The Making of an All-America City: East St. Louis at 150

At one point in time, East St. Louis was the boomtown of the St. Louis metropolitan area, promising to be both a hub of industrial markets and a desirable residential area. In 1960, it was honored with the All-America City designation, yet today, it has been dubbed the most distressed small city in the country. Comprising a selection of insightful essays, The Making of an All-America City covers East St. Louis’s turbulent history over the past century and a half, from the Mississippi River to racial tensions, industrial decline, and the city’s enduring cultural impact. This book is the first in the East St. Louis Sesquicentennial Series, which aims to examine the city’s influence, document and preserve its history, and provide meaningful reference for historians to come.