Wentzville Holt High School is the oldest of the three high schools in the Wentzville R-IV School District and second oldest high school in St. Charles County, Missouri. With a 2014 enrollment of 1,728, Holt is the sixth largest high school in St. Charles County. Although officially known as Emil E. Holt Senior High School, it was known only as Wentzville High School until 2000, when "Holt" became a common addition to the name in preparation for the addition of a second high school in the district. Now the school is often referred to as just "Holt" or "Holt High", though the common initials remain WHHS or sometimes still WHS.HistoryWentzville High School was first established in 1896 as a 2-year high school. The first principal in 1896 was professor J. Herring. The high school had only three graduates in the first graduating class of 1898: Pearl Marsch, Pearl Ball, and Emma Dula. The original high school building now houses the Green Lantern Senior Center in Wentzville. The first high school building burned in 1908, but it was rebuilt and continued to be used as the high school.The high school building was expanded in 1938, and in 1939 it was reorganized as a full 4-year high school under the authority of a school board with state recognition. As Wentzville High School grew in enrollment, a new high school building on Campus Drive was built in 1962. In 1969, the high school was officially named after Emil E. Holt, who had served as treasurer of the school district for 42 years and board member for four years before that. In 1975 the current high school building was constructed at 600 Campus Drive, and the junior high students were separated from the high school and remained in the 1962 building that now houses Wentzville Middle School.The football field, known as Soby Field, was built in 1965 and named as a memorial to Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant Herbert L. Sobolewski. Herbert “Soby” Sobolewski suffered a heart attack during the previous year while directing traffic near a tractor-trailer crash on U.S. Highway 40 (now Interstate 64) near Wentzville.
