For seventh-generation St. Louisan Andy Hahn, maps are a critical part of understanding urban growth and family history.
“No good book of history can really tell the story properly without using some maps,” he told St. Louis on the Air. “Maps are cool tools to help you understand, spatially, how people lived, where they went to school and shopped, and how close they lived to each other.”
Hahn’s new book, “Mapping St. Louis: A History of the Gateway City in 40 Rare Maps,” features 40 rare maps chronicling the city's rich history from its founding in the 1760s to the present day.
The book begins with an image of a 1767 survey by Spain that features part of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, as well as the St. Louis mounds flanking the Mississippi River’s banks. It’s considered the first map of St. Louis.
At the time, the area was a new Spanish colony. Spain acquired France’s territory as part of the French and Indian War settlement.
“The Spanish were coming up here to take stock of what their new colony was,” Hahn said. “[The map] tells the story of St. Louis as a new city or village, [and shows] that there were already people in the St. Louis area before St. Louis was here, specifically on the east side. … On the east side, you see the Village of Cahokia, which actually is bigger than St Louis.”
Other notable maps include an 1804 one depicting St. Louis under three flags, the highly detailed “Pictorial St. Louis” map published in 1875 by Compton and Dry and others that highlight significant events including the 1896 tornado that killed at least 305 people and the Great Fire of 1849 that burned 15 city blocks along the riverfront and destroyed 23 steamboats.
“The fire changed the direction of what's now downtown St. Louis and how it was growing,” Hahn said. “[The map] makes the disaster seem more real and maybe more powerful. If you can see it charted on a map, you can see where the destruction was.”
For more on the rare maps included in “Mapping St. Louis,” including a 2017 illustrated map of St. Louis museums and a fantasy map created in 2020 that imagines more than 200 MetroLink stations, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
