by Kelly L. Schmidt and Cecilia Wright. Last updated July 2022.
1845 St. Louis City Census
About the record
Regional censuses are used to confirm people’s residency and keep voter registration status up to date. The 1845 St. Louis City Census counts people by household, naming only the head of household. All other residents of the household, including family members, dependents, boarders, servants, and enslaved people, were ennumerated as numbers within columns separated by sex and approximate age. Its structure (shown in the image above) is similar to those of the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Censuses. A key difference is that the city census lists residents by block number, enabling a block-by-block analysis of enslavement in St. Louis, and that the age ranges for ennumerating enslaved people are different than the 1830 and 1840 Federal Censuses.
Scanned images of the 1845 St. Louis City Census are available online through the Missouri History Library. Original records can be accessed at the Missouri History Library.
The SLIDE dataset
This dataset comes from the incomplete records of the 1845 St. Louis City Census transcribed and corrected by SLIDE contributor Garrett Yalch. This record lists residents by block number, which allowed Yalch to create a partial map depicting patterns of enslavement in downtown St. Louis as it was in 1845 and as it is today.
Our dataset contains only households that have enslaved people ennumerated within them. Therefore, households in which no people were enslaved will not show up in SLIDE’s search results.
Our dataset does not currently contain data from all households of free Black St. Louisans or white-headed households with free Black residents within them. We plan to add free Black people counted in the census at a later date.
Cite this page
Kelly L. Schmidt and Cecilia Wright, “About the 1845 St. Louis City Census,” The Saint Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement, July 2022, https://sites.wustl.edu/enslavementstl/1845-st-louis-city-census/.