In 1763, a trading company led by Pierre Laclede, who along with his stepson Auguste Chouteau set out in August of that year to build a fur trading post near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
The settlement of St. Louis was named after Louis IX of France and was established at a site south of the confluence on the west bank of the Mississippi on February 15, 1764, by Chouteau and a group of about 30 men.
Laclede arrived at the site by mid-1764 and provided detailed plans for the village, including a street grid and market area.
It attracted French settlers leaving Illinois when Britain took control east of the Mississippi. The city grew in population due to its location as a trading post on the Mississippi River, as the western fur trade was lucrative.
The city played a small role in the American Revolutionary War and became part of the U.S. through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.