This idealized bronze statue on a granite pedestal, located in Forest Park, is of crusader King Louis IX of France for whom the city of St. Louis was named.

The statue was modeled on the original statue designed for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition – the St. Louis World’s Fair -- and constructed of staff, a non-permanent material not meant to last past the fair. The statue had become such a beloved symbol of the city that Niehaus was commissioned to reproduce it in bronze. The bronze statue was unveiled on October 4, 1906.

The sculptor was a German-American, Charles H. Niehaus (1855-1935), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a student at the Munich Akademie.