About This Place
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Black Wealth and Influence

About This Place, also, Black Wealth and Influence. . , About This Place, Native Land , This place along the river has been home to many generations of people. For hundreds of years, the Osage Nation, Illinois Confederation, Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and many other Native American Peoples including those who were forced to leave their homelands have lived here along the Mississippi River where a lush forest once grew at the river's edge with fertile prairies surrounding streams throughout the city before colonization by European Americans. Many Native American Peoples continue their relationships with the river today. What is your relationship with the river?, Home on the River , In the early 1900s, over 1,000 St. Louisans lived in a lively community built of makeshift homes and boats at the edge of the river. Who lives along the river now?, Sweet Treats , From 1910 to 2007, the Switzer's Licorice factory stood where Katherine Ward Burg Garden is today. , Black Wealth and Influence, Rhythms of the River , The levee was the heart of St. Louis commerce from the city's founding through the late 19th century, and it helped shape the city's culture. This was one of the prime sites where musical inspiration and invention took place. W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues, one of the most famous American songs of all time, originated in experiences he had struggling to survive on the St. Louis levee. In the early 20th century, the river helped to spread blues and jazz music throughout the country. How does music spread today?, Aristocracy , Cyprian Clamorgan's 1858 book The Colored Aristocracy of St. Louis profiled his wealthy Black peers and entrepreneurs, who persevered to succeed in a slave state before the Civil War. His family's own fortune came from selling the land you're on now.