When one of the mob made a move to set the old warehouse on fire, Lovejoy, armed with only a pistol, went outside to try to stop him. He had printed many abolitionist tracts and distributed them throughout the area. ![]() Lovejoy was murdered by a pro- slavery mob while he tried to protect his Alton-based press from being destroyed for the third time. On November 7, 1837, the abolitionist printer Reverend Elijah P. During the years before the American Civil War, several homes were equipped with tunnels and hiding places for stations on the Underground Railroad to aid slaves escaping to the North. Escaped slaves would cross the Mississippi to seek shelter in Alton, and proceed to safer places through stations of the Underground Railroad. Pro-slavery activists also lived there and slave catchers often raided the city. In the 19th century, it was an important town for abolitionists, as Illinois was a free state across from the slave state of Missouri. The flood of '93 is the worst in the last 100 years. The flood levels of different dates are marked on the large grain silos, part of the ConAgra mill, near the Argosy Casino at the waterfront. The lower levels of Alton are subject to floods, many of which have inundated the historic downtown area. Once the site of several brick factories, Alton has an unusually high number of streets still paved in brick. Brick commercial buildings are located throughout downtown. The city rises steeply from the waterfront, where massive concrete grain silos and railroad tracks were constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries to aid in shipping the area's grains and produce. Alton is located amid the confluence of three significant navigable rivers: the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Missouri.Īlton grew into a river trading town with an industrial character. Easton ran a passenger ferry service across the Mississippi River to the Missouri shore. The image was first written about in 1673 by French missionary priest Father Jacques Marquette.Īlton was developed as a river town in 1818 by Rufus Easton, who named it after his son. Earlier native settlement is demonstrated by archaeological artifacts and the famous prehistoric Piasa bird painted on a cliff face nearby. Historic accounts indicate occupation of this area by the Illiniwek or Illinois Confederacy at the time of European contact. The Alton area was home to Native Americans for thousands of years before the 19th-century founding by European Americans of the modern city. The Clark Bridge which connects Alton to West Alton, Missouri The city holds regular "ghost tours" and has been visited by television crews hoping to film proof of the paranormal. Confederate prisoners had suffered severe overcrowding, and many died during a smallpox epidemic. Most were built on foundations of stone taken from the former Civil War prison after it was abandoned. ![]() The city has been labeled "The most haunted city in America" by paranormal enthusiasts, due to its claimed haunted hot spots, such as McPike Mansion and other structures. The former state penitentiary here was used during the war to hold up to 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war. It was the site of the last Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate in October 1858. It is famous for its limestone bluffs along the river north of the city, for its role preceding and during the American Civil War, and as the hometown of jazz musician Miles Davis and Robert Wadlow, the tallest known man in history. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about 15 miles (24 km) north of St.
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