St. Louis History: A Regional Exploration

3 units

This course considers the development of St. Louis metropolitan history in light of its 250th anniversary and recent tumultuous years. It will explore how this river town grew into the fourth largest city and the evolution of its hinterlands divided into a hundred municipalities. The focus of the course will include the changing built environment and the influences of the landscape from the rivers to the red clay. It will give attention to the region's social history and the shifting status of race, class and ethnicity. Students will read primary and secondary sources to understand why the region looks the way it does today.