Editing Wentzville, Missouri (section)

==History==
Wentzville was laid out in 1855.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ | title=How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | author=Eaton, David Wolfe | year=1918 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RfAuAAAAYAAJ/page/n128 357]}}</ref> The community is named for Erasmus Livingston Wentz, who was the chief engineer of the Northern Missouri Railroad.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.newstime-mo.com/from-wentz-it-came-wentzville-history/ | title=Wentzville Historical Society | publisher=News Time| access-date= November 27, 2016}}</ref> A post office called Wentzville has been in operation since 1859.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MO&county=Saint+Charles | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=27 November 2016}}</ref>

Wentzville is the location of the first Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the United States. It began as a tree of lights to help raise money in 1967 to send gifts to active servicemen, but later evolved by 1984 to a carved eagle atop a pillar of granite. It has become a regular stop in the national "Run for the Wall" trip for veterans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wentzvillemo.org/visitors/vietnam_war_memorial/index.php |title=Vietnam Veterans Memorial |work=City of Wentsville, Missouri |access-date=August 29, 2021 }}</ref>
[[File:City_of_Wentzville._Downtown_mural.jpg|thumb|Mural posted on the side of a downtown building.]]

Musician [[George Thorogood]] wrote the song "Back to Wentzville", the first track of his 1982 album ''[[Bad to the Bone (George Thorogood and the Destroyers album)|Bad to the Bone]]'', for rock pioneer [[Chuck Berry]] who had a home in the area.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/george-thorogood-gives-thanks-to-his-musical-heroes/article_6b3d39e6-ea64-56f1-b513-17420e635e84.html |title=George Thorogood gives thanks to his musical heroes |date=March 6, 2016 |newspaper=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |first=Daniel |last=Durchholz |access-date=April 13, 2023 }}</ref>

The [[Wentzville Tobacco Company Factory]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1990.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

One of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the [[2021 Kabul airport attack]] was from Wentzville.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/wentzville-marine-among-us-troops-killed-in-afghanistan-suicide-bombing/article_a7a41f9a-768a-5fa5-9ce0-30f7364ad9b8.html |title=Wentzville Marine among US troops killed in Afghanistan suicide bombing |date=August 28, 2021 |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |first=Austin |last=Huguelet |access-date=August 29, 2021 }}</ref>