St. Louis, Missouri is the home of great Jazz city. It is also home to 355,663 residents in the city and 2,822,118 people in the greater metropolitan area. Of course the city was named after the French King Louis IX and sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Originally French, it was founded in 1763. It was a city that offered a gateway to the west and was one of the main cities where pioneers departed on their perilous journey towards the Pacific. It is the nation’s East/West Divide.
For a city of its size, it has an unusually large number of big corporations calling it home. Located here are Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Energizer headquarters, Enterprise Rent-A-Car headquarters, Emerson, Monsanto and many others. Boeing has a major defense unit in the city. The business directory of the city holds the numbers of high-tech companies and defense industry firms as well as shopping, restaurants and entertainment venues like Laclede’s Landing in the heart of the downtown entertainment district.
The city has developed into a prime healthcare and medical research center, with companies such as CMS, Inc., SSM Health Care, Tenet Healthcare and several world renowned hospitals providing research in conjunction with schools, such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine.
Gateway Arch and the St. Louis Zoological Park are major attractions. Cultural venues include the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra playing at Powell Hall, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Theatre District called Grand Center, Saint Louis which is home to touring companies and regional theatre in venues such as the Sun, Fox Theatre, the Saint Louis Black Repertory Theatre Company and many more. Visitors will find ticket information and box office numbers in the Missouri yellow pages or in print.