Thanks for the picture of the abandoned building.
When I see pictures like this, of commercial or residential buildings in such a forlorn state of ruin, I think that there was a day in the past when creating this structure was someone’s dream.
And they built it to make their dreams come true.
Now their dreams look like nightmares.
I haven’t set foot in East St. Louis for years — and I wouldn’t now — but I still have a melancholy affection for the old place. For what it was, I guess.
East St. Louis always had its roughneck elements and areas. Old-time gangsters such as the Sheltons and Buster Wortman operated there. But for the most part, it was once a thriving blue-collar city, with all kinds of businesses and industry — meat-packing, dairies, manufacturing — you name it. Some of my relatives from the ‘30’s and ‘40’s moved there from southern Illinois farms to find work. My grandfather used to deliver cattle and pigs to the stockyards. Back in my high school days, Lincoln High School, now long closed, used to provide a decent education and fielded an invincible football team. When Lincoln came to play our team, we always knew we would be slaughtered.
Seeing a photo such as this, and knowing that this is now typical of the city, only underscores the tragedy of what it has become.
Now I live close to Gary, Indiana. There’s another story for you.