WENTZVILLE, Mo. — When students arrived for the first day at the new Wentzville High on Monday, Jan. 5, 1976, the gymnasium was still under construction.
Bleachers arrived that day, but flooring still had to be laid and the playing surface—not a wood floor—had to be installed.
The Wentzville Union newspaper described the playing surface as a “synthetic, rubber-like material that will be ‘poured’ after the tile is laid and the bleachers installed” in a Jan. 7, 1976, story about the school opening.
Students that day likely referred to Holt as simply, “Wentzville.”
It would be years until the formal name of the school—Emil E. Holt Sr. High School after the district’s long-time treasurer—caught on with the building of Timberland High.
Today, traces of the Wentzville naming convention remain. The scoreboard in the gym still says Wentzville. Pads in the gym have “Wentzville” and Holt” as does the floor.
