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The present site of Manchester first drew notice in the late 18th century due to a natural spring, whose especially pure water made it a popular stopping place for travelers. In 1800, the first permanent settler, Bryson O'Hara, put up an establishment, followed by Jesse Hoard, in whose honor the spot became known for a time as "Hoardstown." In 1825, however, an English visitor named it for his native city of [[Manchester]], and the new title stuck. The community became a small but fairly well-known destination for those traveling west from St. Louis, and after the removal of the Missouri state capital to [[Jefferson City]], a road laid out to connect the two in the 1830s eventually bore the name of "Manchester Road," at least in its easternmost section.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2366/st-louis-city-and-county</ref>
Like most communities in the western part of St. Louis County, Manchester remained relatively small and semi-rural until the mid-20th century, when a wave of suburbanization resulted in the rapid development of much of the region. In 1950, community leaders decided to incorporate as a village, this status in turn being upgraded to that of a 4th-class city in 1959. During the 1990s, two major annexations were enacted that more than doubled the city's land area and population. Since that time, Manchester's population has hovered at close to 20,000.<ref>https://www.manchestermo.gov/801/Citys-History</ref> ==Geography== Manchester's original center is located near the intersection of Missouri State Highways 100 (Manchester Road) and 141 in west-central St. Louis County, about 16 miles west-southwest of downtown St. Louis. The annexations of the 1990s were largely to the south and southeast of this location, with Big Bend Road now marking its southernmost limit. The city shares a border with [[Twin Oaks, Missouri|Twin Oaks]] and [[Valley Park, Missouri|Valley Park]] to the south, and [[Ballwin, Missouri|Ballwin]] and [[Winchester, Missouri|Winchester]]. Its official coordinates are 38°35′03″N 90°30′27″W. The city sits in gently rolling terrain, drained by a few small tributaries of the Meramec River to the south. It has a total land area of 5.08 square miles, and an average elevation of 577 feet.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120125061959/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt</ref>
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