St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter 12 (2 of 2 so headed), 1928

Chapter 12

STUDENTS delving into the mystery of the prehistoric past found on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River remnants of an unknown age which point to the existence of a great metropoUs of the race known as the Mound Builders.

Today East St. Louis is fast encompassing that area which formed the site of this great prehistoric city. It is becoming a metropolis with gigantic industries and commercial enterprises that rival in this age of machinery the metropolis that existed in the age of the Mound Builders.

East St. Louis is on the threshold of a tremendous development. It faces a commercial and industrial future that exceeds in promise that of the majority of cities its size in America.

Materially aiding its growth is the East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. It is this organization which provides information concerning its advantages, resources and transportation facilities. It is the Chamber of Commerce that institutes and carries out projects of large magnitude that are bound to play an increasingly important part in the development of the city.

Under the leadership of L. H. Forman, its manager, the civic forces of the city have been consolidated under the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce. Unquestionably there is a feeling in East St. Louis that the city will soon undergo a period of unprecedented expansion.

East St. Louis has experienced in the past a development more rapid and certain than any other city in the state outside of Chicago. When the city of East St. Louis was incorporated in 1865 it had a population of approximately 5,000. In 1890 there were but 15,000 residents. The population doubled itself by 1900 and again in the next decade. East St. Louis civic leaders expect that by 1930 the city will easily pass the 100,000 mark.

During the past year East St. Louis has undergone one of the greatest changes in years. It has seen the new Broadview Hotel, a metropolitan fireproof structure, become a reality; its first skyscraper, the Spivey Building; and the construction of the new million-dollar Majestic Theatre are the most notable changes wrought in the downtown district. The handsome Goldman Building is replacing the historic lUmo Hotel. The new First National Bank Building is a large factor in the changing skyline of the city.

In civic development the East St. Louis Park District within the past decade has made ample provision for the recreational needs of the city's grown-ups and children. There are parks with an aggregate acreage of 1,333. Of these the most notable are Lake Park and Jones Park, both of which are built to serve the entire city, while there are neighborhood parks scattered throughout the residential sections.

In Lake Park, East St. Louis has a notable example of the constructive spirit of the city. Its transformation is without parallel in municipal park history for it is perhaps the third largest municipal park in the United States, and is the largest owned by a city under 100,000 population. In its transformation, 1 1 30 acres of marsh and lake will be converted into a veritable paradise with three lakes, a network of driveways and provision made for all forms of recreation. In its development, $500,000 will be expended, in addition to the cost of the ground.

East St. Louis enjoys industrial diversification. It has many major industries and there are a dozen or more that have annual payrolls exceeding $1,000,000. It occupies a prominent place in the manufacture of meat products, building materials, roofing, paint, chemicals, iron and steel products, and foodstuffs.

Its utilities are preparing to serve a city with a population by 1950 of at least 500,000. Students of municipal development predict a gigantic urban development in all directions from East St. Louis on the Illinois side of the river.

Outstanding factors are responsible for a growing faith on the part of outsiders in the future of East St. Louis - its excellent railroad facilities, the development of waterway transportation on the Mississippi River, nearness to limitless supplies of coal, ideal sites for the location of large industries, unlimited supply of electrical energy at a minimum cost, nearness to raw materials, and the ideal location of East St. Louis in the center of the United States.

It IS for these reasons that major industries have elected to locate and will continue to locate in the East St. Louis district. While its industrial future is certain, steps are now under way for the development of Southern Illinois, the oldest settled section of the state and the least developed. East St. Louis and the East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce are taking a prominent part in this development.

East St. Louis was in reality born in the post-Revolution' ary War period. The site of the present Southern Illinois metropolis was the scene of one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War west of the Atlantic seaboard. In 1780, General George Rogers Clark, at the urgent request of the Spanish governor of St. Louis, hurried to Cahokia, parent of the present city, and there on the Cahokia Commonfields north of the ancient village decisively defeated Captain Hesse and his army of British and Indians which formed one of the three expeditions designed to recapture the Northwest Territory from the Virginians under Clark. This victory shattered the hopes of the British of ever recapturing the territory that was lost to them through Clark's conquest, and brought about the failure of two other expeditions without an engagement.

In 1796 Captain James Piggott built the first house in what IS now East St. Louis. A few years later the French at Cahokia, following a flood, platted the town of Illinois City and had the plat approved by an act of Congress.

Cahokia was established m 1699 with the arrival of two missionary priests from Quebec, and is the oldest permanent white settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was from Cahokia that the Illinois city, and the settlements that later became integral parts of East St. Louis, drew their first inhabitants. In addition there were the soldiers of the Revolutionary War who had come west and found in this place opportunity. Most of the present city of East St. Louis is built upon the Cahokia Commonfields and the Cahokia Commons.

In 1825 the original John Jacob Astor, seeing the possibilities of this section, bought for $3,684 a tract of the Cahokia Commons, 1600 feet wide, running from the river about six miles across the American Bottoms, and containing about 800 acres. The west end of this tract now contains the most valuable business property of East St. Louis, and realtors still refer to it as the "Astor tract."

Due to the advantageous location of Illinois City it bec.ime the gateway of travel overland to the vast wilderness that stretched beyond the Father of Waters, it was here that these hardy pioneers in their covered wagons rested after journey, ing across the prairie and before they ventured into that land of uncertainty which the United States had purchased from France.

In coming to what is now East St. Louis they made use of the ferry which Captain James Piggott had established and which later was owned by the Wiggins family. It was this ferry that first gave employment to residents of Illinoistown.

Railroads of the nation found at East St. Louis great possi' bilities and built there the second greatest railroad center in the world. They selected East St. Louis primarily because it was the logical gateway to the west; secondly, because the level land in and about the city offered good foothold for track-laying, roadbed-making and future industrial sites; lastly, because at this point below the mouth of the Missouri River they could advantageously reach the shores of that great waterway, the Mississippi.

It is at East St. Louis that twenty-eight railroads meet at bridges which span the Father of Waters. It is the largest package freight center m the United States. Every night limited freight trains leave for the far corners of the nation, and from this central industrial district manufactured goods can be sent to the most distant points in the shortest possible time.

Four bridges form arteries of rail and highway traffic to the west. The first of these, the Eads Bridge, the second structure to span the river, was completed in 1874. Then followed in turn the Merchants' Bridge, the McKinley Bridge and the Municipal or Free Bridge. A railroad bridge at Alton, and ferries operated by the Wiggins Ferry Company, owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and the Missouri Pacific, assist in the transfer of carload freight.

Coal was first discovered in the United States at Ottawa, Illinois, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and almost simultaneously at a point that is now just outside of the East St. Louis city limits. It has only been m the last half century that any steps were taken to develop the enormous coal fields at this city's very door. Geologists say that there is a limitless supply of coal within short hauling dis' tance of East St Louis.

The Spivey Building

The Ohio and Mississippi River Railroad began building its western terminus here in 1852. The Cairo Short Line was started in 1854. It was the coming of the railroads that added sufficiently to the negligible population of Illinoistown to cause the citizens to incorporate in 18^9. In 1865 the name was changed to East St. Louis.

East St. Louis, while favored with natural advantages, has surmounted difficulties that have been detrimental to its growth and prosperity. So it is that the story of East St. Louis is the story of an undet'privileged community rising to an outstanding position among the cities of the middle west.

Located on the old bed of the Mississippi River, the American Bottoms, subjected to overflow from the Father of Waters, the inhabitants suffered severely from malaria in the early days and St. Louisans and those living on the higher ground in this section of Illinois looked down upon the pioneers of the municipality as residents of a fever-blighted city.

About 1800 there was formed in the middle of the river an island which for a time became known as Bloody Island. It was a rendezvous for gamblers, and here were held the cock

After Father Mississippi had showed a tendency to leave St. Louis without a harbor and shift its course eastward of Bloody Island, St. Louisans appealed to the Missouri Legislature who obtained an agreement with the Illinois Legislature for the building of a dike on the Illinois side to keep the river in its course. The building of the dike began in 1837 under the direction of Robert E. Lee, army engineer, who later became famous as the military leader of the South during the Civil War.

Building of this dike caused Bloody Island to pass out of existence as an island, and when railroads began to build their lines to the shores of the Mississippi River, this once notorious spot became the location of the greatest cluster of railroad terminals in America.

Upon this dike were located the first two raised streets in East St. Louis, Front Street and Broadway. In 1877 Mayor M. M. Stephens inaugurated the greatest public work that has ever been accomplished in East St. Louis, the raising of street levels throughout the downtown area. This great work focused attention upon the city, people flocked to it, outside money became available for improvements, and a real city developed.

In 1910 the building of a comprehensive system of levees to protect practically the entire American Bottoms was started. By the expenditure of more than $10,000,000 this great gateway to the west, formed by the concentration of twenty-eight trunk line railways converging at the crossings of the Mississippi, has been made safe from inroads of the river.

It has had great struggles with river floods, the most recent of which were in 1892 and 1903. Two tornadoes have left paths of destruction here, one in 1871, and another in 1896, costing more than 100 lives.

It has had more than its share of fires, pestilence, racial troubles, and other vicissitudes; but it has arisen from these, stronger and better equipped to cope with the future.

In 1872 the National Stockyards was established at East St. Louis. It was the first major industry to be located in the American Bottoms. The annual value of its products is estimated to be in excess of $200,000,000 a year. Here is located the world's largest horse and mule market, the second largest hog market, and is accredited with being the third largest clearing house for livestock in the world.

now the volume of receipts and shipments reaches an enormous figure. Morris and Company established the first large packing house at the National Stockyards in 1887. In 1893 It was followed by Swift and Company, Armour and Company came in 1903, and the East Side Packing Company in 190';.

But lest It appear that East St. Louis is a one-industry city, the following list will show the highly diversified nature of Its industrial products:

Aluminum, roofing, paints, building material, varnishes, linoleum, railway cars, railway frogs and switches, foundry products, bags, ranges and stove parts, flour, mill and poultry feeds, boilers, sheet iron, fireworks, lumber and millwork, gasoline and oils, storage batteries, barrels, kegs and casks, artificial stone, chemicals, rope and twine, textiles, brick and tile, quarry products, serums, cooking utensils, malleable castings, steel mills, steel products, structural steel and iron, bottles and glassware, baking powder, railway springs, railway equipment, shoes, motor trucks, wagons, radio cabinets, canvas products, food products, fences, harvesting machines, railroad ties, electric steel castings, tank cars, oil field equipment, sheet steel, cotton, meat products, hides, grease and tallow, clothing, oleomargarine, silicia, concrete products, tools and machinery.

East St. Louis is conceded to be the largest aluminum manufacturing center. The plants of the Aluminum Ore Company and the Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company cover a large area. It is one of the largest users of the Mississippi Warrior barge line service, and controls a railroad recently valued by the Interstate Commerce Commission at upwards of a million and a quarter dollars.

East St. Louis enjoys the lowest rates for electrical power of any district in the Mississippi Valley. The energy is provided by the mammoth Cahokia power plant of the Union Electric Company of Illinois which now produces more than the year-round capacity of Muscle Shoals, and when completed, will furnish four times the energy of the widely known Tennessee plant. In addition, it is served by the power plant at Venice and the.Keokuk plant, both of which are controlled by the North American Company.

The East St. Louis and Interurban Water Company is now prepared to meet the most exacting residential and industrial demands for water, following completion of its Chouteau Island intake. Gas for industrial purposes in any amount can be furnished by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, which has its headquarters in East St. Louis.

Business and Professional Women's Club, Community Fund, Downtown Business Men's Association, Retail Merchants' Association, various neighborhood improvement associations. Junior Chamber of Commerce, Automobile Club, Medical, Dental and Bar Associations, Master Builders, Bakers and Painters Association, and Employers' Association.

In the Community Fund which has its headquarters m the Chamber of Commerce are grouped together fourteen agencies to meet the charity, social service, character building and educational needs of the city. The list includes the Young Women's Christian Association, the National Catholic Community House, the Queen's Daughters, Protestant Women's Welfare League, Visiting Nurses Association, the East St. Louis Settlement House, Salvation Army, Humane Society, Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, Red Cross, Tuberculosis Society, Colored Old Folks' Home, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

The Ainad Shrine Temple is a handsome building in the heart of the city. With its annual Pageant of Progress, in which every interest of East St. Louis cooperates, it establishes a desirable contact with all parts of Southern Illinois and is an exhibition of the city's prowess as Little Egypt's metropolis. The Knights of Columbus clubhouse is a center for social and athletic events. Its architectural beauty has added to the general attractiveness of the city.

From East St. Louis paved roads radiate to all parts of Illinois, and westward across Missouri extend good roads which eventually lead to the great southwest and far west. East St. Louis IS on two United States trunk highways and is but a short distance from two others.

East St. Louis residents are convinced of its possibilities and Its inevitable future as one of the nation's leading cities. It stands today on the threshold of a new and greater expansion, an expansion that promises to make it not only a bigger city numerically but also promises to add to it a greater force as a leader in the development of Southern Illinois.