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St. Louis Levee
The city became one of the nation's leading centers for
processing and shipping agricultural produce, as well as for the manufacture of
farm equipment, following the development of agriculture on the fertile
lands of the upper Mississippi and Missouri valleys. In addition, the city's
economic growth was spurred by the coming of the railroads in the
1850s. By 1860 St. Louis was linked by railroad with Chicago and other large
markets east of the Mississippi River. The city's economic growth was paralleled
by a great increase in population. In 1840 St. Louis had 16,469 inhabitants; by
1860 its population had reached 160,773..."