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MISSOURI 2 : Western St. Louis County; eastern St. Charles County

The Missouri and Mississippi rivers merge at the northeastern boundary of the 2nd, an affluent district composed mostly of upper-middle-class suburbanites. Western St. Louis and St. Charles counties continue to prosper from a westward population boom started by mass departures from St. Louis in the 1980s.

Many residents in St. Louis County, where the overwhelming majority of the 2nd live, commute to the St. Louis business district and enjoy some of the higher-paying jobs at companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Chrysler and Monsanto. Some workers also venture to Wentzville (in the 9th District) to a General Motors facility.

Both the city of St. Charles and its surrounding county grew 50 percent in the 1980s and about 15 percent in the 1990s. A McDonnell Douglas missile facility in St. Charles survived a merger with Boeing in the mid-1990s, keeping blue-collar jobs in the district. A dwindling but diverse agricultural industry supports the northern tinges around the Mississippi-Missouri river junction despite the devastation caused by the "Great Flood" of 1993.

Although Democrats held the 2nd during most of the latter part of the 20th century, Republicans have dominated in recent years. GOP presidential candidates won the district in both 1990s elections, and Republicans have a slight edge in state and local elections. Wealthy communities such as Ladue and Frontenac are as unshakably Republican as union-laden Florissant, St. Ann and Bridgeton are Democratic.

Major Industry
Auto manufacturing, defense, agriculture

Population
568,306 (1990)

Cities
St. Charles, 56,525; Chesterfield, 45,490 (1997); Florissant (pt.), 36,959 (1990)

People
96% urban; 10% age 65+ (ranks ninth of nine in state; bottom third nationally); 65% married couples, 31% married couples with children; 34% college educated (ranks first of nine in state; top third nationally); 73% white collar (ranks first of nine in state; top third nationally), 17% blue collar (ranks ninth of nine in state; bottom third nationally) (1990)

Race
94% white, 4% black, 2% Asian; 1% Hispanic origin (1990)

Median Household Income
$43,957 (ranks first of nine in state; top third nationally) (1990)

Unusual Features
Times Beach, site of environmental disaster when soil became tainted with dioxin.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company