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'''St. Louis''' is a city in the state of [[Missouri]] and the only [[independent city]] in that state. Its estimated population as of 2006 was about 347,000. [http://www.city-data.com/city/St.-Louis-Missouri.html] It sits on the western bank of the [[Mississippi River]], and is famous for its [[Gateway Arch]], which serves as a monument to American expansion westward. The city also hosted the 1904 World's Fair, where the ice cream cone was first introduced to the world.

'''St. Louis''' is a city in the state of [[Missouri]] and the only [[independent city]] in that state. Its estimated population as of 2006 was about 347,000. [http://www.city-data.com/city/St.-Louis-Missouri.html] It sits on the western bank of the [[Mississippi River]], and is famous for its Gateway Arch, which serves as a monument to American expansion westward. The city also hosted the 1904 World's Fair, where the ice cream cone was first introduced to the world.

Once a thriving metropolis on the banks of the Mississippi, St. Louis has decayed into a ghostly landscape of vacant houses, boarded-up storefronts, and abandoned factories. The Gateway City has become one of the most depopulated, deindustrialized, and [[segregation|segregated]] examples of American urban decay. The city's decay stems from multiple causes, ranging from private real estate [[zoning]] restrictions, poor local planning and zoning decisions, and [[Nanny state]] federal housing policies that led to a "white flight" of [[middle class]]es from the central city. A generation of [[liberal]] "urban renewal," aimed at eradicating blight, made it worse. The city's notorious high rise public housing units were finally dynamited.  

Once a thriving metropolis on the banks of the Mississippi, St. Louis has decayed into a ghostly landscape of vacant houses, boarded-up storefronts, and abandoned factories. The Gateway City has become one of the most depopulated, deindustrialized, and [[segregation|segregated]] examples of American urban decay. The city's decay stems from multiple causes, ranging from private real estate [[zoning]] restrictions, poor local planning and zoning decisions, and [[Nanny state]] federal housing policies that led to a "white flight" of [[middle class]]es from the central city. A generation of [[liberal]] "urban renewal," aimed at eradicating blight, made it worse. The city's notorious high rise public housing units were finally dynamited.