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Although Alexander Buckner served in Missouri’s 1820 Constitutional Convention, the state…

William C. Carr. Portrait by George Caleb Bingham. [Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1970.156]

William C. Carr, one of the first attorneys to practice law in Missouri, was born in…

Joseph Charless. [Thomas J. Scharf, History of St. Louis City and County, vol. 2, 1883]

Joseph Charless, the first printer in St. Louis and father of journalism west of the…

Auguste Chouteau. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, 1869-001-0001]

In the early history of St. Louis and its trans-­Mississippi hinterlands, Auguste Chouteau…

Jean Pierre Chouteau Sr. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N22207]

Jean Pierre Chouteau, known as Pierre, was a pioneer settler in St. Louis and the territory…

Francois M. Guyol de Guiran created this portrait of Marie Therese Bourgeois Chouteau, the “founding mother” of St. Louis, in 1810. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MHS Objects Collection, 1950-084-0002]

Marie Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau was born in New Orleans on January 14, 1733, but she was…

Pierre Chouteau Jr. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, 1922-024-0001]

Pierre Chouteau Jr., scion of the powerful early St. Louis family and the most influential…

Portrait of William Clark by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1807–1809. [Courtesy of the Independence National Historical Park]

William Clark, the celebrated explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis

Painting titled Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe, by George Catlin, 1834. [Smithsonian American Art Museum, SAAM-1985.66.29_1]

Following the death of Clermont (Gra-Mon or “Arrow-Going-Home”) in 1796, his son, also…

Jeffrey Deroine (second from right) with Ioways. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Robert Wright Photograph Collection, P0011]

Jeffrey Deroine (pronounced Der-oh-NAY…