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Hey I currently live in Wood River and have grown up here our town has problems like everywhere elso our town is an old oil boom town and it technically 3 in one the area used to be just farms and stuff but then standard oil came and build multiple little towns the downtown has the western vibe because of how old the place is and when the oil company and other major places started to decline so did the rest our downtown died because of things like Walmart and others we used to have a lot of stuff till they came in and to add in to everything else we have Illinois high taxes and we are starting to get some business and more stuff back into town
My Grandmother was John Olins personal secretary for years and My Grandfather was a foreman at Olin brass for 30 years. My fsther was raised in woodriver and went to Roxana high.The memories I have of going back there every summer to visit them (Im from Albuquerque, NM my father moved here before I was born) are the best of my life. We'd play mini golf, rent videos from schnucks and blockbuster, go down to grafton on the river road and feel the cool summer air from the river, eat all the steak n shake I could in a summer, go to the race track and watch the ponies with my grandfather, see the St louis Cardinals play baseball ❤️. I went back right before my Grandmother passed about 7 years ago, even though its not the same, partly because im not a child anymore and that magic around everything is gone, but yes in reality it has changed quite a bit, sadly. Olins not even there anymore along with most of the industry in the area. But those memories will akways be there and East alton/Woodriver will ALWAYS be my 2nd home.
Wow, thanks for the amazing video! Nostalgia, indeed. I was born and raised on the East Alton/Rosewood Heights border in the early 1950’s. We moved to Belleville in 1962, and I left the state in 1974 - so I’ve been away for a while. My grandparents all lived in Wood River and my parents both grew up there - Mom on Penning, Dad on Tenth. It looks like little has changed, except back then, all the homes, schools, churches, businesses were all only 20-30 years old and it was all still very alive and vibrant. And that’s how I remember it. As childhoods go, for me it seemed the quintessential experience of post-war/cold-war, baby booming, blue-collar/white-collar mix of Leave It To Beaver-style, 1950’s middle America. Everyone knew someone who worked at one of the three refineries there - the Shell refinery (now WRB) was then Shell’s largest refinery in North America, along with the smaller Standard Oil refinery and the other one that was always changing hands. For my entire childhood, the air we breathed every day smelled like tar, pitch, fresh asphalt and jet fuel. On the other hand, without the refineries, the Wood River/East Alton/Roxana communities might not even be there. In the mid-1800’s, Alton, near the confluence of three major American rivers, was seen as a potential Chicago-style mega-city (St. Louis took over instead; in 1900 St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country. They had a World’s Fair there in 1904 with ice cream cones and everything, but that’s another story…) With the invention of cars and airplanes, the nation’s need for refined oil exploded, especially in the rapidly-expanding Midwest. In the 1910’s, the area south of Alton was chosen as a good site for lots of oil refineries due to its proximity to all the nearby barge and rail traffic already serving the Alton/St. Louis area. By the way, that huge, rusting geodesic dome on the right near the start of your video is the railyard roundhouse for the gazillions of tanker trains that brought crude oil to the refineries and hauled away refined product. The fact that it’s a geodesic dome is a nod to R. Buckminster Fuller, the free-thinking futurist who invented them, and who was a professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. I was lucky to hear a lecture he gave there on the future of history - or maybe it was the history of the future - in 1973. And yeah, while I wouldn’t trade the amazing childhood memories I have of growing up there for anything, it’s sad to see how dismal the place has become - paradoxically, it’s both the exact same place and a completely different place than the community where I grew up. As global oil refining tapers off in the coming decades, these communities will keep tapering off, too, unless they can come up with some sort of Plan B. I gotta say though - in general, Southern Illinois ain’t looking too good.
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
Here it is, this is my home. Walking around the streets seeing all the bleached signs of businesses that got shut down due to various reasons always made me feel like i was living in a piece of fiction. Going to school here for years really teaches you a few things about the people that live around here. Our lush green grass and our tall, looming trees are the only color we have around here. No grand parks, no town events, no life. Most of our home is business, so many stores and companies operating here really makes you appreciate the few nice things we actually get to have in the neighborhoods. The most life we have here is in our school systems, east alton, wood river, and roxana schools. Having been to all of them and experienced years of depression in each of them, I can say they are not the friendliest nor the most lively places to be when youre having a bad day. Im not proud of my hometown, but its all I have.
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
"The only color we have around here" Oh please, plenty of black people in Wood River and East Alton these days and if it's not enough Alton is 5 minutes away. Where the hell are people friendly when you are having a bad day? Worldwide, if you look miserable people will avoid you. This isn't the best place in the world to grow up, but acting like you got dealt a bad hand being born in a relatively safe American small town, is laughable at best.
I grew up in the East Alton and Wood River area until I was about 11. I remember going to bed at night with the windows open and the doors unlocked and walking unsupervised to and from school. Times have changed apparently.
Naa, it’s not as bad as it’s made out to be. I watched this today 4/11/23 and he made a comment that “The property crime rate is very high.” No that’s not true. I do know where he got the 411 for that but it’s way off. We still go to bed with the windows open and I will not confirm or deny that when we go to bed we lock the doors. We moved down here in 1993 from Aurora, Il Suburb of Chicago and if you want to talk about crime being high. Back then it was nuts up there. Couldn’t go to school with just solid colors, “gang affiliation” moved down here and went to EAWRHS and that last comment didn’t apply, you could bring your book bags into class and it had a open campus. Didn’t have ANY of that in Aurora. Anyway that’s just my .2¢! 🙃
If you stay out of the Wood River bars late at night, don't leave valuable shit unsecured, and have nothing to do with hard drugs your chances of being a victim there of anything are pretty low. You can read the names in the police blotter and see it's the same names every few months. A lot of the same people who were dirtbags 15 years ago still doing dirtbag shit. I have family in the area still and no one has issues with anything other than some crappy neighbors here and there. Anyone who has been in the area for a while knows the neighborhoods and businesses to avoid.@@Randyet62208
I grew up in East Alton. I always intended to move back after retirement from the Navy. I conducted a cost-benefit analysis and there was absolutely no logical reason to retire in Illinois. The St. Louis Metropolitan Area has experienced severe deterioration. I have visited several occasions and nothing leads me ti change my mind.
i was born there. Went to first and second grade at St. Bernard School in Wood River. Then we had a brand new Church!! then we moved away from the area
There’s no place like home, always appreciate videos like this. Wood river and East Alton are home to me. Grew up in East Alton and moved away due to the military late 2021. Wood river definitely is having an uprising again in 2022 and now. I’ve noticed new business trickling back into downtown and around the high-school. Lived in the northeastern part of East Alton near rosewood heights. Sure do miss it.
the only well-to-do people moving to the area are building new houses where the farmland was outside of Fosterburg, Godfrey, Alton, and Bethalto and are willing to commute 40+min to work.
Well to do as in willing to leave 5 mins of their childhood home to find employment? Even the houses you describe are affordable in comparison to a lot of the country. Especially for the size of the home and the space. Middle class jobs are going to require a commute to live in an affordable middle class home, no matter where you live in the country. If you want a house with a yard and room for kids to play, you commute.
Currently living in Wood River. Been here for three years. It’s a nice halfway point for me and my wife for our commutes to work. And we just couldn’t pass up the house we bought at the amount we bought it for. It wasn’t my cup of tea when first being up here but it’s growing on me. I’m originally from Shiloh which is about 30 minutes south. It’s a fairly well off town so Wood River came off as slightly rough to me at first glance. But, I’ll say this much, the city is trying. That main street (Ferguson) you were on has since seen some revitalization with a few new restaurants/businesses opened up with another restaurant and dispensary coming in the future. I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood off of Edwardsville Rd. A little before the Madison County Health Department if you’re driving towards East Alton. Haven’t experienced any crime personally. Hopefully, the town can get to a point where it’ll attract people from elsewhere (Edwardsville, Missouri, etc) to come by or even live here. We’ll see. It’s definitely got some ways to go overall
Haven't been there for years but doesn't look as if the area has decayed bad in the past 30 years. An old city but has survived the ravages of time much better than other cities have. Looks neat, clean and fairly well kept.
Despite the property crime, it's still a decent affordable place to live and raise a family. The "nice" neighborhoods still have affordable homes. There's a drug problem and the theft and violent crimes go hand in hand with it. Keep your stuff secure like you would in the city, stay out of bars late at night, and don't have anything to do with hard drugs and you can live here pretty much trouble free. It's not a bad place to live a square family life. If you want to work a travel job, flights out of STL pretty much suck though.
The decline of East Alton & Wood River was due to the shutdown of the oil refineries. Sinclair, Standard and Shell. I was born in Wood River Hospital, no longer there. It’s too bad you didn’t show the positive side of the area. Yes, the old downtown is like a ghost town. They tore down the wonderful iconic pool. Once the largest cement pool in the country! Built and donated to the citizens of Wood River by Standard Oil. Now wanting to tear down near 100 year old recreation center Roundhouse, or as we grew up here called Jiveland. You didn’t show that. You didn’t go down the main “drag” Wood River Ave, which goes through East Alton & Wood River. I haven’t lived there since 1967, but visited once a year through the ‘90’s . These 2 cities have declined, but the surrounding towns have picked up. Roxanna, Bethalto, etc. The lawns are kept, the houses aren’t falling down, there are parks. You should have used those misty cloudy days you couldn’t film researching the area a littLe better. You said Wood River was not a old west town. Go to the Glenn Webb site. It started as quite a wild saloon type town.
It's not nearly as you described it you failed to drive to recently developed parts of town new homes it's like all of your videos though you never show better parts of towns
Two more towns I remember as once thriving but now on life support. Sadly, the demographics are changing. People are moving over from St. Louis and the crime rate has shot up.
I was born in Wood River in 76 at Wood River Township Hospital. Lived on 7th street behind Wood River Glass. Does anyone remember a Don E Gaines that worked at Stulls Body Shop in the 80s? If so please message me. Don E Gaines also went to Wood River High in the 50's. He had a brother named Richard Gaines
Get in one of the quiet neighborhoods and it's not bad at all. The less throughfare the better. Necessities within 5 mins, plenty more shopping withing 20 mins. Lots of medical care within 15mins. Specialists in St. Louis within an hour. My grandparents are in their 80s and still living in that area, getting by just fine and enjoying their retirement. Home prices are insanely cheap compared to the majority of the country. Plan to sell my paid for place on the coast and retire early back in that area in a few years.
East Alton looks really nice, but its reputation is that it no longer has any industry. Where do people work and where does the city get the tax dollars to make it look nice?
I’ve watched a few of your videos and they are as bad as main stream media news. How about looking for some positive instead of just the negative in these towns. If you’d find someone local to the areas perhaps they could steer you in the right direction instead of just the worst areas. Hit the like button for that piece of valuable information!
Exactly of course downtown is deserted its been replaced on the other side he only travels to the old parts fails to go to areas with new home construction and as far as crime out of control he is so wrong now come back and show the town and this film is not factual
You make us sound like total gloom and doom. You didn't even drive down our beautiful 9th street in Wood River. The decline in people is also due to the fact that 2 of our Oil Refineries shut down. The people were relocated to other states where the refineries are still up and running. Thats what these towns were built for., Along with Roxana, IL. And also shut down Olin in East Alton. So when the jobs leave, so do the people. Yes Illinois has shitty taxes which is complete bullshit. And too, there may be more crime due to the shit people moving into our towns.. I listen to my scanner daily. I personally have not experienced any crime in my part of town. I live in the house I grew up in. and my neighborhood is nice with nice people who work. Most of the older generation has died. this changes everything as well. My neighborhood is way on the other side of Wood River, connected to Roxana. We went to the Roxana School District. Less crime on this side of town too. Some of these houses come up as rental property which lowers your property value. Why not try some positive findings along with your negative findings. Wood River has Kendal Hill and East Alton has Rosewood Heights. Are all your drive throughs just for in town areas....
You pretty well skipped any areas where there was activity and business going on. You didn't drive up Wood River Avenue or east on Edwardsville Road. The stores, auto dealerships, Walmart, restaurants, and more exist on the east side of Wood River today. You skipped those areas completely. Your research also seems lacking. Farms and a population were already established in the Alton-East Alton-Wood River area in the early 1800s, as even the Wood River Baptist Church existed on Vaughn's Hill in 1814 when the Wood River Massacre occurred. Alton began as a river town officially established in 1818. East Alton was a natural growth from the small settlements that formed to the east of Alton, thus why it is East Alton and not West Wood River. Wood River began forming as a town in 1907 when the refineries began. It is also important to realize that East Alton and Wood River are really bedroom communities, like Roxana, for the industries there. East Alton supported Equitable Powder Company which was founded by Franklin Olin in 1892, which was part of the beginning of the Olin Corporation. When Standard Oil came in 1907, there was a need for housing of workers, thus the town of Wood River formed. Roxana, which you didn't cover, was formed the same way when Shell Oil built their refinery in 1918, officially incorporating in 1921. Also, do not confuse incorporation of a town with when a town was formed. South Roxana formed nearly as far back as Roxana, however, never officially incorporated until 1967. As such with bedroom communities, when the industry fails, so do the towns. Standard Oil cut many and sent them to Houston in the early 1980s. They ended most in the 1990s and tore the plant down with very little left, such as some storage tanks and a few pump stations. Olin has had massive cuts and reduced jobs. Union tank Car (the Turtle) has changed ownership and also have losses. Alton lost the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, Alton Boxboard, and Laclede Steel. Many of those workers came from East Alton, Wood River, Roxana, and South Roxana. Many of these businesses were impacted by economy, EPA, state taxes, state regulations, and more. Many have moved operations into Southern states where labor, taxes, and regulations are more favorable to a successful business model.
@@ChrisHarden - Had you gone to Walmart, you would have found several stores, restaurants, and other businesses in that area. It isn't Walmart, but rather the gathering of business, just like places used to flock around malls a few decades ago. Again, it shows a lack of research on your part.
@@tommissouri4871 I graduated from East Alton Wood River High School in 1971, and went back to our 50th Class Reunion. I worked at Olin Corp. I agree with you that they only show part of the story. Yes, the population has declined. Our class of '71 was the biggest in the history of the High School. Yes, it has greatly declined since. But there is still much of the towns they didn't bother showing, which is sad. They can make anything look bad by doing that. I live now, but still visit the area quite often, with family and friends there. It is not as bad as this video made it out to be for sure.
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
What happened to Central Park?! They used to have a giant public pool with a high dive that I visited every summer as a kid. I know the big pool got replace by a water slide, but that appears to be completely gone now too (confirmed on Google Earth).
Funny, 12:03 on the right hand side of the road I see one of my You Tube channels that I subscribe to Nomadic Fanatic parked along side the Modified auto building. Weird coincidence
The main causes of decline in wood River stem from the lack of attention to the residents votes for things to be accomplished. Let's take the tear down of the pool that was removed because they didn't want to pay to fix it. However they voted to have a rec center put in its place and that price tag is almost triple what the pool repair would have been. Most of the streets in wood River need to be repaired yet nothing is being done in any timely manner. Businesses are being either run off or can't keep employees because they are all lazy and don't want to work. The rise of drug use and break ins has also been a problem. This is taking cats of of vehicles. This video is great and I do agree with some. Yeah we still have Winchester, and all those businesses but the hiring process for those jobs no matter what training you have are still hard to come by.
On the decline, I would have to disagree their is many jobs in the area Conco, Winchester, Global brass, City work, Self owned buisness, Should of shown Lewis and Clark Where they came through, Or Robert Waldow Alton illinois. Go to East Saint louis and check it out its real cool at night time
Alot of the people that work at those places probably live in the surrounding areas. I have friends at olin and all live in eville, stl or bethalto. Theres nothing keeping the younger generation around so yea the towns itself is on the decline
@@mrgp9492 Wood River had a series of leaders that put all their focus on the new side of town and the tax revenue it could bring instead of trying to keep the rest of the city looking nice. Getting rid of the pool was just another way to kill off that side of town.
Wood River doesn't look that bad at all. Granted its a modest town with basically blue collar residents but not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Some of your commentary is disingenuous as well. Population loss is not always because people are moving out but rather families are having less children and young people are not getting married and starting families. Yes Illinois has high property taxes but most people are leaving Illinois due to lack of jobs or are retiring to warmers climates. Furthermore businesses are not leaving because of taxes but rather for lower labor costs which they can find in places like Texas which are void of unions. And finally property crimes are not necessarily being committed by a towns residents but rather by out of town people who reside in poorer areas of the region.
Illinois really took a hit on the Covid lock down. I was in town form a funeral in March 2020 when the governor decided to lock the state down. Initially he wanted to lock down the highways to prevent people coming in to spread it or others to flee. That made it hard for me to find places to eat and worried if I was going to have to find back roads out. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, realizing you can't lock down highways and interstate travel, but still getting food was a real hassle.
wood river high school principle Mr Neece was brought up on misappropriation to funds. he was cooking the books. he also contributed highly to the school to prison pipeline. well him and the rest of the staff minus a few and a shit load of complicit parents who took it as an opportunity toi get their kids ahead and secure power. they had a cop who road a golf cart around at school. on the payroll so kids can acquire a record for misbehaving at school. big sham.
He was into a bunch of stuff. In the mid-late 90s he used to let representatives from the klan come on school property to recruit and whenever we had black students, he’d let “struggling” jock students slide on their grades if they hassled those students.
Other than one guy on a bicycle, I didn't see a single human being on the streets. Very strange. I grew up north of this area (Godfrey) back in the 60's and 70's. Neither East Alton or Wood River were ever a place you went to. There was no reason. You went through them to get somewhere else.
ASAManifesto Wow. You’re the first to want to do that. That means a lot. I’m pretty sure I need 1,000 subs before I can accept money through UA-cam. I wasn’t going to worry about any of that until then, but I’m flattered!
@@ASAManifesto Just set one up and I'll start linking it to my videos. Even if you don't end up doing it, watching and subscribing is plenty enough! I appreciate you. www.patreon.com/nostalgiatours
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Hey I currently live in Wood River and have grown up here our town has problems like everywhere elso our town is an old oil boom town and it technically 3 in one the area used to be just farms and stuff but then standard oil came and build multiple little towns the downtown has the western vibe because of how old the place is and when the oil company and other major places started to decline so did the rest our downtown died because of things like Walmart and others we used to have a lot of stuff till they came in and to add in to everything else we have Illinois high taxes and we are starting to get some business and more stuff back into town
My Grandmother was John Olins personal secretary for years and My Grandfather was a foreman at Olin brass for 30 years. My fsther was raised in woodriver and went to Roxana high.The memories I have of going back there every summer to visit them (Im from Albuquerque, NM my father moved here before I was born) are the best of my life. We'd play mini golf, rent videos from schnucks and blockbuster, go down to grafton on the river road and feel the cool summer air from the river, eat all the steak n shake I could in a summer, go to the race track and watch the ponies with my grandfather, see the St louis Cardinals play baseball ❤️. I went back right before my Grandmother passed about 7 years ago, even though its not the same, partly because im not a child anymore and that magic around everything is gone, but yes in reality it has changed quite a bit, sadly. Olins not even there anymore along with most of the industry in the area. But those memories will akways be there and East alton/Woodriver will ALWAYS be my 2nd home.
Wow, thanks for the amazing video! Nostalgia, indeed. I was born and raised on the East Alton/Rosewood Heights border in the early 1950’s. We moved to Belleville in 1962, and I left the state in 1974 - so I’ve been away for a while. My grandparents all lived in Wood River and my parents both grew up there - Mom on Penning, Dad on Tenth. It looks like little has changed, except back then, all the homes, schools, churches, businesses were all only 20-30 years old and it was all still very alive and vibrant. And that’s how I remember it. As childhoods go, for me it seemed the quintessential experience of post-war/cold-war, baby booming, blue-collar/white-collar mix of Leave It To Beaver-style, 1950’s middle America.
Everyone knew someone who worked at one of the three refineries there - the Shell refinery (now WRB) was then Shell’s largest refinery in North America, along with the smaller Standard Oil refinery and the other one that was always changing hands. For my entire childhood, the air we breathed every day smelled like tar, pitch, fresh asphalt and jet fuel. On the other hand, without the refineries, the Wood River/East Alton/Roxana communities might not even be there.
In the mid-1800’s, Alton, near the confluence of three major American rivers, was seen as a potential Chicago-style mega-city (St. Louis took over instead; in 1900 St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country. They had a World’s Fair there in 1904 with ice cream cones and everything, but that’s another story…) With the invention of cars and airplanes, the nation’s need for refined oil exploded, especially in the rapidly-expanding Midwest. In the 1910’s, the area south of Alton was chosen as a good site for lots of oil refineries due to its proximity to all the nearby barge and rail traffic already serving the Alton/St. Louis area.
By the way, that huge, rusting geodesic dome on the right near the start of your video is the railyard roundhouse for the gazillions of tanker trains that brought crude oil to the refineries and hauled away refined product. The fact that it’s a geodesic dome is a nod to R. Buckminster Fuller, the free-thinking futurist who invented them, and who was a professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. I was lucky to hear a lecture he gave there on the future of history - or maybe it was the history of the future - in 1973.
And yeah, while I wouldn’t trade the amazing childhood memories I have of growing up there for anything, it’s sad to see how dismal the place has become - paradoxically, it’s both the exact same place and a completely different place than the community where I grew up. As global oil refining tapers off in the coming decades, these communities will keep tapering off, too, unless they can come up with some sort of Plan B. I gotta say though - in general, Southern Illinois ain’t looking too good.
Still live in Rosewood heights on Rosedale
Olin Corp was a large employer too.
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
Always wanted to climb that dome
You drove past my old Church in Wood river. Now looking for my Street in Rosewood Heights.
I grew up there from 1962 to around 1981
Here it is, this is my home. Walking around the streets seeing all the bleached signs of businesses that got shut down due to various reasons always made me feel like i was living in a piece of fiction. Going to school here for years really teaches you a few things about the people that live around here. Our lush green grass and our tall, looming trees are the only color we have around here. No grand parks, no town events, no life. Most of our home is business, so many stores and companies operating here really makes you appreciate the few nice things we actually get to have in the neighborhoods. The most life we have here is in our school systems, east alton, wood river, and roxana schools. Having been to all of them and experienced years of depression in each of them, I can say they are not the friendliest nor the most lively places to be when youre having a bad day. Im not proud of my hometown, but its all I have.
Sorry to hear your story. I hope that you can find the happiness in life that you desire.
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
"The only color we have around here" Oh please, plenty of black people in Wood River and East Alton these days and if it's not enough Alton is 5 minutes away. Where the hell are people friendly when you are having a bad day? Worldwide, if you look miserable people will avoid you. This isn't the best place in the world to grow up, but acting like you got dealt a bad hand being born in a relatively safe American small town, is laughable at best.
I grew up in the East Alton and Wood River area until I was about 11. I remember going to bed at night with the windows open and the doors unlocked and walking unsupervised to and from school. Times have changed apparently.
Naa, it’s not as bad as it’s made out to be. I watched this today 4/11/23 and he made a comment that “The property crime rate is very high.” No that’s not true. I do know where he got the 411 for that but it’s way off.
We still go to bed with the windows open and I will not confirm or deny that when we go to bed we lock the doors. We moved down here in 1993 from Aurora, Il Suburb of Chicago and if you want to talk about crime being high. Back then it was nuts up there. Couldn’t go to school with just solid colors, “gang affiliation” moved down here and went to EAWRHS and that last comment didn’t apply, you could bring your book bags into class and it had a open campus. Didn’t have ANY of that in Aurora. Anyway that’s just my .2¢! 🙃
If you stay out of the Wood River bars late at night, don't leave valuable shit unsecured, and have nothing to do with hard drugs your chances of being a victim there of anything are pretty low. You can read the names in the police blotter and see it's the same names every few months. A lot of the same people who were dirtbags 15 years ago still doing dirtbag shit. I have family in the area still and no one has issues with anything other than some crappy neighbors here and there. Anyone who has been in the area for a while knows the neighborhoods and businesses to avoid.@@Randyet62208
I grew up in East Alton. I always intended to move back after retirement from the Navy. I conducted a cost-benefit analysis and there was absolutely no logical reason to retire in Illinois. The St. Louis Metropolitan Area has experienced severe deterioration. I have visited several occasions and nothing leads me ti change my mind.
Grew up in Woodriver, saw my old house on Ferguson Ave. Great video! Thanks
i was born there. Went to first and second grade at St. Bernard School in Wood River. Then we had a brand new Church!! then we moved away from the area
There’s no place like home, always appreciate videos like this. Wood river and East Alton are home to me. Grew up in East Alton and moved away due to the military late 2021. Wood river definitely is having an uprising again in 2022 and now. I’ve noticed new business trickling back into downtown and around the high-school. Lived in the northeastern part of East Alton near rosewood heights. Sure do miss it.
My dad taught music at wood river h.s. in the 1950's. Also at Alton military academy. From East Alton
We call it hood river now
Lol
Yes! It is definitely Hood River!
the only well-to-do people moving to the area are building new houses where the farmland was outside of Fosterburg, Godfrey, Alton, and Bethalto and are willing to commute 40+min to work.
Well to do as in willing to leave 5 mins of their childhood home to find employment? Even the houses you describe are affordable in comparison to a lot of the country. Especially for the size of the home and the space. Middle class jobs are going to require a commute to live in an affordable middle class home, no matter where you live in the country. If you want a house with a yard and room for kids to play, you commute.
Crazy as a kid I would walk them street s all day and all night . I can’t believe they bulldozed the hospital .
I live in wood river and you drove past my street I love seeing videos like this.
Both cities are near the border with Missouri. It is a lot cheaper to live In Missouri than Illinois. My wife is from near that area.
You drove right by the house i grew up in when i was a kid in East Alton
سبحان الله😊
Have you come ny lately to seehow they are trying to comeback to life?
That's my stomping grounds right there. I lived there until I turned 18. On the left side of the street at 14:56 was my grandparents house.
Currently living in Wood River. Been here for three years. It’s a nice halfway point for me and my wife for our commutes to work. And we just couldn’t pass up the house we bought at the amount we bought it for.
It wasn’t my cup of tea when first being up here but it’s growing on me. I’m originally from Shiloh which is about 30 minutes south. It’s a fairly well off town so Wood River came off as slightly rough to me at first glance. But, I’ll say this much, the city is trying. That main street (Ferguson) you were on has since seen some revitalization with a few new restaurants/businesses opened up with another restaurant and dispensary coming in the future.
I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood off of Edwardsville Rd. A little before the Madison County Health Department if you’re driving towards East Alton. Haven’t experienced any crime personally.
Hopefully, the town can get to a point where it’ll attract people from elsewhere (Edwardsville, Missouri, etc) to come by or even live here. We’ll see. It’s definitely got some ways to go overall
You drove right past my mother's house as well as a long time friend's house.
I love the haunting music
Amazing insight! You got my like.
My Mother worked for Standard oil.
Not too much has changed, just hope the racism has changed.
Have you done one on Jerseyville, Ill.?
Dude you just gave me the most nostalgia I've ever seen you drove my literally every way I used to walk in wood river holy fuck
I’ve lived in this area my entire life, and I appreciate that I finally found a video of the area.
Stuck in the 1800s. Not one building in the area
Haven't been there for years but doesn't look as if the area has decayed bad in the past 30 years. An old city but has survived the ravages of time much better than other cities have. Looks neat, clean and fairly well kept.
Despite the property crime, it's still a decent affordable place to live and raise a family. The "nice" neighborhoods still have affordable homes. There's a drug problem and the theft and violent crimes go hand in hand with it. Keep your stuff secure like you would in the city, stay out of bars late at night, and don't have anything to do with hard drugs and you can live here pretty much trouble free. It's not a bad place to live a square family life. If you want to work a travel job, flights out of STL pretty much suck though.
The decline of East Alton & Wood River was due to the shutdown of the oil refineries. Sinclair, Standard and Shell. I was born in Wood River Hospital, no longer there. It’s too bad you didn’t show the positive side of the area. Yes, the old downtown is like a ghost town. They tore down the wonderful iconic pool. Once the largest cement pool in the country! Built and donated to the citizens of Wood River by Standard Oil. Now wanting to tear down near 100 year old recreation center Roundhouse, or as we grew up here called Jiveland. You didn’t show that. You didn’t go down the main “drag” Wood River Ave, which goes through East Alton & Wood River. I haven’t lived there since 1967, but visited once a year through the ‘90’s . These 2 cities have declined, but the surrounding towns have picked up. Roxanna, Bethalto, etc. The lawns are kept, the houses aren’t falling down, there are parks. You should have used those misty cloudy days you couldn’t film researching the area a littLe better. You said Wood River was not a old west town. Go to the Glenn Webb site. It started as quite a wild saloon type town.
I used to live in Wood River on Acton Ave, now live in Central Florida, nice video nothing has changed.
It's not nearly as you described it you failed to drive to recently developed parts of town new homes it's like all of your videos though you never show better parts of towns
Me to that's so crazy! Grew up on west acton near the police station and moved to the daytona area after high school.
My dad grew up on Acton. Small world.
Two more towns I remember as once thriving but now on life support. Sadly, the demographics are changing. People are moving over from St. Louis and the crime rate has shot up.
the high school mascot BTW the Oilers in deference to the refineries
Great Job!!! I am from Alton il. Class of '97
Thanks!
Where did you go to school at. I went to school in bethalto
I was born in Wood River in 76 at Wood River Township Hospital. Lived on 7th street behind Wood River Glass. Does anyone remember a Don E Gaines that worked at Stulls Body Shop in the 80s? If so please message me. Don E Gaines also went to Wood River High in the 50's. He had a brother named Richard Gaines
It actually looks like it might be a decent place to retire to, buy a cheap house and live on your Soc. Sec.
Get in one of the quiet neighborhoods and it's not bad at all. The less throughfare the better. Necessities within 5 mins, plenty more shopping withing 20 mins. Lots of medical care within 15mins. Specialists in St. Louis within an hour. My grandparents are in their 80s and still living in that area, getting by just fine and enjoying their retirement. Home prices are insanely cheap compared to the majority of the country. Plan to sell my paid for place on the coast and retire early back in that area in a few years.
I was born in wood river
And grew up in the area
Now I live in Alton Illinois
This haunted city fits for a cloudy times
East Alton looks really nice, but its reputation is that it no longer has any industry. Where do people work and where does the city get the tax dollars to make it look nice?
The weather didn’t make it worse. The economic and crime statistics are just as sad when the sun shines.
I’ve watched a few of your videos and they are as bad as main stream media news. How about looking for some positive instead of just the negative in these towns. If you’d find someone local to the areas perhaps they could steer you in the right direction instead of just the worst areas. Hit the like button for that piece of valuable information!
Ok dude. Good luck with your photography business. Here’s that like button for ya. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Exactly of course downtown is deserted its been replaced on the other side he only travels to the old parts fails to go to areas with new home construction and as far as crime out of control he is so wrong now come back and show the town and this film is not factual
Loved the video, can you please do a video on will county 🙏
You make us sound like total gloom and doom. You didn't even drive down our beautiful 9th street in Wood River. The decline in people is also due to the fact that 2 of our Oil Refineries shut down. The people were relocated to other states where the refineries are still up and running. Thats what these towns were built for., Along with Roxana, IL. And also shut down Olin in East Alton. So when the jobs leave, so do the people. Yes Illinois has shitty taxes which is complete bullshit. And too, there may be more crime due to the shit people moving into our towns.. I listen to my scanner daily. I personally have not experienced any crime in my part of town. I live in the house I grew up in. and my neighborhood is nice with nice people who work. Most of the older generation has died. this changes everything as well. My neighborhood is way on the other side of Wood River, connected to Roxana. We went to the Roxana School District. Less crime on this side of town too.
Some of these houses come up as rental property which lowers your property value. Why not try some positive findings along with your negative findings. Wood River has Kendal Hill and East Alton has Rosewood Heights. Are all your drive throughs just for in town areas....
3:38 DA Acura Integra and looks in good shape too.
Hey Chris, can you please do a whole video of CASEYVILLE town in Illinois? 😊
You pretty well skipped any areas where there was activity and business going on. You didn't drive up Wood River Avenue or east on Edwardsville Road. The stores, auto dealerships, Walmart, restaurants, and more exist on the east side of Wood River today. You skipped those areas completely.
Your research also seems lacking. Farms and a population were already established in the Alton-East Alton-Wood River area in the early 1800s, as even the Wood River Baptist Church existed on Vaughn's Hill in 1814 when the Wood River Massacre occurred. Alton began as a river town officially established in 1818. East Alton was a natural growth from the small settlements that formed to the east of Alton, thus why it is East Alton and not West Wood River. Wood River began forming as a town in 1907 when the refineries began.
It is also important to realize that East Alton and Wood River are really bedroom communities, like Roxana, for the industries there. East Alton supported Equitable Powder Company which was founded by Franklin Olin in 1892, which was part of the beginning of the Olin Corporation. When Standard Oil came in 1907, there was a need for housing of workers, thus the town of Wood River formed. Roxana, which you didn't cover, was formed the same way when Shell Oil built their refinery in 1918, officially incorporating in 1921. Also, do not confuse incorporation of a town with when a town was formed. South Roxana formed nearly as far back as Roxana, however, never officially incorporated until 1967.
As such with bedroom communities, when the industry fails, so do the towns. Standard Oil cut many and sent them to Houston in the early 1980s. They ended most in the 1990s and tore the plant down with very little left, such as some storage tanks and a few pump stations. Olin has had massive cuts and reduced jobs. Union tank Car (the Turtle) has changed ownership and also have losses. Alton lost the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, Alton Boxboard, and Laclede Steel. Many of those workers came from East Alton, Wood River, Roxana, and South Roxana.
Many of these businesses were impacted by economy, EPA, state taxes, state regulations, and more. Many have moved operations into Southern states where labor, taxes, and regulations are more favorable to a successful business model.
You lost me in your first sentence when you mentioned Walmart as being a highlight of the town. Good bye!
@@ChrisHarden - Had you gone to Walmart, you would have found several stores, restaurants, and other businesses in that area. It isn't Walmart, but rather the gathering of business, just like places used to flock around malls a few decades ago.
Again, it shows a lack of research on your part.
@@tommissouri4871 I graduated from East Alton Wood River High School in 1971, and went back to our 50th Class Reunion. I worked at Olin Corp. I agree with you that they only show part of the story. Yes, the population has declined. Our class of '71 was the biggest in the history of the High School. Yes, it has greatly declined since. But there is still much of the towns they didn't bother showing, which is sad. They can make anything look bad by doing that. I live now, but still visit the area quite often, with family and friends there. It is not as bad as this video made it out to be for sure.
Most of Wood River's Economic Growth comes from the few major super centers, which mostly people out of Wood River come to shop
cringe
Nice job
Sometimes the grass seems greener in other places. The world is changing. There are a lot of things to consider. Living in Chicago makes me dream of less traffic and population. I wonder how much of government pensions has to do with our budget problems and high taxes, where the unions have found their power. Online shopping would seem to contribute to the change in the economy. I don't see anything wrong with that part, personally. Maybe we need to do some demolition and adapt. I wonder what percentage of the criminals are being supported with government housing and EBT cards. I hope and pray some other foreign cultures don't find a way to take over and claim it as theirs.
love this
What happened to Central Park?! They used to have a giant public pool with a high dive that I visited every summer as a kid. I know the big pool got replace by a water slide, but that appears to be completely gone now too (confirmed on Google Earth).
They tore it down in 2018 due to the rising cost of mantainance, and it was starting to decay.
@@Ash-uo8sp me and my cousins were so upset we went there every weekend.
@@Ash-uo8spand in its place they’re building a Rec center, I guess we’ll see how that goes
I feel like Otto would have found a way to save it.
2:36 what a champ, didn't even stop at the stop sign before turning. than at 3:04 I guess they think they are being followed.
My home town is falling down, I am mad about that!
Funny, 12:03 on the right hand side of the road I see one of my You Tube channels that I subscribe to Nomadic Fanatic parked along side the Modified auto building. Weird coincidence
Bro i got bored and just looked up my home town wtf
I did too...
@@Gaystapo me too
The main causes of decline in wood River stem from the lack of attention to the residents votes for things to be accomplished. Let's take the tear down of the pool that was removed because they didn't want to pay to fix it. However they voted to have a rec center put in its place and that price tag is almost triple what the pool repair would have been. Most of the streets in wood River need to be repaired yet nothing is being done in any timely manner. Businesses are being either run off or can't keep employees because they are all lazy and don't want to work. The rise of drug use and break ins has also been a problem. This is taking cats of of vehicles. This video is great and I do agree with some. Yeah we still have Winchester, and all those businesses but the hiring process for those jobs no matter what training you have are still hard to come by.
On the decline, I would have to disagree their is many jobs in the area Conco, Winchester, Global brass, City work, Self owned buisness, Should of shown Lewis and Clark Where they came through, Or Robert Waldow Alton illinois. Go to East Saint louis and check it out its real cool at night time
Alot of the people that work at those places probably live in the surrounding areas. I have friends at olin and all live in eville, stl or bethalto. Theres nothing keeping the younger generation around so yea the towns itself is on the decline
He definitely missed the origin of the name being the explorers Lewis and Clark from when they made camp here.
Get u a bag o meth whenever youre ready optimist
I use to work in woodriver at ww transport and I lived north of jerseyville there alot of outsourced employees from my experience
@@mrgp9492 Wood River had a series of leaders that put all their focus on the new side of town and the tax revenue it could bring instead of trying to keep the rest of the city looking nice. Getting rid of the pool was just another way to kill off that side of town.
bruh woodriver might not be the most popular town but no way in hell is it a ghost town🤣mainly just shut like downtown aint as popular
I think this guy should have stopped and shared some of his insights on WR with some of the locals
Wood River doesn't look that bad at all. Granted its a modest town with basically blue collar residents but not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Some of your commentary is disingenuous as well. Population loss is not always because people are moving out but rather families are having less children and young people are not getting married and starting families. Yes Illinois has high property taxes but most people are leaving Illinois due to lack of jobs or are retiring to warmers climates. Furthermore businesses are not leaving because of taxes but rather for lower labor costs which they can find in places like Texas which are void of unions. And finally property crimes are not necessarily being committed by a towns residents but rather by out of town people who reside in poorer areas of the region.
Plus this video was filmed on a shitty day of weather and the beginning of COVID!
Illinois really took a hit on the Covid lock down. I was in town form a funeral in March 2020 when the governor decided to lock the state down. Initially he wanted to lock down the highways to prevent people coming in to spread it or others to flee. That made it hard for me to find places to eat and worried if I was going to have to find back roads out. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, realizing you can't lock down highways and interstate travel, but still getting food was a real hassle.
wood river high school principle Mr Neece was brought up on misappropriation to funds. he was cooking the books. he also contributed highly to the school to prison pipeline. well him and the rest of the staff minus a few and a shit load of complicit parents who took it as an opportunity toi get their kids ahead and secure power. they had a cop who road a golf cart around at school. on the payroll so kids can acquire a record for misbehaving at school. big sham.
He was into a bunch of stuff.
In the mid-late 90s he used to let representatives from the klan come on school property to recruit and whenever we had black students, he’d let “struggling” jock students slide on their grades if they hassled those students.
👍
Other than one guy on a bicycle, I didn't see a single human being on the streets. Very strange. I grew up north of this area (Godfrey) back in the 60's and 70's. Neither East Alton or Wood River were ever a place you went to. There was no reason. You went through them to get somewhere else.
That's not true. I grew up in Wood River between 1959-1976.
@@tabithadorcas9065 What's not true?
This guy's videos are tiresome political hatchet jobs against cities in blue states -- best viewed, if at all, with the sound off.
Why do you talk like a robot!
That’s because you are hearing a robot reading a typed script. Even the car driving through town was a robot.
how can i throw some money your way?
ASAManifesto Wow. You’re the first to want to do that.
That means a lot. I’m pretty sure I need 1,000 subs before I can accept money through UA-cam. I wasn’t going to worry about any of that until then, but I’m flattered!
@@ChrisHarden start a patreon
@@ASAManifesto Just set one up and I'll start linking it to my videos. Even if you don't end up doing it, watching and subscribing is plenty enough! I appreciate you. www.patreon.com/nostalgiatours
@@ChrisHarden there you go buddy kicked you down some cash
You’re the man. Appreciate you