Fort Belle Fontaine was built in 1805 on a low plain near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. It was the first U.S. military post in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and was originally called Cantonment Belle Fontaine because it served as an Indian factory, or trading post, for local Sac, Fox, and other Indian tribes. The fort served as a launching or stopover point for a number of expeditions to the far reaches of the American West, including those associated with Zebulon Pike, the Yellowstone Expedition, Stephen Long's Scientific Expedition, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1809, command passed to Lt. Col. Daniel Bissell, who received permission to relocate the fort to higher ground in 1810. Fort Belle Fontaine soon became the command and supply center for a number of new frontier posts that made up the fort system for westward expansion. In 1826, it was replaced by Jefferson Barracks. The staircase and stonework in the area were built in the 1930s by the Work Progress Administration, one of the programs started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create jobs during the Great Depression. As a unique park area, these improvements were meant to attract St. Louis residents to the Boys Home, which opened in 1915 and was commonly known as Belle Fontaine Farms.
