Pierre Laclede is known as the founder of St. Louis, Missouri. The statue depicts Laclede stepping ashore at what would become St. Louis. He is in Colonial dress, complete with a shirt ruffled at the collar and wrists, button-up vest, buckled shoes, a Tricorne (three-cornered hat), with a long top coat. His left foot stands beneath him, with his right foot stepping out on higher ground. His right hand is balled in a fist and placed on his right hip. His left had rests on the grip of his sword, which is still in its scabbard. His face has a look of triumph and determination.
The carved stone plinth has inscriptions on all four sides; they read:
Front:
LACLEDE
FOUNDER OF ST. LOUIS
1764
Right Side:
ST. LOUIS
FOUNDED BY LACLEDE 1764
INCORPORATED AS A TOWN 1809
INCORPORATED AS A CITY 1823
Back:
PIERRE DE LACLEDE LIGUEST
BORN
BEDOUS FRANCE 1724
DIED
ON THE BANK OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 1778
Left Side:
THIS STATUE
PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS
BY THE ST. LOUIS CENTENNIAL ASSOCIATION
WHICH CONDUCTED THE CELEBRATION
OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE INCORPORATION 1909
The Art Inventories Catalog has the following remarks about the statue:
"The idea for a monument to the founder of St. Louis originated with the 1909 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the city. A competition was held for the design of the monument. Funded by the St. Louis Centennial Association, at an estimated cost of $14,000. Restored in 1975 at a cost of $18,500. IAS files contain copy from unpublished 1969 Mayor's report, "Public Art St. Louis," which discusses commissioning history and dedication ceremony." (
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"Pierre Laclède Liguest or Pierre Laclède (22 November 1729 – 20 June 1778) was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, founded St. Louis, Missouri in 1764.
Laclède was born on 22 November 1729 in Bedous, Béarn, France.
Laclède was sponsored by the New Orleans merchant Gilbert Antoine Maxent in 1763 to construct a trading post near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Laclede and Chouteau set out from New Orleans in August, arriving at the confluence in December. The confluence area was too marshy to build a town, so they selected a site 18 miles (29 km) downriver.
Laclède returned to St. Louis in April 1764 with a design for the town, where Chouteau was overseeing clearing of the land. He was followed soon after by his common-law wife, Marie Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau (Madame Chouteau).
Laclède had four children with Madame Chouteau: Jean Pierre (1758), Marie Pelagie (1760), Marie Louise (1762), and Victoire (1764) Chouteau. Because divorce was prohibited by law of both the Roman Catholic Church and in France, these children were baptized as the children of Madame Chouteau's legal husband, René Auguste Chouteau (père). René Chouteau had returned to France, after having abused and abandoned Madame Chouteau. Laclede and his descendants were influential in the St. Louis and regional economy and politics for many years. Auguste and Jean-Pierre Chouteau were partners in fur trading, and had a monopoly for several years with the Osage Native Americans up the Missouri River.
The St. Louis downtown riverfront area is named Laclede's Landing in his honor. He is also the namesake of Laclede County, Missouri, Laclede, Missouri, the Pierre Laclede Honors College at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and the Pierre Laclede Elementary School in St. Louis. He was given a "star" on the St. Louis Walk of Fame." (
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