St. Louis ? The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial will relocate its headquarters to Missouri, where the explorers’ historical journey began in 1804.

The council closed its headquarters in Portland, Ore., and laid off four full-time employees last month. The new headquarters in St. Louis will be located at the Missouri Historical Society.

Robert Archibald has been elected president of the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Archibald, 53, is president of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis and co-chairman of the Missouri Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.

“What a way for St. Louis to celebrate 2004,” said Archibald, who was elected last week at a council meeting in Louisville, Ky. “Once again we’re at the center of it all. We were at the center in 1804, now we’ll be at the center in 2004. Hurrah for St. Louis.”

The council is a congressionally designated, nonprofit organization established in 1993 to coordinate a nationwide celebration of the Corps of Discovery journey.

While there are some financial problems, Archibald said everything was on track to have the $5 million needed to pay for events that begin in 2003 and end in 2006.

There will be 15 celebrations, beginning at Monticello, Va., Thomas Jefferson’s home, and then in cities on the path westward to the Pacific Ocean.