By 1849 St. Louis was a major trading city as travelers passed through to the gold rush in California and on to Independence, Missouri to follow the Oregon Trail. With the travelers came deadly cholera that sickened and killed hundreds of people. That same year a steamboat blew up on the crowded levee and fire quickly spread to the city.

In 1849, the city of St. Louis was little more than a frontier town. The city was undergoing rapid growth and creaking under the strain of poor infrastructure. The cholera epidemic and the great Fire of 1849 were two events that had immediate and long-lasting effects on the rapidly growing city.