Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/570

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546 SAINT LOUIS SAINT LUCIA It hag a very valuable museum, philosophical and chemical apparatus, and a library of more than 16,500 volumes. The select libraries open to the students form a separate collection of more than 8,000 volumes. The university has a classical course of six years, a commercial course of four years, and a preparatory class. The number of instructors in 1874-'5 was 22; of students, 353. Washington university, in- corporated in 1853, is intended to embrace the whole range of university studies, except the- ological. It comprises the academy, essential- ly a preparatory school to the higher depart- ments, with a primary class ; the Mary insti- tute, organized in 1859; the college, 1859; the O'Fallon polytechnic institute, or polytechnic school, 1857; and the St. Louis law school, 1867. The college course is similar to that of other American colleges. The Mary insti- tute is a female seminary, with studies of all grades. In the polytechnic school there are five regular courses, each occupying four years, viz. : civil engineering, mechanical engineer- ing, chemistry, mining and metallurgy, and building and architecture. An evening school is conducted by the O'Fallon institute under the supervision and control of the board of public schools. The number of instructors and students in the different departments in 1874-'5 was as follows : DEPARTMENTS. Inttrncton. St. :.n:-. Acadomy 28 831 Man' institute IT Ml College 5 80 Polytechnic school (exclusive of evening school) 18 83 Law school 8 67 Total (deducting repetitions).. 58 700 The college has a library of 5,500 volumes, the polytechnic school one of 30,000 volumes, and the law school one of upward of 2,500 volumes. The college of the Christian Brothers (Roman Catholic) was chartered in 1855 and organized in 1859. It has a library of 10,000 volumes. Concordia college and theological seminary (German Evangelical Lutheran) was organized in 1839 and chartered in 1853. It has a library of 4,500 volumes. The Missouri institution for the education of the blind was established in 1851. The academy of science, founded in 1856, has a large museum and a library of 3,000 volumes. Other libraries are the mercantile, 43,000 volumes ; St. John's cir- culating library, 27,000; and the law library, in the court house, 7,100. The Missouri his- torical society, established in 1865, has a large historical collection. The newspapers and periodicals are as follows : 10 daily (4 Ger- man), 4 tri-weekly, 1 semi-weekly, 32 week- ly (5 German), 5 semi-monthly (1 German), 28 monthly (2 German), 1 bi-monthly, and 3 quarterly. There are 162 churches and mis- sions, viz. : 16 Baptist (6 colored), 3 Christian, 4 Congregational, 15 Episcopal (1 colored), 1 Evangelical Lutheran, 1 Free Methodist, 1 Friends', 9 German Evangelical, 12 German Evangelical Lutheran, 2 Independent Evangel- ical Protestant, 4 Jewish, 13 Methodist Episco- pal (4 colored), 9 Methodist Episcopal, South, 2 New Jerusalem (1 German), 23 Presbyterian, 38 Roman Catholic, 2 Unitarian, and 7 mis- cellaneous. In 1762 M. d'Abbadie, director general of Louisiana, granted to a company of merchants, of whom Pierre Ligueste Lacle'de was the leader, the exclusive right of trade with the Indians on the Missouri. This com- pany after careful examination established themselves on the present site of St. Louis, Feb. 15, 1764, and erected a large house and four stores. In 1770 the number of settlers had increased to 40 families, and a small gar- rison was maintained. On Aug. 11, 1768, a company of Spanish troops under Capt. Rios took possession of it in the name of the king of Spain, under whose sway it remained till the cession of Louisiana in 1800 to France, which in 1803 sold the territory to the United States. In 1780 an unsuccessful attack, sup- posed to have been instigated by the British, was made upon it by a considerable body of Indians. For many years it was only a tra- ding post for the fur traders, and the furs collected there reached an annual value of about $200,000 at the beginning of the pres- ent century. It was incorporated as a town in 1809. The first newspaper was published in 1808, the first brick house erected in 1818, and the first bank established in 1816. In 1817 the first steamboat arrived, and the same year the first board of school trustees was formed. In 1822 St. Louis was chartered as a city. The growth of Illinois, which began to be rapid after 1825, gave St. Louis its first great im- pulse ; and the ascent of steamers to the Great falls soon created a thriving trade, which be- gan to assume magnificent proportions in 1840. The city suffered from cholera in 1882, and from cholera and fire in 1849. In 1851 the first railroad was begun, and to the extension of its railroad facilities is mainly due its rapid growth since that date. By a legislative act of 1867, taking effect in 1870, Carondelet, ad- joining it on the south, was annexed to the city. SADiT Ll'CIA, an English island of the West Indies, in the Windward group, between St. Vincent and Martinique, crossed by the paral- lel of 14 N. and the meridian of 61 W. ; length 26 m., breadth 11 m. ; area, 248 sq. m. ; pop. about 33,000. The surface is mountainous, with a small plain near the S. end and marsh- es on the coast. Two conical mountains rise abruptly out of the sea on the W. side to ele- vations of 2,680 and 2,710 ft. ; an extinct vol- cano 1,000 ft. high, containing an inexhausti- ble mass of sulphur, occupies the S. W. part of the island. The soil is fertile; the moun- tains are clothed with forests containing valu- able timber and dyewoods; the valleys are well watered, yielding abundant crops of sugar cane and cacao. The average annual value