Sprol

"East of anywhere" has traditionally meant the wrong side of the tracks. The prevailing winds blow fumes and objectionable odors in that direction. If they’ve got the choice, most people would rather be upwind. That’s one reason why I love the title of the book East Of Eden so much.

This is East St. Louis, and even without playing Simcity 4 you can see that it’s a bit of a neglected place. Until 1861, people called it Illinoistown. In 1917 it was the scene of one of the worst race riots in United States history. The U.S. Government report on the incident wasn’t declassified until 1986.

The period of 1865-1900 is referred to as the "golden age of St. Louis."

By the 1970s, most of the business had moved away.

The industrial boom for East St. Louis began in 1868 when the railroad trunk lines made the city into a commercial hub. Yet by 1920, of all cities with over 50,000 residents, East St. Louis was the 2nd poorest. The many companies in the region had settled outside of the city limits, making residential property the only tax base the city had to draw from.

A freeway and bridge system, which you can see part of above, makes it possible for middle class white collar workers to commute directly from the eastern suburbs into the city of St. Louis, bypassing East St. Louis completely.

From this height you can see the stadium and the Gateway Arch on the west bank of the river. The Gateway Arch was dedicated in 1968 and was mostly a gateway to companies leaving the region.

East St. Louis is located on a floodplain. They have needed to raise the streets in the town’s early development, and a series of levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers is still in place to contain the periodic rising of the Mississippi River. In fact, until they built the first dike in 1909 East St. Louis was plagued by devastating floods year after year.

Even today, flooding and drainage are still a problem.

In this image you can see the ridgeline of higher ground to the East. These hills are where the suburbs are. Ironically it is the draining of sewage from these sprawling communities that causes the worst problems for the lowland region of East St. Louis. Naturally, the suburbs that are creating the problem want the disadvantaged people on the floodplain to pay for it.

"The sewage, which is flowing from collapsed pipes and dysfunctional pumping stations, has also flooded basements all over the city. The city’s vacuum truck, which uses water and suction to unclog the city’s sewers, cannot be used be cause it needs $5,000 in repairs. Even when it works, it some times can’t be used because there isn’t money to hire drivers. A single engineer now does the work that 14 others did before they were laid off. By April the pool of overflow be hind the Villa Griffin project has expanded into a lagoon of sewage. Two million gallons of raw sewage lie outside the children’s homes."

"In May, another health emergency develops. Soil samples tested at residential sites in East St. Louis turn up disturbing quantities of arsenic, mercury and lead-as well as steroids dumped in previous years by stockyards in the area. Lead levels found in the soil around one family’s home, according to lead-poison experts, measure "an astronomical 10,000 parts per million." Five of the children in the building have been poisoned. Although children rarely die of poisoning by lead, health experts note, its effects tend to be subtle and insidious. By the time the poisoning becomes apparent in a child’s sleep disorders, stomach pains and hyperactive behavior, says a health official, "it is too late to undo the permanent brain damage." Jonathan Kozol

In this image you can see the entire sprawling region of greater St. Louis, and the mighty Mississippi River.