Louis County is located in eastern Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. At the census , the total population was 1,,, [ 1 ] making it the most populous county in Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. Louis, MOβIL metropolitan statistical area. After Great Britain took over former French territory east of the Mississippi River, many ethnic French colonists moved west.
They settled the area of St. Louis County and founded the city of St. Louis in the late s. The US acquired this territory in with the Louisiana Purchase. In residents of the City of St. Louis voted to separate from the county and become an independent city. In the s, with growing suburban development of Greater St. Louis , the county's population overtook that of the city for the first time.
Restructuring of industry resulted in job and population declines in the city, and the county has continued to expand. Through the decades changing conditions have led many business and political leaders to propose merging the city and county as a single government. In , efforts to put the issue to a statewide vote failed to get on a ballot. During the 18th century, several European colonial settlements were established in the area that would become St. Louis County. It also ceded much of its territory west of the River to Spain.
It was annexed by the city in Ferdinand, was established in about twelve miles northwest of St. Louis on a tributary of the Missouri River. Upon the sale and transfer of French Louisiana to the United States on October 1, , President Thomas Jefferson suggested the territory retain the districts drawn by Spanish officials during their decades-long rule of the territory after an arrangement with the French. Louis County was established following the earlier Spanish governors.
Louis was renamed St. Louis County exactly eight years after its establishment during a federal reorganization of the Louisiana Territory's status. After the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the authority to grant incorporation to municipalities was delegated to the Territory and later was a state power. Louis County was St.
