Robert Campbell. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N38642]

Robert Campbell’s lengthy life bridged the transition from fur trade to modern capitalistic…

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…

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Henri Peyroux de Ia Coudrenière was born in France around 1743, the son of Marguerite-…

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

Jeffrey Deroine (pronounced Der-oh-NAY…

Louis William DuBourg. [Georgetown University Archives, Booth Family Center for Special Collections, Washington, DC]

William DuBourg was a formidable force for Catholicism and for education in the early…

1.	This lithograph depicts Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne late in life. No known photographs of Sister Duchesne are known to exist.

Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French pioneer missionary on the American frontier, was born on…

Aerial of Fort Osage

Established in 1808 under the superintendence of…

This depiction of colonial Ste. Genevieve by artist Oscar Berninghaus is among the murals in the Missouri State Capitol. [State Historical Society of Missouri, color transparency in Ralph Walker Photographs Collection, P0108-017298-1]

The French Revolution induced many royalists to emigrate to the Louisiana Territory in the…