Louis Blanchette (11 July 1739 – August 1793) was a French Canadian explorer and likely fur trader in North America in the 18th century. He explored areas of what is now Missouri, and is notable as the founder of the city of St. Charles on the Missouri River in 1769.

Background

According to Hopewell's Legends of the Missouri and Mississippi (1874): According to Hopewell's account, Blanchette met another Frenchman (Bernard Guillet) in 1765 at the future site of St. Charles. Blanchette, determined to settle there, asked if Guillet, who had become the chief of a Dakota band, had chosen a name for it. Hopewell's account is suspect on several details. For one, he appears to have conflated Blanchette's trade as a hunter (chasseur in French) with a surname. Blanchette settled there in 1769 under the authority of the Spanish governor of Upper Louisiana, and served as its civil and military leader until his death in 1793. During this time perhaps only a couple dozen buildings were built. Although the settlement was under Spanish jurisdiction, the settlers themselves remained primarily French nationals. He is buried in St. Charles Borromeo cemetery, St. Charles, Missouri.