Jim Merkel loves St.
Louis from 2001 to 2009..
Louis City Hall for the old Suburban Journals of Greater St.
Louis and St.
He covered South St.
Louis\' South Side.
A longtime local journalist and author, he has written five books about the Gateway City, including Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St.
Louis, possibly because one branch of his history-loving family moved there before the Civil War.
Jim Merkel loves St