Square opens up an office in jack dorsey's old stomping grounds, st. Louis | techcrunch

Square announced the opening of its fourth office today, and the location holds a special place in the hearts of its founders. Both CEO Jack Dorsey and co-founder Jim McKelvey are from St.

Louis. The office will swell up to more than 200 new employees over the next five years and is located in St. Louis’ Central West End section. Dorsey said in a press release: > St. Louis 

is an important part of Square’s history. It’s an > incredible city and my hometown, and we’re excited to further > invest in the community. Go Cards! > A preview of the new Saint 

Louis Square office! Join us! A few of > our new folks visited us in SF two weeks ago! > pic.twitter.com/uXfCmWPv62 >  > — jack (@jack) September 23, 2015 McKelvey added that

Square has contributed “more than $85M” to the local economy, so adding an office makes the company even more integrated into the community. Square says some of the functions being given a

home in St. Louis is Compliance Operations, Customer Support, IT Tech, Recruiting and Office Experience. It’s as good a spot as any to tap into the midwest. It’s not a bad place to nab

talent from local universities, either. The city is pretty excited to have Square come to town, as well. Anyone who has followed Jack Dorsey’s story knows how much he cares about his native

St. Louis. He participated in rallies in Ferguson. > And we walk. #handsupdontshoot https://t.co/ah4z98InGW >  > — jack (@jack) August 16, 2014 At one point, it was rumored that

Dorsey had been arrested. He wasn’t. But he tweeted and shared during a good chunk of the start of the marches. Now he gets to take his company, one of them anyways, back home. With a

rumored run to go public sometime this year, Dorsey appears to be engaged as one can be when they’re the temporary CEO at another company.