It’s kind of Anywhere, USA, from the sense that it is so average as far as American cities go.
Midwestern roots
STL’s two big rivers (the Missouri and Mississippi) means it’s a shipping hub of the interior USA. At the turn of the 20th century, STL was the 4th largest city in the USA. STL was strongly influenced by the presence of the then-largest brewery in the world (Anheuser-Busch) and shares a lot of Midwestern culture due to the large presence of German immigrants.
Southern surroundings
STL was a union city in a slave state, surrounded by antebellum slave plantations.
The STL Cardinals baseball team was the only popular pro sports team for much of the Southeastern USA until the 1960s expansion teams came to Atlanta.
Barbecue, toasted raviolis, blues music, Chuck Berry, and more.
Industrial decline
Originally founded by the French (hence the name Saint Louis, after Louis XIV, the “Sun King”), surrounded by antebellum Southern slave plantations, and heavily influenced by German industrial brewing heritage, STL is an anomaly in modern America. In the early part of the 20th century, STL was the 3rd most important city in the USA.
After shipping and air freight replaced railroads around the middle of the 20th century, STL experienced an abrupt and rapid decline. Along with some very unfortunate and fucked up segregation laws, STL now exists with a very split up, suburbanized population.
Thriving suburbs
STL city proper has about 300k residents and is a very interesting place. Saint Louis County and the metro area has 2.3 million residents, placing the metro #22 on the list of biggest US metro areas.
Average Climate
The climate of STL is humid subtropical, which basically means somewhat cold and occasionally snowy in the winter, and hot as balls in the summer. This means STL experiences some similar conditions to the rest of the country.