page_title: History of St. Louis
section_title: Industrial and commercial growth
hierarchical_section_title: History of St. Louis / Fourth city status: 1866–1904 / Industrial and commercial growth
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Louis, 12th St. From Washington Ave. South, 1892
context_page_description: The history of St. Louis, Missouri began with the settlement of the St. Louis area by Native American mound builders who lived as part of the Mississippian culture from the 9th century to the 15th century, followed by other migrating tribal groups. Starting in the late 17th century, French explorers arrived. Spain took over in 1763 and a trading company led by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau established the settlement of St. Louis in February 1764. It attracted French settlers leaving Illinois after their defeat in the Seven Years' War. 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.
  With its connection through the Ohio River to the east, the Mississippi to the south and north, and the Missouri to the west, St. Louis was ideally located to become the main base of interregional trade. In the 1840s, it became a destination for massive immigration by Irish and Germans. Some native-born Americans reacted with fear to the newcomers, adopting nativist sentiments.
context_section_description: In 1880, the leading industries of St. Louis included brewing, flour milling, slaughtering, paper making, machining, and tobacco processing. Other industries including the manufacture of paint, bricks, and iron. During the 1880s, the city grew in population by 29 percent, from 350,518 to 451,770, making it the country's fourth largest city; it also ranked fourth as measured by value of its manufactured products, and more than 6,148 factories existed in 1890. However, during the 1890s, manufacturing growth slowed dramatically. The Panic of 1893 and subsequent depression and the overproduction of grain made St. Louis mills considerably less productive and valuable. Flour milling was halved and most other industries suffered similar declines.
  The introduction of the railroad in St. Louis helped spread the fortune and initialize much of this industrial success. With the completion of the Municipal Railroad System, St. Louis' manufacturers could get their products to consumers on the East Coast much faster than before.
  The brewing small industry took off with the arrival of Adam Lemp from Germany in 1842. He introduced lager beer, which quickly became the city's most popular choice. The industry expanded rapidly in the late 1850s, from 24 breweries in 1854 to 40 in 1860. Brewing became the city's largest industry by 1880, and St. Louis breweries were innovators.  Anheuser-Busch pioneered refrigerated railroad cars for beer transport and was the first company to market pasteurized bottled beer.
  St. Louis became home to whiskey distilleries. Several were at the heart of the Whiskey Ring during the early 1870s, a conspiracy that began among St. Louis distillers and federal tax officials to avoid paying excise taxes.  With  the breakup of the ring in May 1875, more than 100 conspirators were charged with fraud, including Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock. In early 1876, 110 conspirators were convicted of fraud. Babcock was the only defendant who was acquitted.
  The Ralston-Purina company, headed by the Danforth family, was headquartered in the city, and Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewery, remained a fixture of the city's economy into the 21st century. The city was home to both International Shoe and the Brown Shoe Company. St. Louis was also home to the Graham Paper Company, the oldest and largest paper company west of the Mississippi River.  The Desloge Consolidated Lead Company, the largest lead mining concern in the country, headed by the Desloge family, was headquartered downtown. In May 1874, the insurance companies of St. Louis founded the Underwriters Salvage Corps to reduce the impact of fires in the city.
  Among the downsides to rapid industrialization was pollution. Brick firing produced particulate air pollution and paint-making created lead dust, while beer and liquor brewing produced grain swill. The worst pollution was coal dust and smoke, for which St. Louis was infamous by the 1890s. The greatest number of complaints to the St. Louis Board of Health were due to industries engaged in rendering, which produced noxious fumes. In spite of this, pollution control was hindered by a desire to promote growth. One of the few controls began in 1880, in which regulations would be enforced strictly in some areas while little in others, thereby encouraging factories to concentrate in industrial districts.
  In addition to industrial growth, the 1880s and 1890s were a period of significant growth in downtown commercial building. The retail district was centered at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, while banking and business was centered to the south, at Fourth and Olive streets. During the 1890s, significant retailers and businesses moved westward; among the new buildings constructed as a result of this movement was the Wainwright Building. Designed by Louis Sullivan in 1891, the Wainwright was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction and remains an example of early skyscraper design.
caption: Industry along 12th St. and Washington Ave., 1892
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