SAINT LOUIS 



5160 



SAINT LOUIS 



Louis, Glen Echo, Florissant. IVlle Rive and 

 Sunset Inn are the prominent country clubs. 



Education. The public school system of 

 Saint Louis is not excelled by any in the 

 Union, and it is noted for its modern, artistic 

 buildings. There are five high schools for white 

 children and a high school and a normal school 

 for colored pupils. The first permanent kin- 

 D in connection with the public schools, 

 and the first public kindergarten training school 

 for li.-lud here in 1873 by 



W. T. Harris, superintendent of public schools, 

 who later became United .States Commissioner 

 of Education. Foremost among the institu- 

 tions for advancMl education is Washington 

 University (founded in 1853 as Eliot Seminary), 

 which includes Smith's Academy and Mary In- 

 -titute (for girls), and has schools of fine arts, 

 law, social economy and manual training. Saint 

 Louis University was founded in 1829 by the 

 Jesuits, and is the foremost school of this Order 

 in the United States; the Christian Brothers' 

 College, David Ranken School of Mechanic 

 Trades, Kenrick Seminary (Roman Catholic) 

 and Concordia Theological Seminary (Lutheran) 

 dl schools for the higher education of men. 

 Forest Park University, Visitation Academy, 

 Sacred Heart Convent, Loretto Academy and 

 Ursuline Convent are devoted to the education 

 of young women exclusively. The city also has 

 the Missouri School for the Blind, the Saint 

 Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons and 

 a number of law and medical schools. Besides 

 the handsome new public library, which con- 

 tains more than 415,000 volumes and toward 

 which Andrew Carnegie contributed $1,000,000, 

 there are the Mercantile Library and the libra- 

 ries of the Missouri Historical Society (housed 

 in the Jefferson Memorial Building), of the 

 Academy of Science and the Medical Society. 



Benevolent Institutions. Public charity is 

 provided by the city dispensary, an insane 

 asylum, a poorhouse and a municipal lodging 

 house, and by the industrial school, a reform 

 school for boys and girls. A juvenile court was 

 established in 1903. Barnes Hospital, opened 

 in 1915, is one of the largest and best-equipped 

 institutions of its kind in the United States; 

 it is modeled after the noted Johns Hopkins 

 Hospital in Baltimore. Saint John's, Saint 

 Luke's, Saint Anthony's, Jewish and Saint Ann's 

 Maternity hospitals are the best known of a 

 number of modern, excellently-equipped insti- 

 tutions. Saint Vincent's Asylum, in the vicinity, 

 has a wide reputation for the skilled treat- 

 ment of the insane. 



Commerce. Through its central location and 

 ptional shipping facilities, Saint Louis has 

 become a foremost commercial center in the 

 itest agricultural valley in the world. Be- 

 fore the Eads Bridge was built in 1869-1874 

 (see subhead under EADS, JAMES BUCHANAN), 

 the Mississippi River was the most important 

 factor in the commercial life of the city, and 

 though the growth of railroad construction has 

 caused a decline in water commerce, there is 

 still a considerable trade with cities on the 

 Mississippi River and its tributaries. 



Communication with all parts of the country 

 and with Canada and Mexico is afforded by 

 the following railway lines with their connec- 

 tions: the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern; 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago & 

 Alton; Chicago & Eastern Illinois; Chicago, 

 Peoria & Saint Louis; Chicago, Rock Island & 

 Pacific ; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & Saint 

 Louis; Columbia & Waterloo; Frisco Lines; 

 Illinois Central; Louisville & Nashville; Louis- 

 ville, Henderson & Saint Louis; Missouri, Kan- 

 sas & Texas; Missouri Pacific; Mobile & Ohio; 

 Pennsylvania Lines; Saint Louis, Iron Moun- 

 tain & Southern; Saint Louis Southwestern; 

 Southern; Toledo, Saint Louis & Western; and 

 Wabash. All railroad trains "back in" to the 

 colossal Union Station, one of the largest uni- 

 fied passenger and freight terminals in the 

 world, which, with its thirty-two tracks, covers 

 eleven acres; trains from the East enter the 

 city over the Eads' and Merchants' bridges. 

 Electric lines communicate with adjacent cities 

 and towns, and the McKinley interurban elec- 

 tric railway, which operates between cities and 

 towns in Illinois, enters Saint Louis over the 

 McKinley Bridge. The Municipal Bridge is in 

 course of erection. 



Industry and Manufacture. Saint Louis be- 

 gan its existence as a fur-trading post, and 

 though it has attained a foremost rank in other 

 branches of industry, it has always nurtured the 

 first shoot of its commercial tree, and now is 

 one of the greatest primary fur markets in the 

 world and one of the largest fur-sale markets 

 in the Union. The fur sale held here in Janu- 

 ary, 1917, was the largest in the history of the 

 United States. The city has one of the great- 

 est horse and mule markets in the world, and 

 an equally important tobacco market. West of 

 New York there is no greater distributing point 

 for dry goods and shoes, and the city holds 

 high rank as a wool and interior cotton market. 



Although it is preeminently a distributing 

 and commercial point, it ranks fourth in the 



