Florissant is located in the east-central part of the state of Missouri and a city in St. Louis County that sits in the valley that is near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The area where the present-day Florissant stands was settled by the French in 1785 and was referred by the Spanish as St. Ferdinand was then officially renamed as Florissant of “flowering” from the French word. The old St. Ferdinand’s Shrine, which is a Roman Catholic church, was built in 1821. The Jesuits founded the St. Stanislaus Seminary in 2831, and the Gateway College of Evangelism occupies the area.