Des Peres, Missouri
Encyclopedia
Des Peres is a city in St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 8,373 at the 2010 census.

History

The first inhabitants of Des Peres were the Cahokia
Cahokia
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the area of an ancient indigenous city located in the American Bottom floodplain, between East Saint Louis and Collinsville in south-western Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The site included 120 human-built earthwork mounds...

, the Kaskaskia
Kaskaskia
The Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...

, the Michigamea, the Moingwena, and the Tamaora Native American tribes
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon cultural regions, geography, and linguistics. Anthropologists have named various cultural regions, with fluid boundaries, that are generally agreed upon with some variation...

.

The Osage Tribe lived in the area around Des Peres. The Osage were members of the Dhegiha Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 group of tribes. This group also included the Ponca
Ponca
The Ponca are a Native American people of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma...

 tribe, Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...

 tribe, Kansas tribe, and Omaha tribe.

People of European descent began settling in Des Peres in the 1800s. By 1850, there were 75,000 people living in St. Louis. Des Peres was mainly settled by German immigrants
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...

 and southerners from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and the Carolinas
The Carolinas
The Carolinas is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the states of North and South Carolina. Together, the two states + have a population of 13,942,126. "Carolina" would be the fifth most populous state behind California, Texas, New York, and Florida...

 who were drawn to the area by the farmland sold off by the United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 in 80 to 160 acre (32.4 to 64.7 ha) tracts.

Des Peres got its name from the River des Peres
River des Peres
The River des Peres is a metropolitan river in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the backbone of sanitary and stormwater systems in the city of St. Louis and portions of St. Louis County...

 whose tributaries, Deer Creek and Two Mile Creek, ran through the town. The name Des Peres is a French term which means "of the Fathers".

In 1834 a small church, the Des Peres Presbyterian Church, now known as St. Paul's Lutheran of Des Peres, was built on Maddoy Road, now known as Ballas Road.

Geography

Des Peres is located at 38°35′46"N 90°26′50"W (38.596023, -90.447299), at an altitude of 659 feet (200.9 m) MSL and in the Central Time Zone.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 4.4 square miles (11.4 km²), all land.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 8,592 people, 3,004 households, and 2,532 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,954.3 inhabitants per square mile (754.0/km²). There were 3,071 housing units at an average density of 698.5 per square mile (269.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.55% White, 0.79% African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.83% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.83% of the population.

There were 3,004 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.7% were non-families. 13.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.7% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 21.5% from 25 to 44, 30.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $96,433, and the median income for a family was $106,195. Males had a median income of $79,465 versus $40,563 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $40,916. About 0.8% of families and 1.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 0.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The current head of the Des Peres government is Mayor Rick Lahr. The government includes the following elected officials: Alderman John Pound and Kathleen Gmelich - Ward 1, Alderman Jim Kleinschmidt and Paul Raczkiewitz - Ward 2, Alderman Paul Fingerhut and Jim Doering - Ward 3.

Schools in Des Peres

The public schools serving Des Peres are Parkway School District and Kirkwood R-7 School District.

Private schools of Des Peres are St. Clement of Rome School and St. Paul's Lutheran School.

Economy

The United States headquarters of Edward Jones Investments
Edward Jones Investments
Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., since 1995 simplified as Edward Jones is a financial services firm headquartered in Des Peres, Missouri which serves investment clients in the United States and Canada, through its branch network of more than 12,000 locations. The firm focuses solely on individual...

 and Scottrade
Scottrade
Scottrade is a privately owned American discount retail brokerage firm headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its Founder, President and CEO is Rodger O. Riney. Scottrade has 500 branch offices around the U.S...

are located in Des Peres.

Taxes

The City of Des Peres does not assess a real or personal property tax and has not for the past eleven years: 67% School District; 13% Special Schools; 7% St. Louis County; 4% Community College; 4% Zoo/Museum District; 2% County Library; 2% MSD; 1% Sheltered Workshops.

Parks and recreation

Des Peres maintains six separate parks: Des Peres Park, Harwood Park, Pioneer Park, Sugar Creek Park, and the newly opened Phantom Forest and Bittersweet woods.

The Lodge is a community center that includes indoor and outdoor aquatic facilities, fitness center, gymnasium, and meeting rooms.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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