This growing city was founded by John Ball in 1837.

He moved to this area, of what is now considered to be a part of West St. Louis County, around 1797-1798. Supposedly around the same time as the Daniel Boone and his party moved to and settled in the St. Charles, Warren County areas. Records in Jefferson City show the transfer of title of about 400 acres of land along Grande Glaize Creek to John Ball in February, 1800. This is the first official record of John Ball in the West County area.

Since John Ball's property claim was derived originally from a Spanish land grant, and was land that was at the time under Spanish rule, the Louisiana Purchase raised doubts about property ownership. It took several hearings and appeals and ten years for John Ball to clear his claim to the land that would eventually become the town of Ballwin.

Missouri moved its capital to Jefferson City in 1826. Soon there was a need for an overland mail route between St. Louis and the new capital. The new road was established along a route that passed right by John Ball's property. After the road (known at times as Jefferson Road and Market Road, and presently called Manchester Road) became established, John Ball capitalized on the accessibility it provided for his property, and laid out a town.

Originally the town was recorded as Ballshow, but on February 9, 1837, Ball amended the recorded plat to be named Ballwin. No one knows for sure why the name was changed, but one of John Ball's great grandsons says it was the result of a rivalry with neighboring Manchester. According to hearsay, John Ball saw great things ahead for his new town and was confident that it would "win out" in reputation and growth over its older and more prominent neighbor, two miles to the east. Hence the "win" was incorporated into the name.

Ballwin has grown from being a town with only a few homes and businesses, to a small village of 750 people when it was incorporated on December 29, 1950, to a thriving City of  31,283 as of 2000. It covers 7.5 square miles.  Ballwin offers a mix of older and new homes. New homes are being built on lots that have older homes there and are being torn down for new development.

The town of Ballwin recently raised the ire of many folks by passing an ordinance to have all restaurants located in the area be "Smoke Free". Many heated debates were fired by this issue!

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