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It was founded to be a shipping point for the nearby Maramec Iron Works, which were the first commercial iron works west of the [[Mississippi River]] (the site is on the National Register of Historic Places). The city is currently in the heart of Missouri's wine country; several wineries are located in or around the city including the St. James Winery, which has won numerous awards and of which one family member has served as Missouri's Director of Agriculture.
It was founded to be a shipping point for the nearby Maramec Iron Works, which were the first commercial iron works west of the [[Mississippi River]] (the site is on the National Register of Historic Places). The city is currently in the heart of Missouri's wine country; several wineries are located in or around the city including the St. James Winery, which has won numerous awards and of which one family member has served as Missouri's Director of Agriculture.
==History==
The St. James region was first settled during the antebellum era, and was originally known as Big Prairie, due to the patch of natural grassland on which it was located. A town was first laid out in 1859, in anticipation of the arrival of the Pacific Railroad from [[St. Louis]]; as many of the early settlers were from [[Ohio]], it was first named Scioto, after one of the cities in that state. The following year, however, it was renamed St. James, in an oblique reference not to the apostle [[Saint James]], but to Thomas James, an Ohioan who operated the Meramec Iron Works nearby and intended to use the town as a shipping point for its products.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2366/phelps-county</ref>
The city prospered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thanks first to the activity of the iron works--though it eventually went into decline--and its proximity to the railroad, as well as the philanthropy of the James family, whose members (especially Thomas James' great-granddaughter, Lucy Wortham James) established a number of public institutions and parks, including Meramec Spring Park, giving it a rather bucolic appearance. For this reason, St. James is sometimes called "Forest City of the Ozarks."<ref>https://www.missouritrout.com/mrslwjames.html</ref> The city stood out in another way with the election of Mayme H. Ousley in 1921, the first woman to be elected mayor of a Missouri town. The city hall was named in her honor in 2013.<ref>[https://www.therolladailynews.com/article/20130309/News/130308898 St. James City Hall named after first female mayor]</ref>
Beginning in the 1970s, a new development occurred in the area with the development of several wineries, most notably St. James Winery just north of town along Interstate 44. Especially in recent years, these award-winning and widely-known vineyards have drawn wine connoisseurs to the region, providing a significant boost to the city's economy.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Missouri Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:Missouri Cities and Towns]]