I disagree on the intellectual scene - it depends where you are in Saint Louis. The Metropolitan Area is most definitely socio-economically segregated and that is going to have an impact on the distribution of intellectuals. In the area there are some fairly solid institutions as well with intelligent researchers and employees working at them - atleast two med schools, two business schools, a handful of other misc. universities, a world class hospital system (BJC), some renown programs (e.g.,WashU DPT), and some respectable companies based in STL (e.g., Monsanto). Startups might be another issue but I imagine with the business schools there would be some, albeit small, community.

Whenever I meet people that come to STL to study, I find they rarely leave the immediate campus area and if they do they usually only go downtown or to the big college spots like the Loop. The city has the worst of the urban elements, and if you go too far out into South county, you can get the country-folks stereotype. North County is pretty desolate these days as well - but there are a lot of good areas here too. "STL" means more than the city proper and a lot of people live in the counties. We're spread out. Where exactly did you live in the area?