Harry Eastman, the East St. Louis workers' representative, addressed the mass of employees: Go home to your different wards and organize your different unions, but don't keep coming up here in great bodies and stirring up excitement. [13] In 1979, Carl Officer was elected as mayor (the youngest in the country at that time at age 25). Later, Assumption closed in 1989.[31]. East St. Louis has five St. Louis MetroLink stations: East Riverfront, 5th & Missouri, Emerson Park, JJK Center, and Washington Park. The darkened streets were filmed in downtown St Louis, an area which had been severely damaged during a massive urban fire in 1976. They were available in part during this period because the U.S. Army initially rejected many black volunteers in the years before an integrated military. Location of Illinois in the United States, ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties, Adam M. Watkins & Scott H. Decker, "Patterns of Homicide in East St. Louis,", National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, List of people from East St. Louis, Illinois, "Alumnus' book highlights history of East St. Louis", "A Chronology of African American Military Service: From WWI through WWII", "(65 ILCS 5/) Illinois Municipal Code. Others smell the few hogs in the National Stockyards just north of the downtown area and recall that as recently as 1968, East St. Louis was a national … They are organized into three divisions of operations: Administration, Firefighting/Hazard Mitigation, and Fire Prevention/Arson Investigation. Designed to complement the Gateway Arch across the river in St. Louis, it shoots water to a height of 630 feet (190 m), the same height as the arch. The Mississippian culture site is in a present industrial wasteland. On July 1, 1917, a black man attacked a white man. The economic recession began in the East and steadily moved West, severely crippling the railroads, the main system of transportation. "Target of Prejudice: The Negro". The St. Louis Fire Department (STLFD) is the largest fire department in the U.S. state of Missouri. Public-private partnerships have resulted in a variety of new retail developments, and housing initiatives. It laid off some 22 firefighters in May 2013. Before desegregation, it was the school for black students. Both sides of the river had earlier been reported as having numerous earthwork mounds when Europeans and Americans first settled in the area. "[5] Its population had reached a peak of 82,366 residents in the 1950 census, the fourth-largest city in Illinois at the time. It provides community news and event updates. See reviews, photos, directions, phone numbers and more for the best Fire Departments in East Saint Louis, IL. It would have been one of dozens of mounds when the community was active, based on the size of the residential population of this site. The federal government intervened, and on July 28 US troops took over the Relay Depot, the Commune's command center, and the strike ended peacefully. On the grounds of Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, the fountain is the second-tallest in the world. City of East St. Louis 301 River Park Drive East St. Louis, IL 62201 Phone: 618-482-6600; While most of the strikes in the eastern cities during 1877 were accompanied by violence, the late July 1877 St. Louis strike was marked by a bloodless and quick take-over by dissatisfied workers. EAST ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) – Firefighters were called to an early morning fire in the Metro East Monday. The Manhattan Club was a nightclub located at 1312 Broadway in East St. Louis, Illinois. Find your ancestry info and recent death notices for relatives and friends. As of the census[24] of 2000, there were 31,542 people, 11,178 households, and 7,668 families residing in the city. showcases budget cut challenges", "Assumption High School, East St. Louis, Illinois", Gun Control: Dick Durbin Wants to Lower East St. Louis Homicide Rate, 18 Times U.S. Average, Table 8: Illinois: Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by City, 2015, "Top 30 Highest Murder Rate Cities in the U.S. 2016", Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_St._Louis,_Illinois&oldid=1002701435, Illinois populated places on the Mississippi River, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz area identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Location of East St. Louis in St. Clair County, Illinois. East St. Louis UnSung Heros. The median age was 31 years. About 31.8% of families and 35.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 48.6% of those under the age of 18 and 25.2% of those ages 65 and older. As a number of local factories began to close because of changes in industry, the railroad and meatpacking industries also were cutting back and moving jobs out of the region. 1 Deputy (Tour Commander) Login with username, password and session length. A complex urban center estimated to have had a population of perhaps 20,000, this site is about five miles from East St. Louis. Enlarge Download: Go. At a large labor meeting of white workers held in City Hall on May 28, men also traded rumors of fraternizing between black men and white women. The opening of the Casino Queen riverboat casino generated the first new source of income for the city in nearly 30 years. The closest grocery store is BCL Restaurant Supply. Street gangs appeared in city neighborhoods. In the past, it served as St. Louis's UPN and MyNetworkTV affiliate. The fatal shooting was the first of two that occurred on 18th Street Sunday. Around the remains of this mound, researchers have discovered evidence of burial mounds, a large plaza, a wooden defensive palisade and several other Mississippian culture structures. They destroyed buildings and physically attacked people; they "killed a 14-year-old boy and scalped his mother. The freeways made it easier for residents to commute back and forth from suburban homes, so the wealthier people moved out to newer housing. Louis. The 1999 PBS series River of Song featured these musicians in its coverage of music from cities along the Mississippi River. By July 22, the St. Louis Commune began to take shape, as representatives from almost all the railroad lines met in East St. Louis. These "communities" have virtually no residents, and the shell jurisdictions are outside the tax base of East St. Louis. East St. Louis usually has cold winters and hot summers. In the expansion, many businessmen became overextended in credit, and a major economic collapse followed the Panic of 1873. This vacant land is a 6,171 square foot lot. Because of depopulation, the city has many abandoned properties and extensive urban blight. [citation needed] After hearing of this, whites drove by black homes near 17th and Market and fired shots into several of them. In 1950, East St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in Illinois when its population peaked at 82,366. [4], The municipality called East St. Louis was established on April 1, 1861. Massive warehouse fire in Metro East spreads smoke for miles. Police cars and radios stopped working. When Piggott died in 1799, his widow sold the ferry business, moved to St. Louis County and remarried. He helped the committee select special police to guard the property of the railroads from damage. Most of the violence ended that day, but reports continued afterward of isolated assaults of blacks. East St. Louis Fire Chief Jason Blackmon said the fire department was dispatched to North 44th and Lincoln Street around midnight. Besides being a fire buff I am also a history buff and one of my passions are the old fires, the one that men and machine fought odds that were a million to one against them. [citation needed]. Fire Department Of East St. Louis Salaries . Though official reports suggested that the East St. Louis race riot resulted in the deaths of 39 blacks and 9 whites, other estimates put the figure much higher, with estimates of 100 to 250 blacks being killed. Du Bois of the NAACP came to investigate the riots personally. In 1991, Gordon Bush was elected mayor. [30], In 1929 Central Catholic High School for Boys was established with the name being changed to Assumption High School in 1953. Residents of the city, however, suffer from contaminated air and other adverse environmental effects of these sites. In the summer of 1916, 2,500 white workers struck the nearby meat packing plants of National City. Industry was dominated by European immigrant workers, who had been coming to industrial cities since the late 19th century. Sections of "urban prairie" can be found where vacant buildings were demolished and whole blocks have become overgrown with vegetation. Discovery of the site led scholars to increase their estimates of the total population of the Mississippians at Cahokia and in the area, now thought to have been about 20,000. People who could get jobs moved to places with work and a decent quality of life. In 1990, the State of Illinois passed (65 ILCS 5/Art. On July 14, 1954, the temperature in East St. Louis allegedly reached 117 °F (47 °C), the highest temperature ever recorded in Illinois. This was due to railroad and other manufacturing expansion, land speculation, and general business optimism caused by large profits from inflation. Though the East St. Louis strike continued in an orderly fashion, across the river in St. Louis there were isolated incidents of violence. As of 2017, the district operates an early childhood learning center, 5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and one high school, East St. Louis High School.[29]. Like other cities with endemic problems by the 1960s, violence added to residential mistrust and adversely affected the downtown retail base and the city's income. Browse the most recent East Saint Louis, Illinois obituaries and condolences. 5 Hook & Ladder Companies 4.1. Through and after World War II, many workers could make decent livings. These are the last of my collection. Interstate 55, Interstate 64, Interstate 70, and U.S. Route 40 run through East St. Louis and are linked to St. Louis by the Poplar Street Bridge and Stan Musial Bridge. 2 100' rear-mount platforms 4.2. When white workers went on strike in April 1917 at the Aluminum Ore Company, the employer hired blacks as strikebreakers. SAUGET, Ill. — Several fire departments responded to a large fire in the Metro East Thursday afternoon. People who could get jobs moved to places with work and a decent quality of life. Structure fires destroyed such a significant number of consecutive blocks that much of the post-Armageddon film Escape from New York was filmed in East St. Unfortunately, most of these cultural treasures in St. Louis and on the east side were lost to development. The Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center, operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections, is located near East St. Louis and provides some jobs. Mission Statement. In 2012, archeological work prior to construction of the Stan Musial Bridge across the Mississippi discovered artifacts and evidence of a formerly unidentified 900-year-old suburb of Cahokia in present-day East St. Louis. Before it was all said and done the fire destroyed six buildings, damaged numerous others, and at one time every piece of equipment for the City of St Louis Fire Department was involved in fighting this fire or putting out numerous others fires that were started by flying embers. [16] Under this law, Illinois Governor James R. Thompson provided $34 million in loans to East St. Louis, with the stipulation that an appointed five-member board, called the East St. Louis Financial Advisory Authority, manage the city's finances.