St. Louis

St. Louis exists because of a gateway that closed. In February 1764, French fur trader Pierre Laclède and 13-year-old Auguste Chouteau founded a trading post near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers—one of the most strategic locations in North America, connecting the northern Rockies to Pittsburgh, Minnesota to New Orleans. Lewis and Clark launched their expedition from here in 1804. St. Louis became the 'Gateway to the West,' the economic and political center of westward expansion.

Then Chicago built a canal. The 1848 Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, and suddenly travelers could bypass the river confluence at St. Louis entirely. Chicago's population tripled in six years while St. Louis watched commerce reroute through its upstart rival. The Gateway began to close.

St. Louis reinvented itself as an industrial center: Anheuser-Busch (beer), Monsanto (chemicals), McDonnell Douglas (aircraft), Ralston Purina (pet food). But the 20th century brought acquisition after acquisition. InBev bought Anheuser-Busch. Boeing absorbed McDonnell Douglas. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $66 billion—the largest all-cash offer on record. Nestlé acquired Ralston Purina. The local corporate pillars that survived the Gateway's closure didn't survive globalization.

Today, St. Louis loses population faster than any major American city—21,700 residents between 2020 and 2024 alone. The city proper holds just 301,578 people. The economy remains 'flat,' the outlook 'slightly pessimistic' according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The 630-foot Gateway Arch, built in 1965, commemorates a role the city no longer plays.

By 2026, St. Louis confronts what happens when a gateway becomes a detour. The Cortex Innovation Community attracts tech tenants; Washington University and Barnes Jewish Hospital anchor healthcare and education. But the pattern is unmistakable: a city that once controlled passage now watches traffic flow elsewhere. Not every gateway stays open.