Just One Mound Remains in 'Mound City'

What is now St. Louis was once home to more than 100 mounds constructed by Native Americans—so many that St. Louis was once known as "Mound City." Settlers tore most of them down, and just one remains. Now, that last remaining earthen structure, Sugarloaf Mound, is closer to being back in the hands of the Osage Nation, the AP reports. The city of St. Louis, the Osage Nation, and the nonprofit Counterpublic announced on Thursday that an 86-year-old woman who owns a home that sits atop Sugarloaf Mound has agreed to sell it and eventually transfer the property to the tribe.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen plans to pass a resolution in January recognizing the Osage Nation's sovereignty, Alderman Cara Spencer said. Eventually, the goal is to develop a cultural and interpretive center at the site that overlooks the Mississippi River a few miles south of downtown. "One step for our tribal sovereignty is reclaiming the lands that we inhabited for hundreds of years," said Andrea Hunter, director of the Osage Nation Historic Preservation Office in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. "And to be able to at least salvage one mound in St. Louis, on the west side of the Mississippi River—it means a lot to us, to regain our heritage." But a sticking point remains. A pharmaceutical fraternity owns the only other house on the mound, and it remains unclear if it is willing to give up the property.

Native Americans built thousands of mounds across the US in the centuries prior to colonization. All were sacred ceremonial sites, but some also were used for housing or commerce. Many were burial sites. Tribal elites sometimes lived on them, Hunter said. The mounds in the St. Louis area are believed to have been built from roughly 800 to 1450. Even today, many mounds remain in nearby Cahokia, Illinois. Experts believe that at one time centuries ago, Cahokia was home to up to 20,000 people. Sugarloaf Mound and Big Mound were among the most prominent of the human-made structures in what is now St. Louis, says one expert. (Click for more on their history, and what became of them.)