St. Louis' Gradual Decline

"St. Louis was planned as the great metropolis of the American Midwest. It didn't turn out that way, but it wasn't for lack of qualifications. The city is perfectly located in the center of the nation on the banks of its largest river, in a region that experienced unabated growth for much of the 19th century. Its rise was, for lack of a better term, meteoric. Few cities were built as purely for the Industrial Age as St. Louis. That has made its fall equally meteoric... For the time being, smaller cities offer the advantages of cheaper rents and home prices, fewer work hours, less travel time, and the ability to become almost immediately involved in meaningful civic affairs. Perhaps they are on to something. A new 2003 report by the U.S. Census Bureau shows the St. Louis metropolitan area is attracting a growing number of people who are age 25 to 39, single, and possess at least a bachelor's degree, even as Missouri as a whole has seen a net exodus in this category."