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This small agricultural community is located on Highway 94 where it connects with Highway 367. Originally the town was called Missouri Point until 1874 when the town applied for a post office. After finding that there was already a town of that same name, the residents changed the name to La Mothe, after a wealthy local landowner. In the early 1890s the Hannibal and St. Louis Railroad rerouted it tracks through the floodplains near the town before it crossed the new Missouri Bridge into St. Louis County. In 1895 the railroad requested that the town change its name to West Alton and with the coming of the railroad the entire town moved closer to the tracks.
Flooding has always been a problem for
the area and West Alton was under eight feet of water during the great
flood of 1993. Only by getting FEMA to use a separate set of rules
allowed the entire town to escape from being condemned and its buildings
being razed.
The West Alton area is home to the Riverlands Environmental Demonstration Area operated by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Confluence Point State Park that overlooks where the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers meet. In addition to summer fruit and vegetable stands in the area, there are churches, convenience stores, a small park, several nearby private marinas, and the West Alton Bike Trail. Across the Clark Bridge is the river city of Alton, Illinois and the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway. West Alton's proximity to the Melvin Price Locks and Dam make the area on of the best bald eagle watching spots in the Middle Mississippi River Valley during the winter months. The Illinois city of Alton is a 5 minute drive along Highway 367 across the Clark Bridge from West Alton. |
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