ST. LOUIS  • In the early planning to celebrate the city's 250th birthday in 2014, the first challenge is to pick a catchy name for the party.

A 250th anniversary has the daunting title of 'semiquincentennial." Our last big bash, the 200th in 1964, went by the much simpler "bicentennial."

That word caught on with relative ease. But how many of us know about the prefix 'semiquin-" (meaning half of 500), or can roll a seven-syllable word off our tongues in the first try or two?

Robert Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum and leader of the planning group, said the current verbal shorthand for the event was the Internet-inspired "STL250."

"Some say it sounds like a NASCAR race, but it would stick in people's minds," Archibald said.

So the group's branding subcommittee is on the task. Its members are among 50 area citizens who have met twice since summer to begin discussing how the region should celebrate its place along the Mississippi River since Feb. 14, 1764.

Or Feb. 15.

Picking the exact date, a renewed subject of scholarly debate, also needs to be decided.

But Archibald said a more serious challenge was to organize a commemoration that includes the region, its blend of people and future.

"We want a big tent for everybody," he said. "Mile markers like this are important in the life of a community. We use them to reflect and to bring us together. What we all hope we can inspire is some lasting benefit."

Archibald and committee are seeking additional members. They assume the 250th will include suggestions from the National Park Service, the local French societies, historians, re-enactors and other likely suspects. Archibald said they also wanted ordinary citizens to sign up.

At this point, the obligation appears to be quarterly meetings, although it will get busier.

Since the founding of St. Louis by Pierre Laclede and his stepson, Auguste Chouteau, at the limestone bluff along today's Arch grounds, the area has celebrated its nativity only a few times. The first was a parade and banquet on Feb. 15, 1847, the 83th birthday. Why that date was chosen is not clear in the old files.

The centennial in 1864 landed in the middle of the Civil War, when St. Louis was a busy staging point for the Union. Citizens were bitterly divided in their loyalties, and outspoken secessionists tended to end up in the Gratiot Street Prison. A party was out of the question.

On Feb 13, 1914, the eve of the 150th birthday — or sesquicentennial — a 13-inch snowfall buried the area. But civic leaders already had decided to skip the actual birthday and plan their grand Pageant and Masque to be held at Art Hill in the kindlier climate of late May.

The four-hour stage show, with a cast of 7,500 area residents, portrayed the community's origin and called melodramatically for a unified future. It was a smash — more than 400,000 people attended over four nights.

The bicentennial was celebrated in 1964 with speeches, gatherings, seminars and other events. The headliner was a banquet Feb. 14 in the Khorassan Room of the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel, where President Lyndon B. Johnson praised the can-do spirit symbolized by the rising Arch under construction.

Ann Chance, special events coordinator for City Hall, said the new group wanted a regional celebration "because the first fur traders were attracted to this whole area. The settlement was a good jumping-off point, the gateway to the West. This is important to everyone on both sides of the river."

Archibald says the group already has representatives who cover that objective. Among them are Ed Hillhouse, former Franklin County presiding commissioner and the new head of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments; and Jim Pennekamp, special assistant for regional development at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Chris Chadwick, director of Focus St. Louis, said she was working with James Buford, leader of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, to ensure diversity in planning and execution.

"We want more youth voices. We want all races, ages and sexual orientations," Chadwick said. "This can be a wonderful and exciting time for all of our community."

The next meeting will be on Jan. 27 at the History Museum in Forest Park.