Cities: To the Brink & Back

CITIES To the Brink & Back Sprawled along the banks of the Mississippi, St. Louis funneled the emigration of half a nation toward the Western reaches of the U.S. Paragon of productive diversity, the city turns out candy and caskets, chemicals and containers, animal feed and jet aircraft. Its International Shoe Co. is the nation's biggest shoemaker, Budweiser the biggest brewer. It is the nation's second largest rail center. It served the first hot dog and the first ice-cream cone, was the site of the first balloon race. The corncob pipe was invented there. The first operation to remove a...

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