Gateway to the West

Historical marker location:

Saint Louis, Missouri

( Marker can be reached from Walnut Street east of Memorial Drive, on the left when traveling east.)

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

The famous Dred Scott case, which helped fuel the tensions that led to the Civil War, originated in Missouri. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom in the Missouri courts in 1857, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled against him.