Although newcomers, nonresidents, and external forces influenced the development of all western urban centers, the growth of antebellum St. Louis was unusually dependent on outsiders and unusually susceptible to outside pressures. Every frontier town faced capital shortages, trading obstacles, and institutional barriers, and the merchants and boosters of every young trading center looked to outside investors and migrants during times of crisis. Furthermore, towns that secured external assistance often flourished and defeated their regional rivals. But for most western cities, growth and institutional development reduced this dependence. Merchants and bankers in well-established urban centers relied on local sources of economic sustenance, and large cities usually weathered crises without outside assistance. St. Louis, however, remained dependent on outsiders long after the city had become a major entrepôt.

Unlike other western commercial centers, St. Louis blossomed without shedding the “colonial” condition of urban youth. Rather, easterners supplied capital, manufactured goods, entrepreneurial talent, and cultural leadership; profits and raw materials flowed to the Atlantic coast as well. Although the city commanded the commerce of the Far West at midcentury, external forces controlled its economy and its future. In addition, distant observers continued to believe that the character of the city could be molded from afar, and thus outsiders continued to intervene in local affairs.