LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — A county next door to the fasting growing cities in the state is seeing a domino effect.
Right now, Lincoln County is bracing for population growth, since it neighbors St. Charles County.
The U.S. Census Bureau shows from 2020 to 2022, Wentzville's population increased by 6%, from 44,571 to 47,197. Ranking second was O’Fallon, Missouri, with a 2.5% increase from 91,347 to 93,663; followed by St. Peters with a 1.37% increase from 57,731 to 58,523; and St. Charles with a 0.91% increase from 70,539 to 71,184.
Those numbers are spilling over to Lincoln County.
More land and affordable housing paired with lower taxes are attractive to newcomers.
"I think our community, we offer the best of both worlds, city and rural. In fall of 2021 we grew 13%, we grew 417 students new to our district. We're seeing folks from St. Louis County and St. Charles County," Superintendent Mark Penny of Lincoln County R-III School District said.
Penny has been in this role since 2012.
He said, since then, they've had five bond issues to address the influx.
"In 2021, we ran Prop KIDS for the voters. $37 million no-tax-increase bond issue will build a new pre-kindergarten through fifth grade building ... 80,000-square-foot building near Troy South Elementary," Penny said. "It's to alleviate growth, especially William Cappel Elementary here at Moscow Mills. It’s at full capacity."
Penny said it'll have four preschool classes, robotics, and stem classes.
Penny said they are also asking a long-range planning committee this summer or early fall to make a recommendation to the Board of Education for space and programming for grades 9-12.
Not far away from this location is the newly built fire station within the Lincoln County Fire Protection District.
"The reason it's here is everything basically from the St. Charles line moving north or south of Lincoln County, Moscow Mills and Troy are fasting growing areas," Fire Chief Michael Marlo said.
With the increase, Marlo wanted to improve wait times.
"This year alone since January to present, we've had 600 calls for service out of this station. Last year, they were in an area of 300, so they've doubled in one year," Marlo points out.
It flipped the station from a volunteer base to an all-career department.
"This station needed to go full career here and now it's manned 24/7. Our roadways can't keep up with the traffic and we have a lot of calls for services for motorcycle crashes in our area that are scary and severe," he said.
Marlo said these new measures are important to add because he knows their community will only continue to grow.
"The growth is coming, we have to keep up with the growth the best we can," Marlo said.
Marlo said he believes they will most likely add another department in the southern part of the county in the next five to eight years.
It would then have five stations in the county with two volunteer and three career departments.
In a 2008 report from the state's population data series, it said Lincoln County is projected to grow the fastest in the state, more than doubling between 2000-2030.
It also said:
- The largest numeric change in population is projected to be in St. Charles, Clay, and Greene counties.
- Those counties are projected to remain the largest in the state in 2030, with St. Charles County gaining one spot over St. Louis City.
