How much do you know about St. Louis?

Most of us know that St. Louis is called the Gateway to the West and that the Gateway Arch is the world's tallest monument. Another well known fact is that St. Louis is home to the world's largest brewery, Anheuser Busch. Enjoy some St. Louis facts and learn a little more about the city named for Louis IX of France.

St. Louisans consume more barbecue sauce per capita than any other city in America.

The first lung cancer operation was performed in St. Louis.

The soft drink Dr. Pepper was introduced at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. 7-Up also was invented in St. Louis.

St. Louis was the site of the demonic possession incident that inspired the book, and later the movie, "The Exorcist."

The ice cream cone was invented at the 1904 World's Fair, as was iced tea. Hot dogs and hamburgers were introduced to a wide audience at the Fair.

St. Louis was once the largest shoe-manufacturing center in the world - home of Buster Brown and other famous brands.

The largest collection of mosaic art in the world graces the walls and ceilings at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in the Central West End neighborhood.

St. Louis is home to the oldest institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River - Saint Louis University.

Hawken Rifles and Murphy wagons, used by the western pioneers, were made in St. Louis.

The popular cocktails "Planter's Punch" and "Tom Collins" were invented at a St. Louis hotel, the Planter's House.

The custom of placing chocolates on hotel pillows begins here when the actor Cary Grant stayed at the Mayfair and used chocolate to woo a woman friend.

The first Jewish congregation west of the Mississippi was founded here as was the first library west of the Mississippi.

Famous writers including T.S. Eliot, Maya Angelou, William Gass, Tennessee Williams, Eugene Field and many others were from St. Louis.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is among the top three botanical gardens in the world.

The Arch isn't the only architectural wonder on the riverfront; completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge is the first tubular steel arch structure of its kind. Named for its designer James Buchanan Eads, it was the first bridge to span the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Eads Bridge is a National Historic Landmark. Eads also invented the diving bell to salvage steamboat wrecks from the Mississippi River and built the world's first ironclad boat in the Port of St. Louis.

St. Louis offers more major visitor attractions free of cost than anyplace outside of the nation's capital, including the Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Zoo, Cahokia Mounds, Museum of Westward Expansion, St. Louis Science Center, Missouri History Museum, Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Grant's Farm and more.

The first kindergarten in the U.S. was founded in St. Louis by Susan Blow.

Peanut Butter was invented here by a St. Louis doctor.

Famous musicians including Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Miles Davis, Albert King, David Sanborn, Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers) were from St. Louis. Missouri native Sheryl Crowe taught school in St. Louis.

St. Louis was the first American city to host the Olympic Games (1904).

Famous contemporary actors including John Goodman, Kevin Kline and Scott Bakula were born in St. Louis. Other famous actors and entertainers including Josephine Baker, Betty Grable, Vincent Price, Buddy Ebsen, Redd Foxx, Shelly Winters, Virginia Mayo and Marsha Mason called St. Louis home.

The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space capsules were built in St. Louis by McDonnell Douglas - now Boeing.

The world's first skyscraper - Louis Sullivan's Wainwright Building - was built in St. Louis.

Charles Lindbergh flew mail routes into St. Louis and named his plane "Spirit of St. Louis" to thank the businessmen who provided financial backing for his solo Trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

The nation's first interstate highway was constructed here.

The Mississippi River runs 2,350 miles from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The word "Mississippi" comes from the Anishinabe people (Ojibwe Indians). They called the river "Messipi" which means "Big River." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a navigation channel nine feet deep in the center of the river.

It's illegal to sit on the curb of any city street and drink beer from a bucket. This law is in reference to the now defunct "Hill Day" celebration, during which beer was served in buckets.

 

Here are a few facts about the St. Louis Arch

At 630 feet, it is the nation's tallest man-made monument. It is the 4th most-visited tourist attraction in the world.

The Arch is a catenary curve, the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and the most structurally-sound of all arch types. The span of the Arch legs at ground level is 630 feet, the same as its height.

Each year, over 1 million visitors take the tram rides to the top. The trams have been in operation for over 30 years, traveling a total of 250,000 miles and carrying over 25 million passengers.

The Arch weighs 17,246 tons. Nine hundred tons of stainless steel was used to build the Arch, more than any other project in history.

The Arch was built at a cost of $13 million. The transportation system was built at a cost of $2.5 million.

In order to ensure that the constructed legs would meet, the margin of error for failure was 1/64th of an inch. All survey work was done at night to help eliminate distortion caused by solar radiation. Pre-dating the computer age, relatively crude instruments were used for these measurements.

Construction began February 12, 1963, and the last piece was put into place on October 28, 1965.

The Arch sways a maximum of 18" (9" each way) in a 150 mph wind. The usual sway is ½".

It was predicted that 13 lives would be lost during Arch construction. There were no fatalities.

 

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