The Wentzville Community Club

Through the early years of Wentzville, the town was plagued by fires that destroyed many businesses and homes. From 1855 through the turn of century, fires took out whole city blocks of the town. In 1907 the schoolhouse burned, and then a fire in 1931 changed the future of the city, reported by the Wentzville Union Newspaper:

September 21, 1931 – “Fire Sweeps Wentzville—Seven Buildings Burned” Fire of undetermined origin Monday night, threatened to destroy the entire central section of Wentzville, in fact the whole town was in grave danger. Within a few hours the raging flames had utterly consumed buildings and housing, seven different business places, and causing a property damage of $55,000 or $60,000. The business places burned were: Jerome Parr’s Garage, Sinclair Oil Storage Co., Nr. Groce Marble and monument works, T.E. Pitman’s Undertaking Parlors, National Petroleum Co., Theodore Gue’s Blacksmith Shop and Hardware Store and the Wentzville Union newspaper plant.

The fire started in the rear of the National Oil Co., on Linn Avenue where it was discovered about 6:30 p.m. Alarms were sounded and volunteer firefighters rushed to the scene and manned the fire wagon, which had been housed in a compartment of Parr Garage. The flames spread so rapidly, due to the explosions of the thirty-five fifty-gallon barrels of oil and a quantity of gasoline in a pump in front of Gue’s hardware shop, that in an incredibly short time the buildings on both sides of the street were blazing. The Sinclair Oil Co. building contained ninety-six fifty-gallon barrels of oil and these also exploded. The burning oil spattered the streets, walks and houses for several blocks, and the barrel heads were thrown in some instances, two hundred feet. Several volunteer fire fighters and bystanders narrowly missed being injured by these red-hot disks of tin, which came rolling along at a high rate of speed.

Calls for help were sent to neighboring towns. And fire trucks from Wright City, O’Fallon, Troy and St. Peters were quickly sent, St. Peters sending their two trucks. The cisterns in the locality of the blaze were pumped dry, then connections were made with the mill pond, about five-hundred feet away. Through the heroic efforts of these visiting firemen and our own, the flames were finally controlled and the remainder of the town saved.

Wentzville didn't have a water works at the time, they only had a volunteer chemical fire department, which was ineffective. By the time the Depression came, the town was in real financial trouble. They couldn't afford to pay their city officials or make any improvements to the town. Something had to be done, so in 1933 a group of businessmen got together to form an organization that would raise money for the town. They called it the Wentzville Community Club. They raised money by having an annual celebration they called it "Homecoming." By 1935, they had raised enough money to pay for the hook-ups and assist in building the town's first water tower and its first fire truck. They bought and donated buildings to bring in new businesses which hired city residents suffering from the depression, they even paid the salaries of city employees including the Aldermen and the Mayor. Since 1935 up to today, the Wentzville Community Club has donated millions of dollars to our city and its benevolent organizations, the list is too long to place here.

I guess your wondering why this politically oriented blog is writing about the Wentzville Community Club, well, the Club has a city code problem. Without the help of City government, it could cost the Club over a quarter of a million dollars to continue doing what they've been doing for 80 years—helping our city and its citizens.

I want to thank Aldermen; Chris Gard, Cheryl Kross, Rick Stokes, Sonia Shyrock, and Forrest Gossett for addressing this problem and understanding that among many, many other things, the Wentzville Community Club was instrumental in saving the city from bankruptcy in the 1930s, they donate over $30,000 each year in scholarships to our high schools, and anytime any group in Wentzville holds out its hand for help, the Club is there. The only dissenting comments about the Aldermen's proposition came from Mayor Guccione who said: "If we do this for them, we'll have to do it for everyone." I guess I should have expected it, but I didn't.

The Wentzville Community Club is always here for Wentzville when we need them, and even when we don't. There is not another organization like them in the state of Missouri and maybe not in the country. They have never complained or held their hand out to the city because they believe that God helps those who help themselves. They are an all volunteer organization and help those that no one else can or will. The Wentzville Community Club is a bright gem and it's right here in Wentzville. Thank you to our Aldermen for understanding the importance of the Community Club to our community!