St. Louis was founded in 1763 by French Traders who named the city for the King Louis IX of France. St. Louis was once the fourth largest city in the U. S. and the 1904 World’s Fair and 1904 Olympics took place during the City’s peak of influence. St. Louis is known as the “Gateway to the West,” because of its role in the westward expansion. In 1965, the famous Gateway Arch was constructed as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial operated by the National Park Service.
In 2008, the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center, a $26.4 million state of the art intermodal facility in downtown St. Louis, opened to serve Amtrak, Greyhound, light rail and city buses. In addition to easy intermodal connections, the station offers free Wi-Fi access, Amtrak’s Metropolitan Lounge for sleeping car passengers, and a food court offering a wide variety of selections.
Gateway station was funded fifty-fifty between the local and the federal government. Local resources came from a capital improvement sales tax and refinancing of bond issues. In November 2009, the city opened a long term parking lot a short distance from the station with a fee per day.
St. Louis Arch
Historically, railroad passengers departed and alighted from St. Louis Union Station, the largest and busiest train station in the world at the time of its construction in 1894, and today a National Historic Landmark. St. Louis Union station is one of the country’s greatest architectural treasures with its design being a Mélange of Romanesque styles.
St. Louis is a city full of attractions and has a vibrant culture. The St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Zoological Park, and the St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Fame Museum are just some of the many tourist attractions. St. Louis has long been associated with ragtime, jazz and blues and the city continues to offer a wide-array of entertainment and performing arts. Rock n roll artist Chuck Berry is a native St. Louisan, and continues to perform there several times a year.
