Founding of St. Louis
In 1755 Kerlerec gave Maxent exclusive rights to deal with Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.
Maxent's most ambitious effort was the formation of Maxent, Laclede and Company in which he gave 25 percent ownership to Pierre Laclède. In 1763 LaClede selected a site on a bluff above the west side Mississippi just south of the confluences for a settlement that was to be called St. Louis, Missouri. According to legend, work on clearing the site began on Valentine's Day 1764.
St. Louis was founded before news arrived that in the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the French and Indian War Spain would take over the Louisiana possessions of France on the west of the Mississippi River and that the British were to take over the east side of the river (officially administering what was to be Native American territories). After news arrived French settlers on the east side of the river moved to the west side at St. Louis.
Read more about this topic: Gilbert Antoine De St. Maxent
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