What Makes St. Louis, Missouri an Independent City?
What does that mean?
It isn’t very clear to many and it used to confuse me as well. If you’re unfamiliar with what it means when you read that St. Louis is an independent city, hopefully, the below will offer a simple explanation.
One simple explanation could be that while St. Louis and its surrounding suburban communities appear to all be in St. Louis County, only the city of St. Louis is separated from the county. All surrounding suburbs like Chesterfield, Florissant, Kirkwood, and University City are in St. Louis County.
What makes St. Louis an independent city?
According to the St. Louis-MO Gov website, it indicates the “governmental structure of the City of St. Louis is unusual in the United States.” I used to work in a law firm and it took me a minute to become aware of the distinction between St. Louis and its surrounding areas (suburbs) as far as which municipality fell under St. Louis County.
The shortest explanation is that St. Louis is an independent city and it isn’t part of any county. The independent city of St. Louis has been…
