This week’s #FridayFind is St. Louis’s Spanish roots!

St. Louis’s French history might be obvious by its name, and [locals] often think of a certain German brewer, but the Spanish influence on the Midwestern city is less obvious. Between the late 1600s when French settlers first “discovered” the region and the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the land that would become the state of Missouri traded hands between France and Spain several times. As such, when the United States took control of the region, they struggled to honor French and Spanish land grants. The 1856 plat map featured above depicts one such Spanish land grant.

Have a fun fact about St. Louis history? Send us an email to emma@backlog-archivists.com