Florissant, city, St. Louis County, eastern Missouri, on the Missouri River, near St. Louis; incorporated 1857. The city, which is primarily residential, is the seat of Saint Louis Christian College (1956). The site was occupied by French settlers about 1769, and the village that developed was named Fleurissant (French, “flowering” or “flourishing”). It was renamed Saint Ferdinand by the Spanish, a name it retained until 1939, when Florissant, derived from Fleurissant, was adopted. Among the city's historic structures is Old Saint Ferdinand's Shrine (1789, rebuilt 1821). Population 55,372 (1980); 51,206 (1990); 50,497 (2000).
