Lake St. Louis, Missouri

The town of Lake St. Louis was founded in 1966 as a private weekend recreational lake community. One of the original five investors, Mr. R. T. Crow, felt its location between two major highways, I-70 and Rt. 61, and the westward growth of St. Louis justified building a new town, rather than just a weekend community. He investigated the idea of new towns, including visiting two others in the east: Reston, Virginia, and Columbia, Maryland. In the end, Crow bought out the other investors and became the sole developer of the Lake St. Louis community. St. Charles County approved the preliminary plan for Lake St. Louis in April of 1967. Construction on the dam for the 600-acre Lake St. Louis, the larger of the two lakes in the community, began in 1968. It was completed in 1973 and Crow filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy the next year.

With Crow out of the picture, and the looming threat of annexation from O'Fallon on the East and Wentzville on the West, the residents of the Harbor Town area of the community petitioned St. Charles County Circuit Court for incorporation of the Town of Harbor Town. The Court granted the petition and in June, 1975. With the approval of the incorporation, the Circuit Court appointed a Board of Trustees: George Heidelbaugh, Charles Bailey, David Spitznagel, Betty Patton and Howard Haddock as Chairman. In December of 1975 the town boundaries were expanded to include what was known as Phase A, the western-most portion of the city. In 1976 a special census was conducted that counted 2,445 residents. Residents voted in 1977 to change the name to Lake Saint Louis and become a 4th Class City under the Revised Statutes of Missouri. Howard Haddock was elected as the first mayor of the city.

[edit] Geography

Lake St. Louis is located at 38°47′8″N, 90°47′1″W (38.785620, -90.783610)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.6 km² (8.3 mi²). 19.4 km² (7.5 mi²) of it is land and 2.2 km² (0.8 mi²) of it (10.08%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 13,281 people, 3,923 households, and 3,005 families residing in the city. The population density was 524.9/km² (1,359.3/mi²). There were 4,133 housing units at an average density of 213.3/km² (552.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.60% White, 1.84% African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.97% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.35% of the population.

There were 3,923 households out of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.0% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.4% were non-families. 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.5% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 29.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $68,830, and the median income for a family was $80,700. Males had a median income of $57,201 versus $30,335 for females. The per capita income for the city was $32,064. About 2.1% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.