Some TNT Area Statistics

by Bob Brail

In 1940 the federal government established the goal of purchasing 1,500,000 acres by March, 1941, for construction of munitions plants, POW camps, training facilities, and other activities for the war effort. The TNT area's 17,106 acres was about 1.1 percent of that goal.

Nationally, about 4000 farms were purchased. About 400 of these farms were in Missouri. Approximately 90 were located in the TNT Area.

According to the 1940 census, 101 household were living on property they owned in 1940 when forced to leave. This was a total of 346 individuals. By the end of the war, after their removal, almost all of these people still lived in St. Charles County, with about one third in Weldon Spring, one third in St. Charles, and the rest scattered throughout the southern and western parts of the county. Only about twenty lived outside St. Charles County, and only one did not live in Missouri.

Even more individuals removed from the TNT Area were renters; 110 households did not own the homes they were forced to leave. The total number of individuals was 381. In other words, there were more renters than property owners. Fifty-two percent of the homes in the TNT Area were occupied by renters. The total number of people who had to move was about 727.

Several individuals whose property had been condemned by the government died before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the property owners in 1945. The heirs of these deceased individuals received their money from the government. These people were Eliza Teeters (who died in 1941), Othaniel Bacon (1941), Cecil Stewart (1943), Hodgen Bates (1943), Margaretha Ebert (1943), John Miller (1944), and John Stewart (1944). Louis Willerding died April 2, 1941, twelve days before his property was condemned by the government. His widow Ella eventually received payment after the Supreme Court decision.