By Chris Naffziger

Close medical observation of the 1849 cholera epidemic in St. Louis led to important public health changes.

The year 1849 in St. Louis serves as a watershed in the city’s history. The boundless optimism of the last two decades came crashing down with the twin disasters of the cholera epidemic and the Great Fire. However, despite the death and destruction of 1849, the population climbed sharply from 35,979 recorded individuals in the 1840 census to 104,978 in 1850 census.