Fifty years ago, the post–World War II population boom produced a flood of new college students across the United States. In St. Louis County alone, the demand for higher education increased fivefold to nearly twenty-five thousand prospective students, and the State of Missouri responded. On September 15, 1963, more than fifteen hundred people gathered on the grounds of the former Bellerive Country Club to dedicate the new University of Missouri–St. Louis, the region’s first public university.

Fifty years later, UMSL is a world-class institution of learning and research. Here, former chancellor Blanche M. Touhill offers us A Photographic History of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, an eloquent look back at the development of this beloved establishment’s mission, its identity, and its aspirations for the future. Published to coincide with UMSL’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, Touhill invites readers to witness the inspiring story of how an urban university dedicated Salus Populi—to the welfare of the people—became a university of excellence and an important center of the community.