Chouteau's Journal: In His Own Words examines Auguste Chouteau's 14-page, handwritten account of St. Louis’s founding on February 14, 1764. Chouteau was known as a raconteur and is considered the founding father of St. Louis. His journal is a rare, eyewitness account of the activities surrounding the city's founding; very few cities in the world have a first-person account of its founding.
His well-told tale was written 40 years after events transpired when Chouteau was one of St. Louis’s leading citizens. The journal now resides in a climate-controlled vault located at the University of Missouri-St. Louis's St. Louis Mercantile Library.
This 2014 special includes accounts of fellow traveler Pierre Laclede, who was on the same trip with Chouteau from New Orleans to St. Louis, looking for a place to set up a business. The area was rich in lead mining, farming, and fur trade.
It was a time and place in U.S. history unlike any other, prerevolution, when Spain and Britain claimed rights to the land west and east of the Mississippi, respectively.
Watch this special on Monday, February 12 at 7 pm on Nine PBS and livestream.
Stream below or on the PBS Video App.
Contributed by Lynanne Feilen, Communications Manager.
