October 25-26, 2006

October 25-26, 2006

We are back in Godfrey, IL again. It was cold and raining constantly in Itasca the whole time we were there, and it has not let up in southern Illinois. Aimee and my mom have been sewing a quilt while the weather is bad. We take a break one day and visit the Alton Museum of History and Art. It is a small museum and a big disappointment. The museum has a lot of artifacts but only about 5% are displayed. And of these, only the items associated with Robert Wadlow have explanations. The museum does have an interesting film on Wadlow’s life and an actual-size bronze statue of him across the street. Alton has spent its time and money on its nine-foot giant but left the rest of its history go. I am amazed that a one-time sideshow circus attraction is all that Alton chooses to remember.

After a burger and beer at Fast Eddie’s we stop at the Alton Cemetery to see the Lovejoy Monument. I couldn’t relate to Lovejoy as a kid but after our Civil War tour it is more meaningful. Elijah Lovejoy was a strident abolitionist. Born in Maine, he moved to the area and began publishing an anti-slavery newspaper. Slavery advocates destroyed his press three times before a mob finally murdered him in 1837. Lovejoy went on to be a martyr for “free press”. His murder in Alton is sometimes considered to be the first armed conflict of the Civil War. Later in the day I go online to get the story of Lovejoy. I am beginning to realize why Alton wants to forget its history. After Lovejoy was murdered while police stood by, Alton became a pariah of the nation for its apparent lawlessness. Up to that point Alton was one of the most thriving cities in the Midwest. Afterwards trade bypassed Alton in favor of its local rival St. Louis. It also lost out on the new Illinois capitol to Springfield two years later. It would be a generation before Alton would recover from the setback.