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Visitors Guide to
East Alton
Madison County, Illinois
East Alton began as a railroad station in the
early 1800s, with a large parcel of land given over by President James Madison
in 1821. The first official town was laid out in 1858 and was known as Emerald,
named for the Irish immigrants who came to the area to work on the railroads
Later, a small manufacturing plant, Equitable Powder Co., founded by F.W. Olin
in 1892, grew into a major manufacturing concern, with plants throughout the
United States and thousands of employees. East Alton has the distinction of
being one of the first communities in Madison County to have a complete, modern
shopping center with the construction of the Wilshire Shopping Center.
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