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Old 05-19-2012, 09:58 AM
 
Location: Mississippi Delta!
468 posts, read 785,746 times
Reputation: 268

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Anyone here grow up in East Saint Louis before the city collapsed in the 60s and 70s?

God bless,

CKB
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Old 05-19-2012, 02:15 PM
 
Location: South Chicagoland
4,112 posts, read 9,061,882 times
Reputation: 2084
East Saint Louis is a factory town that collapsed. Factory towns were NEVER quote-unquote "desirable". Even in East Saint Louis's prime, it was smog filled and blue collar. I bet most of the factory owners never lived in East Saint Louis. Not in the good old days and not now.

Kinda like Gary, Indiana and East Chicago.
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Old 05-21-2012, 03:35 PM
 
Location: Mississippi Delta!
468 posts, read 785,746 times
Reputation: 268
According to what I have read, some of the major factories that employed residents of East St. Louis were actually incorporated as separate communities: National City (stockyards), Alorton (Aluminum Corporation of America), and Monsanto (now Sauget) - chemicals. Thus they were exempt from EStL taxes.
EStL was full of corruption even before the city collapsed.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:56 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,138,905 times
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My dad briefly lived in or near ESL in the early 60s. The little I've heard him talk about it suggests it was never a particularly nice place (but got a whole lot worse since).
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Old 05-26-2012, 10:40 PM
 
12 posts, read 28,978 times
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My grandparent's first home together was a house in East St. Louis in the late 50s-early 60s. My grandma has said that it was a nice community back in the day. The house was rented, and the beginning of decline of ESTL coincided with the end of their lease, so they chose to settle down and purchase a house to the east in Belleville. We went to Street View last year and saw that the house is still standing, but looked to be abandoned and all its neighboring lots were completely vacant. Crazy how much can change in half a century.
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Old 05-27-2012, 05:21 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL SouthWest Suburbs
3,522 posts, read 6,099,444 times
Reputation: 6130
Found it interesting East St. Louis was industrialized due to Illinois Coal.
(Wikipedia)
American Bottom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The area was Industrialized due to a tax imposed on barge traffic carrying coal from Illinois into Missouri, rather than paying a tax they simply put the factories on the Illinois side.


It would be great to hear from others from the Illinois side of the St. Louis MO metro.
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Old 05-30-2012, 10:05 AM
 
Location: St. Louis
7,444 posts, read 7,011,224 times
Reputation: 4601
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Balducci View Post
Anyone here grow up in East Saint Louis before the city collapsed in the 60s and 70s?

God bless,

CKB
I was trying to do a little research on this myself a few years ago and I came accross this link to a youtube video shot by a former resident. He includes some pictures from his youth growing up there, which offer a stark contrast to his video shot in 2007. I travel through east St. Louis and I can tell you if anything it's gotten worse since the video was shot in '07.

The comments after the video are almost as interesting because a number of current and former east St. Louis residents posted their memories.

It won't answer all your questions but I think you will find it interesting.
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Old 05-30-2012, 12:14 PM
 
Location: St. Louis
7,444 posts, read 7,011,224 times
Reputation: 4601
I guess it would help if I actually posted the link!:


Memories in East St. Louis, IL - YouTube
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Old 06-01-2012, 03:48 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL SouthWest Suburbs
3,522 posts, read 6,099,444 times
Reputation: 6130
Unfortunately


there are communities dotted across the landscape just like East St. Louis.
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Old 06-13-2012, 01:34 PM
 
Location: Baker City, Oregon
5,456 posts, read 8,169,998 times
Reputation: 11603
Famous citizen is remembered: East St. Louis celebrating stamp for Miles Davis


Miles Davis "Summertime" (1958) - YouTube
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