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51-797: The Martin–Boismenue House, built about 1790 by North American frontiersman Pierre Martin in what was at the time the French village of Prairie du Pont, is one of the oldest surviving structures in Illinois. Although the house was built after the American Bottom had been ceded to the young United States of America , the house reflects the French Colonial architectural traditions of the Mississippi River valley. The region immediately around Cahokia, Illinois continued to speak French for several decades after

102-554: A high of 90 °F (32 °C) in July, although a record low of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded in January 1977 and a record high of 117 °F (47 °C) at East St. Louis, Illinois was recorded in July 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 2.02 inches (51 mm) in January to 4.18 inches (106 mm) in May. St. Clair County is home to 11 St. Louis MetroLink stations on

153-487: A pickaxe against a background of three stripes alternating green, yellow, and green. According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 674 square miles (1,750 km ), of which 658 square miles (1,700 km ) is land and 16 square miles (41 km ) (2.4%) is water. In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Belleville have ranged from a low of 22 °F (−6 °C) in January to

204-543: A state legal system. The rivers were used as transportation routes for trading and travel. The introduction of steamboats to the Mississippi and other major rivers led to deforestation of the river banks in the 19th century. The steamboats consumed much wood for fuel, leading to dramatic environmental effects along the Mississippi River between St. Louis and the confluence with the Ohio River . With so many trees taken down,

255-641: A state, the government of the Northwest Territory created St. Clair County in 1790 out of the western half of Knox County. In 1809, the county became the administrative center of the Illinois Territory and one of the two original counties of Illinois, alongside Randolph County . In 1970, the United States Census Bureau placed the mean center of U.S. population in St. Clair County. This area

306-522: A two-room first floor, a large attic, a half basement, and the two galleries. There was no shortage of firewood in the Illinois Territory during the house's early history, and the three separate fireplaces were used to heat the home and acted as places for cooking. The Martin–Boismenue House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 9, 1990, as NRHP site #89002350. It

357-539: Is about 9 miles (14 km) in the north, and it is about 2 to 3 miles in width throughout most of its southern extent. Before European settlement, the area was home to indigenous peoples for many centuries. The peak civilization was created by peoples of the Mississippian culture , known as the Mound Builders . With the cultivation of maize, they were able to create food surpluses and build concentrated settlements in

408-587: Is bounded on the east by a nearly continuous, 200- to 300-foot high, 80-mile (130 km) long bluff of limestone and dolomite , above which begins the great prairie that covers most of the state. The Mississippi River bounds the Bottom on its west, and the river abuts the bluffline on the Missouri side. Portions of St. Clair , Madison , Monroe , and Randolph counties are in the American Bottom. Its maximum width

459-626: Is located at 2110 1st Street in East Carondelet. American Bottom The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro East region of Southern Illinois , extending from Alton, Illinois , south to the Kaskaskia River . It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about 175 square miles (450 km ), mostly protected from flooding in

510-463: Is located on a bluff along the Mississippi River. This area is being developed with suburban housing, particularly in Belleville , and its satellite cities . The eastern and southern portion of the county is sparsely populated. The older small communities and small tracts of newer suburban villages are located between large areas of land devoted to corn and soybean fields, the major commodity crops of

561-404: Is one of only two with a dressed stone basement. The traditional French building scheme shares many elements with traditional European half timbering . Squared-log outer walls support the roof; the logs, squared off by hand-hewing or with a pit saw , rest on a log sill mounted on a stone foundation. 'Galleries,' wide porches, enclose the house's north and south facades. The house consists of

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612-537: The 2020 United States census , St. Clair County had a population of 257,400, making it the third most populous county in Illinois outside the Chicago metropolitan area . Belleville is the county’s seat and largest city. Cahokia Village was founded in 1697 by French settlers and served as a Jesuit mission to convert tribes of the Illinois Confederation to Christianity. Prior to the establishment of Illinois as

663-651: The Eads Bridge to St. Louis, seeking refuge, until the police closed it off. The official death toll was 39 blacks and nine whites, but some historians believe more blacks were killed. Because the riots were racial terrorism, the Equal Justice Initiative has included these deaths among the lynchings of African Americans in the state of Illinois in its 2017 3rd edition of its report, Lynching in America . The riots had disrupted East St. Louis, which had seemed to be on

714-513: The Northwest Territory , who named it after himself. The original boundary of St. Clair county covered a large area between the Mackinaw and Ohio rivers. In 1801, Governor William Henry Harrison re-established St. Clair County as part of the Indiana Territory , extending its northern border to Lake Superior and the international border with Rupert's Land . When the Illinois Territory

765-559: The Red and Blue Lines. St. Clair County is also served by Metrobus and Madison County Transit . In the 2020 United States Census the racial makeup of the county was 59.6% White, 29.7% black or African American, 1.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.1% from other races, and 6.8% from two or more races. 4.9% were of Hispanic or Latino origin. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 270,056 people, 105,045 households, and 70,689 families residing in

816-529: The 21st century by a levee and drainage canal system. Immediately across the river from St. Louis , Missouri , are industrial and urban areas, but nearby marshland , swamps , and the Horseshoe Lake (which was created by the river) are reminders of the Bottoms' riparian nature. This plain with its rich alluvial soil , served as the center for the pre-Columbian Cahokia Mounds civilization, and later

867-467: The French settlement of Illinois Country . Deforestation of the river banks in the 19th century to fuel steamboats had dramatic environmental effects in this region. The Mississippi River between St. Louis and the confluence with the Ohio River became wider and more shallow, as unstable banks collapsed into the water. This resulted in more severe flooding and lateral changes of the major channel, causing

918-666: The Illinois Department of Corrections, is near East St. Louis. Also located in St. Clair County is Scott Air Force Base , which is home to U.S. Transportation Command, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, and the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. St. Clair County is a reliably Democratic county, having voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every presidential election since 1928, with

969-569: The Mississippi River to Illinois imposed a tax on heavy traffic. Rather than pay it, developers simply located their industries in East St. Louis. In the early 20th century, dramatic growth in industrial jobs in the American Bottom attracted many European immigrants and African-American migrants. The latter left the rural South in the Great Migration to work in factories and gain better lives for their children. Eastern European immigrants founded

1020-414: The Mississippi shifted, it was cut off from the mainland of Illinois and is connected to Missouri land. The area of the Bottom directly across from St. Louis became highly industrialized. Industrialists located many "smokestack" industries here, such as steel mills, chemical plants, and oil refineries, because they ran on Illinois coal. In addition, the people who built the first bridge from St. Louis across

1071-528: The Mississippians, Americans made massive changes in the floodplain; their development has reduced its ability to absorb floods. The destruction of wetlands and paving over of areas along all the major rivers has increased the severity of flooding over the decades, despite attempted engineering solutions for flood control, which in turn have exacerbated flooding. During the Great Flood of 1993 , major portions of

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1122-527: The area in the 17th century at the time of first French exploration. The French made the earliest European settlement in this region of the Mississippi River Valley . They encountered Illiniwek clans called Cahokia, after whom they named the earthwork complex, and Kaskaskia , after whom the French named a river, a town and a fort. The French villages included Kaskaskia , Cahokia , Prairie du Rocher , St. Philippe, and Prairie du Pont , all under

1173-413: The area. According to the St. Clair County Historical Society, the county flag was designed in 1979 by Kent Zimmerman, a senior at O'Fallon Township High School. Zimmerman's flag won first place in a contest against submissions by more than 40 grade school and high school students from throughout the county. The winning entry features the outline of St. Clair County with an orange moon, a stalk of corn, and

1224-480: The area. Many French Catholics moved to settlements west of the river rather than live under British Protestant rule. After the United States achieved independence in the late 18th century, St. Clair County was the first county established in present-day Illinois; it antedates Illinois' existence as a separate jurisdiction. The county was established in 1790 by a proclamation of Arthur St. Clair , first governor of

1275-411: The banks became unstable, collapsing into the river due to the powerful current. In this area, the Mississippi became wider and more shallow, which resulted in more severe flooding and lateral changes of the major channel. Several French colonial towns in the 19th century, such as Kaskaskia , Cahokia , and St. Philippe, Illinois, were flooded and destroyed. Kaskaskia was rebuilt but, after the channel of

1326-557: The center of the complex and fronting on a 40-acre (160,000 m ) Grand Plaza. Monks Mound is the largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the Americas, and the complex is the largest earthwork north of Mexico. The engineering of the mounds showed that their builders had an expert knowledge of the varying soils and their capacities. Cahokia was a complex, planned, and designed urban center with a residential population, farming, and artisan production of refined crafts and goods. With its location at

1377-488: The central precinct and was rebuilt several times. They also discovered two major solar calendars, now known as Woodhenge, as the works were constructed of cedar , which was considered a sacred wood. The area surrounding the mounds had numerous borrow pits from which soil was taken to build the mounds and to fill and level the Grand Plaza and other plazas. After Cahokia was abandoned, there were few indigenous inhabitants in

1428-414: The centuries after 600 CE. The Cahokia Mounds Site, which was built as the center attracted a rapid increase in population after 1000 CE, is a six-square mile complex of large, man-made, earthen mounds rising from the flood plain. In 1982, it was designated by UNESCO as one of only eight World Heritage Sites in the United States. The most prominent structure is Monks Mound , rising ten stories high at

1479-524: The cession. It is one of six surviving poteaux-sur-sol ('post-on-sill') structures, and the only one owned by an upper-middle-class individual. The poteaux-sur-sol style used vertical logs to construct houses; the style, originally developed in Europe, had faded in popularity before French colonists revived it. Only 33 vertical log buildings remain in the United States; of these, the Pierre Martin House

1530-522: The city council about this practice in late May. Rumors circulated about an armed African American man robbing a white man, and whites began to attack blacks on the street. The governor ordered in the National Guard and peace seemed restored by early June. "On July 1, a white man in a Ford shot into black homes. Armed African-Americans gathered in the area and shot into another oncoming Ford, killing two men who turned out to be police officers investigating

1581-476: The city have become urban prairie . In 2017 the city marked the centennial of the riots that had so affected its residents. Other cities in St. Clair County border agricultural or vacant lands. Unlike the suburbs on the Missouri side of the metro area, those in Metro-East are typically separated by agriculture, or otherwise undeveloped land left after the decline of industry. The central portion of St. Clair county

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1632-647: The confluence of three major rivers, it was the center of a regional trading network reaching to the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast . With a population estimated at 30,000 at its peak, Cahokia was the largest city north of modern-day Mexico . Perhaps for ecological reasons—deforestation and overhunting—the city went into decline after 1300 and was abandoned before 1400. No city in the territorial United States surpassed this population until 1790, when New York City exceeded it. Archaeological investigation has determined that

1683-425: The county. The population density was 410.6 inhabitants per square mile (158.5/km ). There were 116,249 housing units at an average density of 176.7 per square mile (68.2/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 64.6% white, 30.5% black or African American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.2% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.3% of

1734-526: The destruction of several French colonial towns, such as Kaskaskia , which relocated; Cahokia , and St. Philippe, Illinois . The southern portion of the American Bottoms is primarily agricultural, planted chiefly in corn, wheat, and soybean. The American Bottom is part of the Mississippi Flyway used by migrating birds and has the greatest concentration of bird species in Illinois. The flood plain

1785-482: The first Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the United States in Madison, Illinois . Today, East St. Louis is predominantly African-American in ethnicity. Following industrial restructuring, other immigrant descendants moved to other areas when following jobs and housing. Heavy industry is still prominent in the area, although total employment in these industries continues to decline after restructuring and industry changes. Like

1836-420: The language. The Goshen Settlement was an early American settlement at the edge of the Bottom. The settlers continued to use the rich alluvial floodplain mostly for agriculture until the late 19th century. Brooklyn, Illinois was founded by 1839 as a freedom village by free people of color and fugitive slaves, led by "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore . It was the first town incorporated by African Americans under

1887-618: The levee; only the spire of the Catholic church and roof of a nearby shrine rose far above the waters. 38°24′N 90°18′W  /  38.4°N 90.3°W  / 38.4; -90.3 St. Clair County, Illinois St. Clair County is the ninth most populous county in Illinois . Located directly east of St. Louis , the county is part of the Metro East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in southern Illinois . As of

1938-426: The population. In terms of ancestry, 27.5% were German , 11.1% were Irish , 7.4% were English , and 4.6% were American . Of the 105,045 households, 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.7% were non-families, and 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size

1989-517: The protection of Fort de Chartres and Fort Kaskaskia . Examples of 18th-century French Colonial architecture survive here, including the old Cahokia courthouse and Holy Family Catholic Church , both made with the distinctive vertical-log construction known as poteaux-sur-solle . American settlers began arriving near the end of the American Revolution after the Illinois Country

2040-533: The rapid growth of population. The United States was developing war industries to support its eventual entry into the Great War, now known as World War I . In February 1917 tensions in the city arose as white workers struck at the Aluminum Ore Company . Employers fiercely resisted union organizing, sometimes with violence. In this case they hired hundreds of blacks as strikebreakers. White workers complained to

2091-516: The rise as a flourishing industrial city. In addition to the human toll, they cost approximately $ 400,000 in property damage (over $ 8 million, in 2017 US Dollars ). They have been described as among the worst labor and race-related riots in United States history, and they devastated the African-American community. Rebuilding was difficult as workers were being drafted to fight in World War I. When

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2142-747: The river, industry expanded. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the cities attracted immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and from the South. In 1910 there were 6,000 African Americans in the city. With the Great Migration underway from the rural South, to leave behind Jim Crow and disenfranchisement , by 1917, the African-American population in East St. Louis had doubled. Whites were generally hired first and given higher–paying jobs, but there were still opportunities for American blacks. If hired as strikebreakers, they were resented by white workers, and both groups competed for jobs and limited housing in East St. Louis. The city had not been able to keep up with

2193-618: The shooting." Word spread and whites gathered at the Labor Temple; the next day they fanned out across the city, armed with guns, clubs, anything they could use against the blacks they encountered. From July 1 through July 3, 1917, the East St. Louis riots engulfed the city, with whites attacking blacks throughout the city, pulling them from streetcars, shooting and hanging them, burning their houses. During this period, some African Americans tried to swim or use boats to get to safety; thousands crossed

2244-430: The southern Bottom were flooded; 47,000 acres (190 km ) of land below Columbia, Illinois was inundated, destroying the town of Valmeyer . The waters came within five feet of overtopping the East St. Louis levee. If they had run over, they would have flooded 71,000 acres (290 km ) and destroyed this urban industrial area. More than nine feet of floodwater covered the town of Kaskaskia in 1993 after it overtopped

2295-421: The various types of mounds were arranged in a planned construction that reflected the cosmology of the Mississippians. The smaller ridge-top and conical mounds were used for ritual burials, some for elites and some for apparent sacrifices. The larger platform mounds were used for temples and homes of the elite. Archaeologists have found remains of a 2-mile (3.2 km) long, defensive wooden stockade that enclosed

2346-471: The veterans returned, they struggled to find jobs and re-enter the economy, which had to shift down to peacetime. In the late 20th century, national restructuring of heavy industry cost many jobs, hollowing out the city, which had a marked decline in population. Residents who did not leave have suffered high rates of poverty and crime. In the early 21st century, East St. Louis is a site of urban decay . Swathes of deteriorated housing were demolished and parts of

2397-521: Was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age was 36.9 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 48,562 and the median income for a family was $ 61,042. Males had a median income of $ 47,958 versus $ 34,774 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 24,770. About 12.3% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line , including 24.7% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over. The Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center , operated by

2448-448: Was always strongly influenced by actions of businessmen from St. Louis, who were initially French Creole fur traders with western trading networks. In the 19th century, industrialists from St. Louis put coal plants and other heavy industry on the east side of the river, developing East St. Louis. Coal from southern mines was transported on the river to East St. Louis, then fed by barge to St. Louis furnaces as needed. After bridges spanned

2499-423: Was ceded by Great Britain to the new United States. In the early years, American single men came to the country, and there was little government and much anarchy. As Americans arrived, many residents of French descent moved west of the Mississippi River to St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve, Missouri . Within several years, the former French colonial towns had become mostly American in population, and English dominated as

2550-429: Was created in 1809, Territorial Secretary Nathaniel Pope , in his capacity as acting governor, issued a proclamation establishing St. Clair and Randolph County as the two original counties of Illinois. Originally developed for agriculture, this area became industrialized and urbanized in the area of East St. Louis, Illinois , a city that developed on the east side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri . It

2601-528: Was occupied for thousands of years by cultures of indigenous peoples. The first modern explorers and colonists of the area were French and French Canadians, founding a mission settlement in 1697 now known as Cahokia Village . After Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War in 1763 and absorbed its territory in North America east of the Mississippi River, British-American colonists began to move into

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