National Road - Collinsville & East St Louis

Collinsville

The town was first called Unionville. The Collins family moved to the area from Litchfield, Connecticut in 1817. The first Collins family members to arrive were Augustus, Aaron, William B., and Michael. Five years later their father Deacon William Collins and another brother Frederick joined the rest of the family in the area. When a post office was established in the town, the Postmaster General changed the name to Collinsville. The Collins family were successful business people establishing a whiskey distillery, saw mill and a flourmill. The town was platted by representatives of William B. Collins, James L. Darrow, and Horace Look. The plat was recorded in Edwardsville on May 12, 1837. Collinsville was incorporated in the office of the secretary of state on February 15, 1855. It was organized as a city on October 1, 1872.

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Cahokia Mounds

A race of Indians known as mound builders established Cahokia Mounds around 800 A.D. By 1200 the mounds area was home to over 20,000 Native Americans. By the time European settlers came to the area in the early 1500s, the Indian city had disappeared. Some experts believe it might have been as a result of several crops failures when corn or maize was the staple grain being produced. Other believe the city might have suffered from some of the same problems of modern cities- overpopulation, lack of enough food and water, and disease due to human waste. Monks Mound was the largest of the original 120 mounds. Great chiefs and their families lived on top of the largest earthen mound north of Mexico. It has four distinct levels. French Trappist monks lived on top of it in the 1700s. Today there are around 68 mounds left at this World Heritage site. The rest of them were taken over by agricultural and other business interests and modern highways. There are several low areas where lakes are now. These were “borrow pits” from which the Indians dug enough dirt to form the mound complex. The State of Illinois built an $8 million interpretive center on the site in the early 1990s. It is one of the best Native Americans museums in the United States.

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East St. Louis

The city was first called Illinoistown. It is located in St. Clair County. The township by the same name was organized June 1820. East St. Louis was incorporated as a city by a vote of the people in 1861. Captain John Piggott was instrumental in founding East St. Louis. He was an officer under General Clark of the Virginia militia. He had a bridge built across Cahokia Creek to complete the road that was already there in 1795. He erected two cabins nearby where he established a ferryboat business. This was with the consent of the Spanish Commandant at St. Louis. It became one of the wealthiest monopolies in the region. Piggott died in 1799 leaving a fortune to his heirs. Lots were offered for sale in East St. Louis at an auction in St. Louis on November 3, 1817. This was the first evidence of a town plat in East St. Louis.

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Images courtesy of Phil Lewis and the Historical Collectors' Association for the Effingham County and National Road Museum Association.
Effingham County and National Road community histories by Phil Lewis

Fairmont City is a village of 2,500 people located in St. Clair County. It is just west of historic Cahokia Mounds and 15 minutes from St. Louis. It is 49% Mexican and 10% German with small percentages of several other ethnic groups. Approximately 90% of the workers commute to another place for work. There are no postcard images of Fairmont City at the present time.

Fairmont City