Peterson is an internationally recognized expert in the restoration of historical sites and buildings, and the founder of the Historic American Buildings Survey, a massive archive maintained by the National Park Service. As a young landscape architect, Peterson worked on the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the downtown St Louis riverfront. And during this employment, he wrote his book, which first appeared as installments in the Bulletin, a publication of the Missouri Historical Society. Robert R. Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum, has high praise for the 94-year-old Philadelphian, saying: "It is significant to note that now, more than a half-century after he has finished his manuscript, Peterson’s work is as precise and as flawless as the day he set it to paper. "Moreover, it is a thrilling depiction of thrilling years, as the infant Franco-Hispanic colony struggled through perilous times toward the day when it would fly the Stars and Stripes, and later become on of the great cities of the Western world."