ST. LOUIS - Along with the City of St. Louis, several cities in the St. Louis metropolitan area have some variation of a "Saint" name, a curious pattern that often leaves people asking, "Why?"

When the City of St. Louis was founded in 1764, French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau established a settlement along the Mississippi River as a trading post. At the time, the land was under French control, and it was customary to name new settlements in honor of French royalty or saints.

The settlers chose “St. Louis” to honor of King Louis IX, a 13th-century crusader and medieval monarch well revered in French Catholic circles.

And over time, a similar trend played out in surrounding communities, where cities were established and named in honor of Catholic saints, reflecting a st

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