Chouteau's Pond, a large natural lake, once covered much of what is now the western edge of downtown St. Louis. In the early days of the city, this pond was a hub of activity — a water source, a mill pond, a dumping ground, and eventually a public health catastrophe. The Chouteau family, who dominated early St. Louis commerce and politics for generations, built their mill here.
Auguste Chouteau, Pierre Laclède's teenage stepson who helped found the city in 1764, grew up to become one of the wealthiest men in the territory. The Chouteau family operated as merchant princes: they held the fur trade monopoly, maintained relationships with Native American nations across the region, and accumulated land grants that covered much of what is now downtown St. Louis and St. Louis County. By the mid-19th century, Chouteau's Pond had become polluted with industrial and human waste.
Cholera outbreaks — the city suffered devastating epidemics in 1832, 1849, and 1866 — were partly linked to contaminated water sources. The pond was drained and filled in the 1850s and '60s, and the streets you see around you were laid over it. The city quite literally buried its origins.