Saint Charles

Saint Charles
Saint-Charles sits in the county seat of Saint-Charles County, Missouri, just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri, on the Missouri River. Saint-Charles is said to be the significant role player in United States westward expansion.

Saint-Charles happens to be the second oldest west of the Mississippi, founded in 1765 as Les Petites C?tes, The Little Hills, by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian fur trader, and was the last civilized stop for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Saint-Charles remained the capital of Missouri State from 1821 to 1826. City homes the Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne shrine and base for the St. Louis National Weather Service Forecast Office, serving central, east-central and northeastern Missouri as well as west-central and southwest Illinois.

Saint-Charles School district has two middle schools, five elementary schools, two high schools, and the Lewis & Clark Tech Building. St. Charles High School was the first built of the two high schools. St. Charles West (SCWest or simply West) was coupled with the main school in the late '70's due to city's growing population. St. Charles West had their first graduation in 1979.

Many of private schools including Immanuel Lutheran (Pre-K to 8), Zion Lutheran (Pre-K to 8), St. Charles Borromeo, St. Peter's, St. Cletus (K-8), Academy of the Sacred Heart, Duchesne High School, and Saints Joachim and Ann are also serving Saint Charles inhabitant.

Lindenwood University serves the high education demands of St. Charles High, just seconds away from the city. Founded in 1827, Lindenwood University was originally a women's school named Lindenwood College (until 1995) it was known as a fine liberal arts institution. The University offers a large variety of majors and extracurricular programs. Fm 89.1 is also run from Lindenwood, a commercial-free student-driven radio station.

Saint Charles sits on one end of Katy Trail, a 225 mile long state park that serves bikers and walkers. The city has been undergoing great expansion since 1970, hence clusters of new homes are being constructed, resulting into commercial and population growth in the city. County region bordered by Highways 70, 40 and 94. St. Charles City has an historic shopping district and most standard living features that are usually found in a community of St. Charles' size.

The City also has many current events and features related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition which arguably started in St. Charles. An 11,000 seat arena called the Family Arena was built in the early 1990s near the Missouri River and is used by minor league sports franchises and hosts events like concerts, shows, circuses, graduations and special college sporting contests.

Saint Charles Convention Centre can be termed as another prominent feature of the city, that hosts conferences, trade shows, Chamber of Commerce expos, business meetings, and a variety of public sales and association shows. Located along Interstate 70, it displays event information on an electronic message board that is clearly visible to all passing by.

Central gathering place and focal point for the community is the Riverfront area. The primary attributes of the riverfront and Historic Main Street are residences and businesses open year-round. Each block features shops, restaurants and offices that visitors and locals frequent.

Much is planned for the development and improvement of the area, including Northward extension of the Katy Trail, residential and commercial development, parking garage expansion, casino expansion and development of hotels.

United States largest Christmas Festivals takes place on the streets of Saint-Charles every year starting the day after Thanksgiving and going through until right before Christmas. Every Saturday and Sunday the Legends of Christmas and the world-renowned Lewis & Clark Fife and Drum Corps take part in the Santa Parade as it heads up Historic South Main Street to the site of Saint-Charles.

The Festival of the Little Hills is another historic Saint-Charles tradition that is carried away every year in August. Rooting back in late 1960's, this festival is known nationally as one of the top ten craft fairs, and runs through an entire weekend featuring great food, craft sales, live entertainment, and shows for kids.

The theme of the festival centers around the famous Lewis & Clark expedition: many participants don clothing from the era and act out historic events. The city also encourages individuals to bring their homemade crafts, jewelry, paintings, clothing and other items to sell at the festival.

2000 census suggest that there are 60,321 people, 24,210 households, and 15,324 families living in the city. There were 25,283 housing units at an average density of 1,241.6/sq mi (479.5/km?). The population density was 2,962.4 people per square mile (1,143.9/km?).

The racial configuration of the town was 93.28% White, 3.48% African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.01% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.73% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.97% of the population.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,782, and the median income for a family was $60,175. Males had a median income of $40,827 versus $27,778 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,607. About 4.6% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of that age 65 or over.