St. Louis

===20th century===
{{Main|History of St. Louis (1905–1980)}}
[[File:Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition_St._Louis_1904.jpg|thumb|The Government Building at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition|1904 World's Fair]]]]

In 1900, the entire streetcar system was shut down by a [[St. Louis streetcar strike of 1900|several months-long strike]], with significant unrest occurring in the city & violence against the striking workers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arenson |first=Adam |title=The great heart of the republic: St. Louis and the cultural Civil War |date=2015 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0-8262-2064-6 |edition=1st |location=Columbia (Mo.)}}</ref>

In 1904, the city hosted the [[1904 World's Fair|World's Fair]] and the [[1904 Summer Olympics|Olympics]], becoming the first non-European city to host the games.<ref name="1904 Olympics">{{cite web |title=1904 Summer Olympics |publisher=International Olympic Committee |url=http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1904 |access-date=April 20, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080815120301/http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1904 |archive-date=August 15, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> The formal name for the 1904 World's Fair was the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]]. Permanent facilities and structures remaining from the fair are located in [[Forest Park (St. Louis)|Forest Park]], and other notable structures within the park's boundaries include the [[Saint Louis Art Museum|St. Louis Art Museum]], the [[Saint Louis Zoo|St. Louis Zoo]] and the [[Missouri History Museum]], as well as Tower Grove Park and the Botanical Gardens.

After the Civil War, social and racial discrimination in housing and employment were common in St. Louis. In 1916, during the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow Era]], St. Louis passed a residential segregation ordinance<ref>Primm, James. ''Lion of the Valley: St. Louis, Missouri, 1764-1980''. St. Louis, Missouri: Missouri History Museum Press. 1998. Print</ref> saying that if 75% of the residents of a neighborhood were of a certain race, no one from a different race was allowed to move in.<ref>Smith, Jeffrey. "A Preservation Plan for St. Louis Part I: Historic Contexts" St. Louis, Missouri Cultural Resources Office. Web. Retrieved November 13, 2014.</ref> That ordinance was struck down in a court challenge, by the NAACP,<ref>NAACP. Papers of the NAACP Part 5. The Campaign against Residential Segregation. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America. 1986. Web</ref> after which racial covenants were used to prevent the sale of houses in certain neighborhoods to "persons not of Caucasian race".{{Clarify|date=December 2021|reason=Who are these racists and in what way did racial covenants restrict house sales?}} Again, St. Louisans offered a lawsuit in challenge, and such covenants were ruled unconstitutional by the [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1948 in ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]''.<ref>"Shelley House". We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement. National Park Service. Retrieved November 10, 2014.</ref>

In 1926, [[Douglass University]], a [[historically black university]] was founded by [[Benjamin F. Bowles|B. F. Bowles]] in St. Louis, and at the time no other college in St. Louis County admitted black students.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Early |first=Gerald Lyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRLhcVs_pJUC |title=Ain't But a Place: An Anthology of African American Writings about St. Louis |date=1998 |publisher=Missouri History Museum |isbn=978-1-883982-28-7 |pages=307–314 |language=en}}</ref>

In the first half of the 20th century, St. Louis was a destination in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of African Americans from the rural South seeking better opportunities. During [[World War II]], the [[NAACP]] campaigned to integrate war factories. In 1964, [[Civil and political rights|civil rights activists]] protested at the construction of the Gateway Arch to publicize their effort to gain entry for African Americans into the skilled trade unions, where they were underrepresented. The Department of Justice filed the first suit against the unions under the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].

Between 1900 and 1929, St. Louis, had about 220 automakers, close to 10 percent of all American carmakers, about half of which built cars exclusively in St. Louis. Notable names include Dorris, Gardner and Moon.<ref>Hemmings, American City Business Journals, accessed January 22, 2022 [https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/the-best-of-the-little-three-1903-st-louis-runabout] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124144740/https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/the-best-of-the-little-three-1903-st-louis-runabout|date=January 24, 2022}}</ref>

In the first part of the century, St. Louis had some of the worst [[air pollution in the United States]]. In April 1940, the city banned the use of soft coal mined in nearby states. The city hired inspectors to ensure that only [[anthracite]] was burned. By 1946, the city had reduced air pollution by about 75%.<ref>{{cite news|last1=O'Neil|first1=Tim|title=Nov. 28 1939: The day 'Black Tuesday' rolled into St. Louis|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/nov-the-day-black-tuesday-rolled-into-st-louis/article_00c3b6cd-ba69-5a19-b498-fbc29f9630c4.html|access-date=December 8, 2016|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=November 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202041856/http://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/nov-the-day-black-tuesday-rolled-into-st-louis/article_00c3b6cd-ba69-5a19-b498-fbc29f9630c4.html|archive-date=December 2, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:FromLacledesLanding.JPG|thumb|upright|View of the [[Gateway Arch|Arch]] (completed 1965) from [[Laclede's Landing]], the remaining section of St. Louis's commercial riverfront]]

''[[De jure]]'' educational segregation continued into the 1950s, and ''[[de facto]]'' segregation continued into the 1970s, leading to a court challenge and interdistrict desegregation agreement. Students have been bused mostly from the city to county school districts to have opportunities for integrated classes, although the city has created magnet schools to attract students.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/freigovel.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040621102044/http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/freigovel.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 21, 2004|title=St. Louis: Desegregation and School Choice in the Land of Dred Scott|access-date=October 1, 2010}}</ref>

St. Louis, like many [[Midwestern]] cities, expanded in the early 20th century due to industrialization, which provided jobs to new generations of immigrants and migrants from the South. It reached its peak population of 856,796 at the 1950 census.<ref name="heritage">{{cite web|url=http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/History69/|title=Physical Growth of the City of St. Louis|access-date=July 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726220826/http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/History69/|archive-date=July 26, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Suburbanization]] from the 1950s through the 1990s dramatically reduced the city's population, as did restructuring of industry and loss of jobs. The effects of suburbanization were exacerbated by the small geographical size of St. Louis due to its earlier decision to become an independent city, and it lost much of its tax base. During the 19th and 20th century, most major cities aggressively annexed surrounding areas as residential development occurred away from the central city; however, St. Louis was unable to do so.

Several [[urban renewal]] projects were built in the 1950s, as the city worked to replace old and substandard housing. Some of these were poorly designed and resulted in problems. One prominent example, [[Pruitt–Igoe]], became a symbol of failure in public housing, and was torn down less than two decades after it was built.

Since the 1980s, several revitalization efforts have focused on [[Downtown St. Louis]].