the necks of the oxen, close up to the horns of the animals, and this piece of wood was fastened to the horns by leather straps, making them pull by the head instead of the neck and shoulders. In driving their horses and cattle they used the words "chuck! " and "see!" "marchdeau!" which the animals all perfectly understood.

One of the most notable landmarks of the town of St. Louis disappeared in 1873, when the old Missouri hotel was razed, to give place to a business structure. In its day this was the finest hotel in the west. It was commenced in 1817 and was completed two years later. When the property passed into the hands of Major Biddle an addition was built to increase the accommodations. The major went east and procured a professional hotel keeper, who opened the house with an equipment and appointments which made it the hotel of the Mississippi valley.

The first legislature under the state's constitution met in this hotel. The first governor, Alexander McNair, and the first lieutenant-governor, Wm. Ashley, were inaugurated there. The first United States senators, David Barton and Thos. H. Benton, were elected there. When the question of Missouri's admission to the United States was pending the new political organization was spoken of frequently by the orators, who addressed their fellow legislators in the old hotel, "as being, by the grace of God, free and independent."

Capacity for self-government was shown in Laclede's time. Under the Spanish flag the lieutenant-governors ruled by the consent of and with the support of the habitants rather than by any aggressive form of military authority. When the American flag was raised public affairs went on according to established customs. The squad of soldiers who came with the American captain had no turbulence or revolutionary spirit to deal with. When, after a long interim, .Missouri was admitted to the Union, the first governor, McNair, in his opening message could not refrain from comment upon this same self-reliant spirit, this self-governing trait, which had carried the community through every political crisis:

"Since the first organization of this government," said Governor McNair, "we have exhibited to the American people a spectacle novel and peculiar — an American Republic on the confines of the Federal Union, exercising all the powers of sovereign government, with no actual political connection with the .United States and nothing to bind us to them but a reverence for the same principles and a habitual attachment to them and their government."

There was a man in the first legislature, which met in the Missouri hotel, who called himself the "Ring Tail Painter." His name was Palmer. To this member from the southwest part of the state the routine procedure of legislation was a great surprise. Palmer could not understand why it was necessary for the bills to pass one house and then the other, and yet not become law until the governor approved. He thought it was undemocratic to place such power in the hands of one man.

During a session of the senate Andrew S. McGirk and Duff Green got into a quarrel. McGirk threw a pewter inkstand at Duff Green. Green and McGirk began to fight. Governor McNair came forward and tried to part them, but as soon as he seized Green to pull him away, "Ring Tail Painter" Palmer grabbed the governor, pushed him aside and shouted:

"Stand back governor, stand back; you are no more in a fight than any other man. I know that much law. I am at home in this business. Give it to him, Duff, give it to him."

When the legislature met at the Missouri hotel it included several members who up to that time had never seen a steamboat. One day when a boat was about to start down the river a motion was made to adjourn in order that the members might go to the bank and see the boat leave. The captain had been fully impressed with the honor about to be shown him. He ran the boat upstream, turned around and came down at full speed past the legislators assembled on the bank. As the boat went by, the cannon, which was part of the equipment on all steamboats in that day, was fired. The legislators raised their hats and swung them, but "Ring Tail Painter" Palmer let out a series of yells.

The old Missouri hotel was for many years the place chosen for banquets and for balls. There it was his admiring fellow citizens entertained Barton with a grand dinner when he returned from making his great speech in the Senate. St. Patrick's Day was celebrated with banquets in the Missouri hotel. Expeditions were planned there; principals and seconds met to send challenges and to receive, acceptances. Gen. William Henry Harrison, afterwards President; and Gen. Zachary Taylor, also afterwards President; and Gen. Winfield Scott, who tried to become but was not President, were guests at the Missouri hotel.

Isaac Walker became the owner of the Missouri hotel by sale from John F. Darby in 1835 a "d owned it for many years. He had a controversy with a man to whom he rented the hotel for operation — tavern keeper as he was called in that day. Walker complained about the manner in which the tavern keeper was conducting the place; he said this man "was not fit to keep tavern; that his butter was so strong he could hang his hat on it." The tavern keeper sued Mr. Walker for slander and employed Uriel Wright, the orator, to take his case.