by Shane Hampton

Created on: January 16, 2009   Last Updated: January 24, 2009

Since the mid-1800s, St. Louis, Missouri has been a significant city in the United States. Throughout much of its history it was the Gateway to the West, the largest and most important city of the entire western portion of the United States. Because of this culturally rich history, St. Louis has been left with a legacy of great historic sites, including homes, old government buildings, and parks.

St. Louis was the home to many explorers and entrepreneurs who made their lives in the burgeoning West. In St. Louis today, many of the mansions and homes that once belonged to important historical figures are now museums restored to look just as they might have when they were first constructed, a great way to look back at the day-to-day lives of 19th-Century elites.

The Campbell House at 15th and Locust in downtown St. Louis is a mansion built in 1851 for the family of a wealthy fur trader. Today, it is fully restored as a museum accurately reflecting Victorian-era life, including many possessions that actually belonged to the Campbell family. Guided tours are available Wednesday-Saturday, 10-4, or Sunday, 12-4, and admission costs $6.

The Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion is a unique home that was built by two very different families. The first was the family of French fur hunter Henri Chatillon, who built a modest 4-room farmhouse in 1848. Later, the home was purchased by a doctor and drugstore operator named Nicolas DeMenil. DeMenil dramatically expanded the home into a mansion in the Greek Revival style, with imposing pillars adorning the front entry. The museum is found at the corner of Cherokee and DeMenil in Benton Park. In addition to artifacts related to the home, the museum features a large collection of memorabilia from the 1904 World's Fair, which was a huge event held at the peak importance of St. Louis. Guided tours are given Tuesday-Saturday, 10-4, and admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children.

By far the most popular among the historic homesites of St. Louis is Grant's Farm, originally owned by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in the mid-1800s. In the late 1800s, the Busch family of the Anheuser-Busch beer company purchased the property for their farmstead. On the site today, visitors will find a log cabin built mostly by Grant himself, a wildlife area full of exotic animals, the historic Bavarian-style home of the Busch family, and a stable full of the famous Clydesdale horses owned by the Anheuser-Busch company. The best part is that admission is completely

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