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Travelling the USA, Canada and Australia


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St. Louis (MO)

St. Louis, the largest city in Missouri and often called “The Gateway City,” was the starting point for the exploration of the completely unknown territories beyond the Mississippi River in the 19th century. This is where the Lewis and Clark expeditions began, and the entire further development of the West was also organized from here, with the railroad playing a key role. By 1920, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the USA; in 1904, it hosted the World’s Fair and – for the first time outside of Europe – the Summer Olympics.

St. Louis

St. Louis

The city’s landmark is the famous Gateway Arch, 192 meters high and symbolizing the “Gateway to the West.” Forest Park, larger than Central Park in New York, is the city’s green lung, with numerous museums, a zoo, and a wide range of leisure activities. With Laumeier Sculpture Park and Citygarden, a first-class sculpture and landscape park in the heart of downtown, the city has two outstanding destinations for lovers of modern art.

Less encouraging is the demographic development in St. Louis. While 850,000 people lived here in 1970, today the population is only 280,000 and continues to decline. The number of abandoned properties is estimated at 24,000, with around 9,000 abandoned or dilapidated buildings. Entire streets are deserted, the houses in danger of collapsing; the transitions to the better residential areas are fluid. The city is trying to stop this development with suitable (residential) projects; only time will tell whether this will succeed.