Valley Park Missouri MO Warrant Search

Valley Park, Missouri Valley Park is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,518 at the 2000 census. History The town was a Mississippian Indian Settlement along the Meramec River as early as the mid-18th century, until it was settled by French and German immigrant farmers in the 1760s. The town over time was known as Nasby, Sulphur Springs, Quinette, Meramec, and finally Valley Park by around 1890. It had one of the first Post Offices established in St. Louis County. It also became a railroad hub for the Missouri Pacific and St. Louis-San Francisco rail lines.In 1894, the town became the site of the first Lynching in St. Louis County. A black man named John Buckner was lynched when accused of raping a local black woman and a white teenager. He was taken from the authorities by several local residents and farmers and hung from the main bridge in town overlooking the Meramec River. The lynchers were never apprehended.In 1909, the town became incorporated. As many as 70 trains would pass through Valley Park on any given day. The town became a center for industry until the great flood of 1915, when the main bridge was destroyed, as were the huge factories along the river. The town never recovered.Valley Park and Castlewood Park were summer resorts. Castlewood Park is a short distance west on Big Bend. Castlewood Park became part of the St. Louis County Park system. However, Valley Park began to boom with the building of the glass factory and other industries. Grocery stores and restaurants opened up; churches went from being mission churches to being congregations. Valley Park had a Saddle and Paddle Club on Marshall and now Highway 141. Valley Park had the ever-popular realty term location, location, location. Valley Park had railroads; the Meramec River and what was even then considered main roads. Railroads played a big role in the town. In the late 19th century and early 20th century. This Missouri Pacific and the Frisco were the big lines at that time; now it is Amtrack, 88 trains a day stopped in Valley Park including the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern lines. At one time, the Meramec River had barge traffic. Valley Park had a lot to offer then and still does to this day.St. Louis City families would board the trains for summer vacations, weekends, or, 2nd family homes along the Meramec River. Clubhouses were built on the banks of the Meramec River. Some of those clubhouses were still standing until the last decade. When in 1992 and 1993 the flood destroyed them beyond repair, and then have been removed to accommodate the building of the Meramec Valley River Basin Levee. (The Levee just had its big flood test in March 2008, it saved the town of VP from yet a other devastating flood) One of the most charming old buildings is still standing. That is the Frisco Hotel located at 28 Front Street. It is now the Whittle Shortline Railroad Shop. The owners make toy wooden trains.Since Valley Park started out as a park for the St. Louis City residents and have parks as part of the towns name, you can well imagine that parks are important to Valley Park. Valley Park has within its City limits several lovely parks. Vance Trails Park, Leonard Park, Brignole Park, and Meramec Landing for anglers and boaters are all conveniently located in Valley Park. Simpson St. Louis County Park and Lake and the well know Lone Elk Park (Lone Elk is a park like any other normal park except you can drive through and see lots of different animals, and it also has a wild bird sanctuary) a few others are also within our City limits. With the completion of the levee Valley Park will have trails along the Meramec River for hiking and biking as part of the Ozark Greenway Trails. (Most info came off the Town of VP web page)In the late 20th Century, the city doubled in population as commuters have discovered its excellent schools and easy access to major highways. Valley Park is a charmingly quaint community to live in or work in.Gavin Bosco is a proud resident of Valley Park. Police The City of Valley Park Contracts with St. Louis County Police Department. Valley Park School District The Valley Park School District is a rather small, but growing district. The early childhood development center, elementary, middle, and high school are all on one campus.Valley Park School District has a long, rich history of providing quality education to the students that attend. Thousands of students have attended Valley Park Schools since the opening of the first elementary building, Hill School, in 1882. This school was located several blocks north of the present campus and was closed in 1931. A second elementary school, Benton School, named after the Missouri Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, opened in 1908 and operated until 1954. The high school opened its doors on September 6, 1932, and the first class graduated two years later. It began the nucleus of the present school district campus.The district educates about 1,000 students and is located in the southwest corner of St. Louis County. It encompasses 4.6 square miles (12 km2) that includes a large area of the City of Valley Park, the Village of Twin Oaks, and a section of unincorporated St. Louis County. District boundaries are Big Bend on the north, Barrett Station Road on the east, the Meramec River on the south, and Hanna Road on the west. Within the district boundaries are approximately 3,834 households with 1,456 registered voters. With low student-to-teacher ratios and all school buildings located on one campus at One Main Street, the district offers a private school atmosphere in a public school setting. The campus consists of five buildings: Valley Park High School and its Music and Industrial Technology building, Valley Park Middle School, Valley Park Elementary School and the Dennis Lea Early Childhood Center. Valley Park High School has an off-campus program called the Community School, which is located one block from the main campus. The Community School is an academic-recovery program for students who are unable to be successful in the traditional high school setting.The community has consistently supported the District. Over the last ten years, District facilities have been under constant improvement. In 1989, a large two-story addition was made to the high school, and a second floor addition was made to the Multipurpose building. During the past four years, every building on campus has undergone extensive construction and/or renovation. The Meramec Building (c.1951) and the Vance Building (c.1954) were torn down and a modern 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) elementary school was built. The Multipurpose building (c.1968) was renovated to become Valley Park Middle School. In 1999, an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) two-story addition was added to the existing High School, which was completely renovated. In 2003, the Early Childhood and Health Center was built with a connected hallway to the Elementary building.Generations of district residents have enrolled. Many sons and daughters of former students have attended the alma mater of their parents. Controversy In 2006, Valley Park was featured in local, state and national news media when the City's Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance almost identical to the ordinance passed by the city council for the City of Hazleton, Pa., which penalized landlords who rented to 'illegal aliens', businesses who employed 'illegal aliens', and others who aid and abet 'illegal immigration.'Several landlords along with the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council filed suit against the city. The lawsuit was supported by Bryan Cave, Washington University Law School, St. Louis University Legal Clinic, ACLU, MALDEF, Hispanic Ministry of the Catholic Church and several private attorneys, who won a temporary restraining order.Led by then Mayor Jeffrey Whitteaker, the Board of Aldermen amended the ordinance twice, and the coalition opposing the ordinances won restraining orders against both amended ordinances. The ordinances were invalidated following their repeal. An subsequent appeal by the city was dismissed as moot, in the Missouri Court of Appeals, as the subject ordinances had been repealed. Thereafter, following the city's passage and publication of an ordinance prohibiting the knowing employment of unlawful aliens, a subsequent suit was brought in state court, subsequently removed by the city to federal court. After the City abandoned its efforts to punish landlords who could not prove their tenants were lawfully present and narrowed the enforcement mechanism for the remainder of the ordinance, the district court upheld the remainder of the ordinance. The plaintiffs filed an appeal on procedural issues and asked for the district court decision to be vacated. The appeal was denied and the decision of the district court was affirmed. The city's immigration ordinances have never been enforced.The Missouri General Assembly, in the 2008 legislative session, enacted legislation, to take effect in August 2009, which included language similar to Valley Park's unlawful employment ordinance, to be enforced by the Missouri Attorney General. The State legislation had been under discussion and review for a significant time period in both the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives. It remains unlawful, by Valley Park ordinance, to knowingly hire unlawful aliens within the city. Attractions 1. Museum of Transportation - The Museum of Transportation was founded in 1944 and was at one time an original mainline of the Pacific Railroad. It was also one of the first Railroad tunnels west of the Mississippi river. The tunnel and depot is now on the National registry of historic places. With over seventy locomotives that you can look at and climb aboard, the museum has the most complete collection of American rail power anywhere, and its collection of automobiles, buses, streetcars, aircraft, horse-drawn vehicles and river boat material reflects the ever-changing nature of transportation. Guided walking tours and rides on the miniature Abbott Railroad (in season) are all part of the fun. There is a concession stand and gift shop of transportation memorabilia. Museum of Transport (a.k.a The Train Museum) is a great place to visit when in Valley Park. And now children and visitors can ride a darling train Spring to Fall at the museum.2. World Bird Sanctuary - The Sanctuary can be found inside Lone Elk Park. It's where you can see famous or lesser-known birds of prey and other wild birds. During the summer and spring months they are always on display and at listed times there are bird shows. The sanctuary was founded in 1977 by Ornithologist Walter C. Crowford, Jr. Crowford began his career at the St.Louis City Zoo. Crowford, working side by side with Wild Kingdom star Marlin Perkins, recognized a need for an organization dedicated to birds of prey. Today, Mr. Crawford continues to direct the organization he founded. He also travels nationwide to speak at conventions and banquets with his humorous and inspirational message of environmental conservation.3. Lone Elk Park - Lone Elk park is just one of many parks in Valley Park. Only Lone Elk Park is one of the town's very special parks. Not only is it just a normal park for your normal picnics and family gatherings, and the home of the world bird sanctuary, but it also contains different animals, like, Elk, deer, buffalo, turkeys, and different animals. The animals are all contained in this enclosed park, and you and your family can take a nice drive threw the park and view the animals. It makes for a great weekend drive.4. Meramec Landing - Meramec Landing sits along the Meramec river. It's a small area to park and unload your boat/jet ski into the river. It's a great place for anglers and having fun down by the river or on the river.5. Simpson Park - Simpson Park is a other park located at the border line of Valley Park right before you enter Kirkwood, Missouri. It has a biking and hiking trail that goes all away around the lake in a wooded area, and even stretches far outside the park down to the Meramec river. It also has a huge playground and a huge lake for boating and fishing. It also has lots of open fields to play soccer, baseball or even fly a kite.6. Buder Park - Buder Park is located right on the other side of the Meramec river and is considered a St. Louis County/Valley Park park. This park has a great spot to fish on the river, and open fields for flying kites, or playing football, soccer, etc. But its know best for its baseball fields and of course the airplanes. Its a park dedicated to model planes. People form all over St. Louis city, county, and surrounding counties come to this park to fly there model planes or fly tight lines. It has two tight lining tracks, and a full runway for model air planes. Even if you cant fly a plane, don't worry you will have lots of fun just watching others fly there planes. Lots of model air plane air shows and competitions always are performed here at Buder park. Its a must see. Geography Valley Park is located at 38°33′19″N 90°29′18″W / 38.55528°N 90.48833°W / 38.55528; -90.48833 (38.555320, -90.488304).According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.2 square miles (8.2 km²), of which, 3.0 square miles (7.8 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (5.03%) is water. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 6,518 people, 2,603 households, and 1,663 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,156.2 people per square mile (833.3/km²). There were 2,744 housing units at an average density of 907.7/sq mi (350.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.02% White, 4.11% African American, 0.09% Native American, 4.33% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.95% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.27% of the population.There were 2,603 households out of which 37.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.1% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.06.In the city the population was spread out with 27.3% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 41.5% from 25 to 44, 14.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.The median income for a household in the city was $43,548, and the median income for a family was $54,063. Males had a median income of $40,956 versus $31,617 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,720. About 8.7% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.0% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.