Wentzville, Missouri

Wentzville, Missouri
City
Location of Wentzville, Missouri
Country	United States
State	Missouri
County	St. Charles
Area
• Total	14.4 sq mi (37.3 km2)
• Land	14.4 sq mi (37.3 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	623 ft (190 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	6,896
• Density	478.9/sq mi (184.9/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
FIPS code	29-78442Template:GR
GNIS feature ID	0756888Template:GR

Wentzville is a city located in St. Charles County, Missouri. As of the 2006, the city had a total population of 17,988 . The city is the home of a General Motors full size van assembly plant, the St. Charles County Fair and the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire.

Geography

Wentzville is located at 38°48'58" North, 90°51'26" West (38.816010, -90.857198)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.4 square miles (37.3 km²), of which, 14.4 square miles (37.3 km²) of it is land and 0.07% is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there 13,931 people, 2,456 households, and 1,846 families residing in the city. The population density is 478.9 people per square mile (184.9/km²). There are 2,724 housing units at an average density of 189.2/sq mi (73.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 84.63% White, 12.02% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 2.06% from two or more races. 1.49% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 2,456 households out of which 43.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% are married couples living together, 17.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% are non-families. 20.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.76 and the average family size is 3.20.

In the city the population is spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $47,232, and the median income for a family is $53,082. Males have a median income of $38,423 versus $25,852 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,039. 11.6% of the population and 10.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 19.1% of those under the age of 18 and 13.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Schools

The Wentzville School District covers Wentzville, Lake St. Louis, Foristell and parts of O'fallon. The R-IV district has received many instances of negative publicity in the past few years. The former Superintendent was arrested on charges of solicitation, sexual harassment and other things. His replacement, Terry Adams, made a controversial change in the high school schedules. The change was from a Block type schedule to a 7-period a day schedule, removing 'Academic Lab', a 90 minute 'study hall' period. Most students and many teachers argue that there currently is no convenient way for students to receive time to work on homework or get one-on-one time with their teachers, but the change puts the district in line with the rest of the schools in the county. Before the schedule change, the school had statistically been above "in-line" with the rest of the schools in the county. The changes were to increase the education levels of the students, however, MAP testing shows that once the changes were implemented, student test scores fell significantly. Holt High School, has a history of ensuring the school newspaper's articles were in compliance with board policy. Of course, board policy has absolutely no right to interfere with the First Amendment of these United States, however, censorship continued. When a 5 million dollar discrepancy was found in the district, the Holt principal disallowed speculation of the article on the issue. An example of this is the school newspaper including a ban on a student's rational opinion, supported with facts regarding the new schedule changes. The district was unwilling to budge on its position, however.

Holt High School was also recently labeled by a national study as being a 'dropout factory.' The study was performed by Johns Hopkins University for the Associated Press. This label was, however, incorrect. The data that was collected by Johns Hopkins University spanned from the year 2004 to 2006, the period in which freshmen and sophomore transfers from Holt High School to Timberland High School (began in 2001), graduated. Therefore when the information was gathered these transfers were regarded (in the study) as dropouts from Holt. The percentage of graduates given by the Associated Press was around 50-60% when the actual graduation percentages for 2004, 2005, and 2006 were 91.4, 88.7, and 88.5 respectively.

The district offices and the school board have come under fire for violating the states 'Sunshine' laws, but these accusations were dismissed, but not proven to be false. An election after the schedule changes were made resulted in one incumbent not being reelected due to the public's popular opinion that he had led the district away from its original intent of educating.

On November 2nd allegations were made that the Wentzville School District infringed on the rights of a student. This allegation was made as a result of the district taking copyright material of the student and placing on their servers. This information was made available at blueandgold.suddenlaunch3.com.

Government

The government of Wentzville is that of a 4th class city. It consists of a City Manager, a Mayor, and 6 aldermen (2 for each ward). The job of city manager is a non elected position, whereas the others are elected. The term for mayor is a 2 years, as is the term for the aldermen.

The city is divided into three wards.

Current city manager is Andy McGown. The current mayor is Paul Lambi. Former aldermen include David Billing, Brian Brinkley, Eric Sherman, Bob Smith, and David Hoekel. Noelleecc.com

History

Wentzville was founded in 1855 as a depot on the Northern Missouri Railroad. It was named after Erasmus Livingston Wentz, a railroad engineer for the line. The land was obtained from William M. Allen, who laid out the town. Wentzville was not incorporated until 1872.

During the American Civil War, the city was the site of a series of skirmishes along the railroad from July 15 to July 17, 1861. Elements of the 2nd and 8th Missouri Infantry Regiments en route to Mexico, Missouri engaged Confederate guerillas who were threatening the railroad.

Notable natives include rock and roll legend Chuck Berry. The song "Back to Wentzville" by George Thorogood is a tribute to the city of Wentzville and its native Chuck Berry.

Wentzville is located at the intersection of Interstate 70/US Route 40 and US Route 61, leading to its self-designation of "Crossroads of the Nation".

The high-school mascot for Wentzville Holt high school is the Indian, and the high-school mascot for Wentzville Timberland high school is the wolf.

External links

• Wentzville, Missouri
• St. Charles County W.O.R.L.D.S. Community News, information, classifieds, and photos.
• Holt High School student newspaper Student Journalism newspaper website from Holt High School.