Eureka Map
Eureka is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, between St. Louis, Missouri and Pacific, Missouri along Interstate 44. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 7,676. The city is two miles (3 km) west of the former site of Times Beach, the site of dioxin contamination discovered in the 1980s; the area was cleaned up and became Route 66 State Park. Since 1971, Eureka has been known as the home of the amusement park formerly known as Six Flags Over Mid-America and now called Six Flags St. Louis. Local news coverage for the town and some of its neighbors is provided by the Tri County Journal and the Washington Missourian.
The village of Eureka was platted in 1858 along the route of the Pacific Railroad. By 1890, the village consisted of about 100 homes. According to the Eureka Chamber of Commerce, railroad workers while clearing way for the track and the next railroad camp saw Eureka, level land with little to clear, and declared, "Eureka!" Greek meaning "I have found it." Thus, Eureka was founded. In 1898, Eureka became home to the St. Louis Children's Industrial Farm, established to give children from St. Louis tenement neighborhoods a chance to experience life in a rural setting. It later became known as Camp Wyman, now a part of Wyman Center, and is one of the oldest camps in the United States. Eureka was incorporated as a fourth-class city on April 7, 1954.
The railroad town of Allenton is a former community on U.S. Highway 66 located (now) at the junction of Interstate 44 and Business Loop 44 in western St. Louis County. In 1985 it was annexed by the city of Eureka. The town is currently rural, with adjacent farm land and forested Ozark ridges. Allenton was declared blighted by St. Louis County, Missouri in 1973. Allenton and other parts of Eureka have become part of a $500 million redevelopment plan proposed by a partnership including The Jones Company and American Heritage Homes. The redevelopment proposal would include land and homes purchased by Eureka as part of a previously proposed redevelopment plan.
Nearby cities include Gray Summit, Cedar Hill, Villa Ridge, Fenton, Chesterfield.