East St. Louis, Illinois
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| East St. Louis | |
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| City | |
 East St. Louis houses.
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| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| County | St. Clair |
| Area | 14.4 sq mi (37.3 km²) |
| - land | 14.0 sq mi (36.26 km²) |
| - water | 0.4 sq mi (1.04 km²), 2.78% |
| Center | |
| - coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Population | 31,542 (2000) |
| Density | 2,242.9 /sq mi (866 /km²) |
| Government type | Council-Manager |
| founded | June 6, 1820 |
| Mayor | Alvin Parks, Jr |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 62201 62202 62203 62204 62205 62206 62207 |
| Area code | 618 |
  Location of East St. Louis within Illinois
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 Location of Illinois in the United States
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| Website : www.cesl.us | |
East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 31,542. One of the highlights of the city's waterfront is the Gateway Geyser, the tallest fountain in the United States, which spews water to a height of 630 feet and is designed to mirror the Gateway Arch across the river in St. Louis.
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[edit] History
East St. Louis' original name was "Illinoistown."[1]
On November 21, 1915, the Liberty Bell began its day's journey in East St. Louis on its nationwide tour returning to Philadelphia from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. After that trip, the Liberty Bell returned to Philadelphia and has not been moved since.[2]
Several destructive tornadoes have hit East St. Louis, the deadliest being the St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado of 1896 which killed at least 255, injured over 1000, and incurred an estimated $2.9 billion in damages (1997 USD).[3]
[edit] The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the St. Louis commune
A period of extensive industrial growth following the American Civil War contributed to a major economic collapse known as the Panic of 1873. This was due to railroad and other manufacturing expansion, land speculation and general business optimism caused by large profits from inflation. The economic recession began in the East and steadily moved west, severely crippling the railroads, the main system of transportation. In response to the difficulties, railroad companies began dramatically lowering workers' wages, forcing employees to work without pay as well as cutting jobs and the amount of paid work hours. These wage cuts and additional money-saving tactics used by the industry prompted strikes and unrest on a massive scale.
While most of the strikes in the eastern cities during 1877 were accompanied by violence and mayhem, the late July 1877 St. Louis strike was marked by a bloodless, efficient and quick take-over by dissatisfied workers of commerce and transportation in the area. By July 22, the St. Louis Commune began to take shape as representatives from almost all the railroad lines met in East St. Louis. They soon elected an executive committee to command the strike and issued General Order No. 1, halting all railroad traffic other than passenger and mail trains. John Bowman, the mayor of East St. Louis, was appointed arbitrator of the committee. He helped the committee select special police to guard the property of the railroads from damage. The strike and the new de facto workers' government, while given encouragement by the largely German-American Workingman's Party and the Knights of Labor (two key players in the organization of the Missouri general strike), were run by no organized labor group.
The strike reached the business sector by closing packing industry houses surrounding the National Stockyards. At one plant, workers allowed processing of 125 cattle in return for 500 cans of beef for the workers. The strike continued to gain momentum, with different regions and workers asking to join in. Though the East St. Louis strike continued in an orderly fashion, across the river there were isolated incidents of violence. 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. Ask the Mayor, as we did, to close up all the saloons... keep sober and orderly, and when you are organized, apply to the United Workingmen for orders. Don't plunder ... don't interfere with the railroads here ... let us attend to that".[citation needed]
On July 28 the strike was peacefully ended when US troops took over the Relay Depot, the Commune's command center. [4]
[edit] The East St. Louis riots of 1917
East St. Louis in 1917 had a strong industrial economy boosted by World War I. WWI took many of the workers, and the war prevented immigration from Europe. Major companies recruited many blacks to work at the Aluminum Ore Company and the American Steel Company. They were available because the US Army rejected many early black volunteers.[5] Resentment on both sides and the arrival of new workers created fears for job security and raised tensions. At a white labor meeting on May 28, men passed around rumors of black men and white women's fraternizing. Three thousand white men left the meeting for the downtown, where they beat up random blacks. They destroyed buildings and attacked people, but no one was killed. The governor called in National Guard to prevent further rioting, but rumors continued to circulate about an organized retaliation from the blacks.
On July 1, 1917, a black man attacked a white man. Whites drove by shooting in retaliation. When police came to investigate, the black attacker proceeded to fire on the police and wounded at least one. The next morning, thousands of white spectators saw the bloodstained police car as a call to march into the black section of town. The rioters burned entire sections of the city and shot blacks as they escaped the flames. Claiming that "Southern niggers deserve a genuine lynching,"1 they hung several blacks.
National Guardsmen were called in, but several accounts reported that they joined in the rioting rather than trying to stop it. The mob included "ten or fifteen white women, [who] chased a negro woman at the Relay Depot in broad daylight. The girls were brandishing clubs and calling upon the men to kill the woman." 2 The woman was a known prostitute frequented by white men.
[edit] Modern
East St. Louis was named an All-America City in 1959, having retained a modicum of prosperity through the decade as its population reached a peak of 82,295 residents. As a number of local factories began to close because of changes in industry, the number of jobs declined and the city's financial conditions deteriorated. Elected in 1951, Mayor Alvin Fields resorted to ill-judged funding procedures to try to buy the city out of its financial morass. The scheme increased the city's bonded indebtedness and the property tax rate. More businesses closed as whites left the area. Crime increased as a result of poverty, lack of opportunities, and young African American males' joining gangs.
Street gangs such as the War Lords, Black Egyptians, 29th Street Stompers and Hustlers appeared in some neighborhoods. Like other cities with endemic problems by the 1960s, East St. Louis suffered riots in the latter part of the decade. In September of 1967, rioting occurred in the city's South End. Also, in the summer of 1968, a still-unsolved series of snipings occurred. These events contributed to residential mistrust and adversely affected the downtown retail base and the city's income.
Urban sprawl and the construction of freeways contributed to East St. Louis' decline as well. The freeways cut through existing neighborhoods and broke them up. The freeways also made it easier for residents to commute back and forth from suburban homes. Desperation led to East St. Louis' adopting a number of new programs in an attempt to reverse decline — the Model Cities program, the Concentrated Employment Program and Operation Breakthrough. The programs did little to prevent decline. The noted architect Buckminster Fuller suggested putting the entire city under a geodesic dome.
In 1971, James Williams was elected as the city's first black mayor, but he was unable to stop the city's decline.[citation needed] By the election of Carl Officer as mayor (the youngest in the country at that time at age 25) in 1979, many said the city had nowhere to go but up, yet things grew worse. white flight continued and middle class African Americans also left the city. Because the city had to cut back on maintenance, sewers failed and garbage pickup ceased. Police cars often did not work, and neither did their radios. The East St. Louis Fire Department went on strike in the 1970s.
Before Gordon Bush was elected mayor in 1991, the state imposed a financial advisory board to manage the city in exchange for a financial bailout. State legislative approval in 1990 of riverboat gambling and the coming of the Casino Queen riverboat casino provided the first new source of income for the city in nearly 30 years.
The past decade can be characterized as one of redevelopment and renewal for the city.[citation needed] In 2001 a new library was completed. A new city hall has been built. A variety of new retail developments, housing initiatives, and St. Louis Metrolink light rail have sparked this renewal. The city is still one of the prime examples of drastic urban blight in the country. Sections of "urban prairie" can be found where vacant buildings were torn down and whole blocks are now overgrown.
[edit] Famous natives or residents
- Josephine Baker survived the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis and ran away at age 13 to dance in vaudeville on Broadway and, most famously, with the Folies Bergère in Paris, where she became an international star. During World War II, Baker gathered intelligence for the French Resistance.
- New York Yankees player Hank Bauer was born in East St. Louis in 1922. He played for the Yankees from 1949-59 and won seven World Series championships.
- Homer Bush (b. November 12, 1972, in East St. Louis, Illinois) was a Major League Baseball second baseman with a career .285 batting average, who played for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Florida Marlins.
- Tennis legend Jimmy Connors was born in East St. Louis, and grew up near Frank Holten State Park.
- Bryan Cox, former NFL player, is a native of East St. Louis. Cox has been a major philanthropist for East St. Louis High School and his alma mater Western Illinois University.
- Jazz legend Miles Davis was born in Alton but grew up in East St. Louis.
- Katherine Dunham -- dancer, choreographer, anthropologist and author -- introduced U.S. and European audiences to Caribbean- and African-based dance movements.
- Richard Durbin -- Senior U.S. Senator of Illinois, born in East St. Louis.
- LaPhonso Ellis, former NBA player, is a native of East St. Louis.
- Kerry Raymond Glenn, former NFL player was born and raised in East St. Louis, Ill. He played in the NFL for the New York Jets 1985-1990 and Miami Dolphins 1990-1993.
- Dana Howard- former NFL player who was born and raised in East St. Louis.
- Reginald Hudlin, who wrote and directed the 1990s films House Party, was born in East St. Louis.
- Track legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee was born and raised in East St. Louis.
- Al Joyner, track gold medalist and brother of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, was born and raised in East St. Louis.
- Blues legends Albert King and B.B. King have ties to the city.
- Darius Miles, current NBA player, is a native of East St. Louis.
- Ike Turner met Tina Turner in 1956 at the Club Manhattan in East St. Louis. She joined his band and they later married.
- Kellen Boswell Winslow (born 1957 in St. Louis and raised in East St. Louis) is a former professional American football tight end with the San Diego Chargers.
- The poet Robert Wrigley was born in East St. Louis in 1951.
- Poet laureate Eugene B. Redmond is a native of East St. Louis.
- Music artist LMNOP was raised in East St. Louis.
[edit] Registered historic places
- Majestic Theatre (East St. Louis)
- Pennsylvania Avenue Historic District
- Spivey Building
[edit] East St. Louis in popular culture
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- In an episode of Leave It to Beaver, Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver) mentioned that Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver) was the "Former Belle of East St. Louis."
- In The Simpsons episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain," the local chapter of Mensa takes over the government of Springfield and improves the city to 299th place on America's list of 300 most livable cities, displacing East St. Louis. According to the DVD commentary for this episode, this joke caused a lot of controversy.
- In The Simpsons episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses," Homer claims to be planning a trip to East St. Louis.
- Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin penned a 2004 graphic novel Birth of a Nation, in which they theorize what would happen if the 2000 Florida election debacle had instead happened in East St. Louis, resulting in ESL seceding from the nation and creating its own called "Republic of Blackland."[6]
- Comic book author Dennis O'Neil of St. Louis based The Question's fictional Hub City on East St. Louis.[6]
- In the song "This my City" by Raw Reese he talks about East St. Louis.
[edit] Film
- In the film National Lampoon's Vacation, the Griswold family, en route from Chicago to Los Angeles, gets lost in East St. Louis (despite having crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri beforehand in the original film version) and has to ask for directions to get back, but not before the car gets vandalized.
- The 1992 film Trespass, starring Ice Cube and Ice-T and shot in East St. Louis, is about local gangs interrupting two corrupt Arkansas firefighters in their quest for riches stored in condemned buildings in an abandoned part of East St. Louis.
- In the films Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), the character of Father Charles O'Malley (played by Bing Crosby) was from East St. Louis. He sang the the "East St. Louis High" alma mater in Going My Way.
[edit] Geography
East St. Louis is located at 38°36'56" North, 90°7'40" West (38.615550, -90.127825).[7]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.4 square miles (37.4 km²), of which, 14.1 square miles (36.4 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it is water. The total area is 2.56% water.
East St. Louis usually experiences cold winters and warm summers. On July 14, 1954 the temperature at East Saint Louis unexpectedly rose to 117°F (48°C), the highest temperature ever recorded in Illinois.
[edit] Crime
East St. Louis has one of the highest crime rates in the United States. According to FBI's data of 2006, its murder rate hit 83.8 per population of 100,000, surpassing that of cities such as Compton, California (40.4 per pop. 100,000), Gary, Indiana (48.3 per pop. 100,000), New Orleans, Louisiana (37.6 per pop. 100,000), Richmond, Virginia (38.8), Baltimore, Maryland (43.3), Camden, New Jersey (40.0), Detroit, Michigan (47.3), and Washington, D.C. (29.1), as well as that of its neighbor St. Louis (37.2). FBI data also shows East St. Louis' high rate of rape, which exceeded 250 per population of 100,000.
East Saint Louis and Opa Locka, Florida have the highest crime rates in the United States (Opa Locka had the absolute highest crime rate in 2003 and 2004 for cities of any population.)
The following table shows East St. Louis' crime rate in 6 crimes that Morgan Quitno uses for their calculation for "America's most dangerous cities" ranking, in comparison to the national average.
| Crime | East Saint Louis | National Average |
|---|---|---|
| Murder | 83.8 | 6.9 |
| Rape | 251.3 | 32.2 |
| Robbery | 1,347.0 | 195.4 |
| Assault | 5,847.3 | 340.1 |
| Burglary | 2,442.8 | 814.5 |
| Automobile Theft | 2,067.5 | 526.5 |
[edit] Transportation
East St. Louis is home to four St. Louis MetroLink stations; East Riverfront, 5th & Missouri, Emerson Park, and JJK Center.
[edit] Demographics
| City of East St. Louis Population by year [9] |
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| 1900 | 29,734 |
| 1910 | 58,540 |
| 1920 | 66,785 |
| 1930 | 74,397 |
| 1940 | 75,603 |
| 1950 | 82,366 |
| 1960 | 81,728 |
| 1970 | 70,029 |
| 1980 | 55,239 |
| 1990 | 40,921 |
| 2000 | 31,542 |
As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 31,542 people, 11,178 households, and 7,668 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,242.9 people per square mile (866.2/km²). There are 12,899 housing units at an average density of 917.2/sq mi (354.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 97.74% African American, 1.23% White, 0.19% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 0.55% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 11,178 households out of which 33.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 21.9% are married couples living together, 40.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% are non-families. 27.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.80 and the average family size is 3.42.
In the city the population is spread out with 32.8% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 81.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 72.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $21,324, and the median income for a family is $24,567. Males have a median income of $27,864 versus $21,850 for females. The per capita income for the city is $11,169. 35.1% of the population and 31.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 48.6% of those under the age of 18 and 25.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
[edit] Education
The city is served by the East St. Louis School District 189 [4].
All residents are zoned to East St. Louis High School.
[edit] References
- ^ Meier, Jenee. Alumnus' book highlights history of East St. Louis. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Alestle. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ "Liberty Bell Attracts Crowd in Greenville During 1915 Stop", Greenville Advocate, July 3, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.
- ^ East St. Louis: Description, Illinois.com, accessed 19 Apr 2008
- ^ [1]
- ^ A Chronology of African American Military Service: From WWI through WWII
- ^ a b McElhattan, Greg (2004-08-05). Birth of a Nation. ReadAboutComics.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ City-Data.com
- ^ United States Census Bureau. [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- Heaps, Willard Allison. "Target of Prejudice: The Negro." Riots, U.S.A., 1765–1970. New York: The Seabury Press, 1970. 108–117.
- Kozol, Jonathan. "Life on the Mississippi." Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. Crown, 1991. 7–39. ISBN 0-517-58221-X
- "Race Rioters Fire East St. Louis and Shoot or Hang Many Negroes; Dead Estimated at from 20 to 76." New York Times 3 July 1917.
[edit] External links
- City of East St. Louis official web site
- The IBEX Archive: ESLARP's Social History Project - Cultural and historical material on East St. Louis. Includes a bibliography and several links
- IDOT Survey - History of East St. Louis
- Photos of East St. Louis
- Evocative photos from Built St. Louis
- City-Data.com - East St. Louis, Illinois
- East St. Louis Flyers Football
- inBox Magazine & DVD | East St. Louis Premier Magazine
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