Trenton is a city in Grundy County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, United States. The population was 5,609 at the 2020 census. It is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Grundy County. The city used to be the world's largest producer of

vienna sausage Vienna sausage (; Viennese/Austrian German: or ; Swiss German: ; Swabian: or ) is a thin parboiled sausage traditionally made of pork and beef in a casing of sheep's intestine, then given a low-temperature smoking. The word is German fo ...

s (at its biggest employer, the

ConAgra Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

Grocery Foods plant, now owned by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

History

The Crowder State Park Vehicle Bridge, Jewett Norris Library,

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, ...

, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Trenton High School, and WPA Stock Barn and Pavilion are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

The Utopian Socialist Ruskin College Movement

In 1869, the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

arrived in Trenton. In 1890 Avalon College, which had been founded in Avalon, Missouri by the United Brethren in 1869, moved to Trenton because of proximity to the railroad. Trenton-hs-1

Due to financial difficulties, the college nearly closed again. In 1900 George McAnelly Miller started to turn the school around. He was soon joined by

Walter Vrooman Walter Watkins Vrooman (1869 – 2 December 1909) was an American socialist educationalist who co-founded Ruskin College in Oxford with Charles A. Beard in 1899. He then returned to America, where he set up a second Ruskin College in Trenton, Miss ...

who had just returned from

Oxford, England Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

where he established

Ruskin Hall Ruskin Hall is a residence hall at the University of Pittsburgh and a contributing property to the Schenley Farms Historic district (United States), National Historic District. Constructed in 1921–22 by H. L. Stevens & Company, with an annex ...

, a university called the "College for the People" based on the Utopian Socialist writings of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

. Avalon College was renamed Ruskin College after Vrooman donated to it. The college directly loaned money to the students and they could work at the school's canning, farming and novelty wood working businesses. The college admitted women (unlike the Oxford school). Vrooman then proceeded to attempt to buy the major businesses in the town buying three grocery stores, a hardware store, drug store—paying for it all in cash via the Western Cooperative Association. The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

on April 14, 1902, headlined its article on the development "Buying a Town Outright." According to the cooperative arrangement, members of the coop who spent at least $300 in one of its stores would receive a dividend at the end of the year. The Ruskin experiment collapsed in 1903 when town residents resisted the Utopian business model and Vrooman's wife divorced him saying that he had squandered $250,000 of her money. Miller moved the college to the Chicago suburb of

Glen Ellyn, Illinois Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomba ...

in 1903 where it consolidated 12 different colleges and had an enrollment of 2,500 with 8,000 correspondence students. Friction quickly arose there also and the main school burned after being struck by lightning. Miller moved the college again in 1906 to

Ruskin, Florida Ruskin is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The area was part of the chiefdom of the Uzita at the time of the Hernando de Soto expedition in 1539. The community was founded August 7, 1908, ...

where of land around Trenton was swapped for . Many of the Florida campus buildings burned in 1918 and when Miller died in 1919, the college ceased to exist. In 1925, Trenton Junior College was established (which is now

North Central Missouri College North Central Missouri College (formerly Trenton Junior College) is a public community college in Trenton, Missouri. Founded in 1925, the main campus has grown to include nine buildings used as instruction facilities, library and testing center, ...

). Through expansion projects and support from numerous people, North Central Missouri College (NCMC) has developed into a major agricultural and nursing educational institution for the state of Missouri. Construction additions have since added to the size of the main campus. Plus directly south of Trenton, a project completed in 2011 established a satellite agricultural location known as the Barton Farm Campus. It contains three classroom buildings, a wind turbine, two acre pond and numerous test plots all on 138 acres of farm ground given to NCMC by the Barton family.

Superfund sites

Trenton has two hazardous waste dump sites. One is on the property of Modine Manufacturing, a plant that makes automobile radiators. Modine has produced a variety of acid, lead, and copper-bearing waste products which in previous decades were buried on site and also at a public dump a mile north east of the plant.

Government

* Mayor: Jackie Soptic * First Ward Council Members : Glen Briggs & Vacant * Second Ward Council Members: Marvin Humpyres & Danny Brewer * Third Ward Council Members: David Milka & Rob Romesburg * Fourth Ward Council Members: John Dolan & Duane Urich

Geography

The city is on the

Thompson River The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The river ...

floodplain between the Thompson River on the west and its Muddy Creek tributary on the east.

U.S. Route 65 U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of I ...

passes the east side of the city and

Missouri Route 6 Route 6 is a state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. It travels from I-29 Bus./ US 169 in St. Joseph to US 24/ US 61 about west of Quincy, Illinois. The highway serves as a major east-west corridor ...

passes through the south side. Chillicothe is nineteen miles to the south. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 6,001 people, 2,559 households, and 1,467 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,960 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.0%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.9% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.4% of the population. There were 2,559 households, of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.7% were non-families. 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.89. The median age in the city was 41.6 years. 22.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.7% were from 25 to 44; 23.6% were from 45 to 64; and 22.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 45.7% male and 54.3% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 6,216 people, 2,673 households, and 1,641 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,059 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.20%

, 0.56%

, 0.40% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.74% from other races, and 0.87% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 2.14% of the population. There were 2,673 households, out of which 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were

living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.6% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.81. In the city the population was spread out, with 22.0% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 23.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,733, and the median income for a family was $33,317. Males had a median income of $26,959 versus $16,505 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $15,834. About 12.7% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.2% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education in Trenton is administered by Trenton R-IX School District. Trenton has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, the Grundy County-Jewett Norris Library.

Notable people

* Roy Gardner, 1920s bank robber * John Hack, war hero *

Yank Lawson John Rhea "Yank" Lawson (May 3, 1911 – February 18, 1995) was an American jazz trumpeter known for Dixieland and swing music. Born John Lausen in 1911, from 1933 to 1935 he worked in Ben Pollack's orchestra and after that became a founding ...

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

trumpet player *

Imogene Lynn Imogene Lynn (1922 – 2003) was a 20th-century American jazz and pop singer. Biography Lynn was born September 9, 1922, in Trenton, Missouri. She began singing professionally in 1940, singing with Emerson Gill and other bands on a national to ...

, pop singer *

Gregg Miller Neuticles are prosthetic testicular implants for neutered dogs and other domestic animals. The implants may be made of polypropylene or silicone. History Gregg Miller developed the idea for Neuticles after his bloodhound, Buck, was castrated t ...

, inventor and author * J. M. Whorton, politician

References

External links

City of Trenton

Trenton Chamber of Commerce
* Historic maps of Trenton in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

*http://www.marxisthistory.org/history/usa/groups/ruskin/1901/0601-appeal-ruskincollege.pdf {{authority control Cities in Missouri Cities in Grundy County, Missouri County seats in Missouri Company towns in Missouri Populated places established in 1834 1834 establishments in Missouri