I lived there for about 2 years. It was about 4 years ago. I had lived in Atlanta since college (about 15 years) and loved it. Then we moved to Va Beach for 2 years (hated, hated, hated it) and then my husband took a job in St. Louis. I thought we were going back to Atlanta and then he hit me with St. Louis. I was so MAD. I went KICKING AND SCREAMING. When the plane landed in St. Louis and the pilot said "Welcome to St. Louis, Missouri", I said, "St. Louis is in Missouri? I thought it was Kansas". Well, anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised. I REALLY liked it there (even though I didn't want to). We lived in Chesterfield and it was beautiful, pleasant and affordable. The people there were always welcoming and very friendly. The schools were excellent. There is a group, I think it is called New Neighbors and it is a social organization for women who are new to the area (they have a ton of activities such as bookclubs, walking groups, kids play groups, card game groups, wine tasting groups, etc). It was a fantastic group and I met so many wonderful people. St. Louis is a fabulous place to have kids. They have this great (I mean GREAT) kids museum called the Magic House and another called the City Museum. It is very easy to get downtown from the burbs. Also, if you have kids that need to learn to swim, there is this excellent summer program at this woman's house. She has 3 pools in her backyard.
I loved Chesterfield. Brentwood is nice, but it's a more long time established neighborhood where people who have been in St. Louis their whole lives stay. So, it's harder to meet new people. I found that the people who lived there already had friends and were friendly, but not really looking to make new friends. There is a strong network of people who go back to St. Louis after school.
My husband commuted to Downtown from Chesterfield. He did not mind the commute at all. But, that's after he used to have a 60-90 minute commute in Atlanta. I found it very easy to get around in St. Louis. Traffic was never really a problem.
The winters are cold, but not horrible. We did not get a lot of snow when I was there. Maybe 5 days in the 2 winters we lived there. It does stay colder longer than in Atlanta. But I'm from Florida and I survived. I found that a really good down coat made a huge difference. The one bad thing is that in the winter, it is grey and gloomy and that does get depressing.
I am very happy to be back in Atlanta because for me, it is home. But I enjoyed our adventure in St. Louis. I think it's a fantastic place to live. If you want a referral to a realtor, let me know. I thought the woman who helped us sell our home was fantastic. It was the 4th time we sold a house and of all the realtors we used, she was the most on the ball. She is also involved in the New Neighbors group and could help you get involved in that.
Good Luck!!!
Lauren
and the 12' one day was just tooo much. and the snow, no thanks. and it is pretty . rollin gh ills and farmland. i'm sure someone who lives there will post to you. 
