This documentary confirms what I thought. A city doesn’t collapse so quickly unless there are hidden weaknesses. Apparently, the past prosperity of East St.Louis was superficial. Compare ESL to Granite City, which seems to be holding its own despite industrial decline.
Oh man. I grew up in st louis... then I matured in E st louis....I saw them all start out except Tina. I saw Ike tho at Brooklyn atHarlem club. I used go Blue Flame on 17th Bsway...Cosmopolitan and Manhatten.. One my favorites was Firewirjs Station.. BEN Thigpen played there. I had such good times. I left at 22 to go to Cleve. Don't have any people there anymore...had an uncle in Bellville..cousins I don't no in st Louis. But haven't been since 1964..I miss those days. I truly do. I had friend from E side.
Born and raised in ESL, and was very happy to watch this well researched documentary. I wish we'd had this back in the day. Understanding the history better might have allowed us to have a clearer perspective about how we were all victims of greed and corruption. It still amazes me to hear my contemporaries talk about what a great town it was before the blacks took over. It was always a sad little spot just hanging on by a thread, and when all of the people who could find jobs elsewhere left, taking the property tax revenues with them... What else could happen but a further descent into poverty? It's a tragedy fifty years in the making, with so few clear-cut solutions for the residents who are just trying to provide safe homes and better lives for their families.
I get a feeling at some point someone will gentrify East St Louis, but all that will do is send the poverty to border cities like Cahokia, Fairview, Belleville, which already has more of that than before.
Unions made a Huge Improvement , There are good People in Southern Ill. It's not a place to go alone or Drunk although you can still make it Home Alive Thanks to caring People . This is History , good and Bad , We should embrace it and strive to leave conditions better for each new generation
East St. Louis had a population of around 18,400 in the 2020 census down from it's peak of over 82,000 in 1950.More diversity of blacks,whites,hispanics,asians,immigrants could help revive the city but I don't see that happening soon.
We are in trucking, my husband and I. We were in E. St. Louis, IL on several occasions, and Alton, Granite City, Madison, Pontoon City, Edwardsville, IL, and the areas near there. Meat packing, Lanter, and other businesses. We used to pick up and deliver in Edwardsville, IL M&M Mars.The used to have the Pacific Electric railway to move people around and a high bridge used to be there, looked like something you would run a roller coaster over, it was remenents of the electric transport line. I think it was1 torn down. There was an old abandoned Armor meat plant in the area. I've been to the area and I've seen it. Cities all over the country died, when industry and jobs left.
If St Louis really wants to be a premier area, it better open its eyes to what is still going on in East St Louis. You can't have one side of the region not affect the other side. St Louis has the north side, the Metro East has East St Louis. Both areas are exactly the same, areas you don't go to at night, not without kevlar on.
Most of the comments here bring me home in a predictably sad way. So much willful misunderstanding. The film clearly speaks of interests of capital that were never investing in community and moved on. Comments keep talking about race being the issue. All of our unresolved biases and fears played out again and again. Maybe watch the film again...
@Gorgon Don Gordon I was referring to Steven's comment, I saw the improvements unions brought to a company town, but companies sought cheaper labor elsewhere. Unions and productivity helped create the middle class.
11:30 in 1980 East St Louis was officially a black city going from a mostly white 1970 city to a mostly black 1980 city. The 1970s it flipped. Anyone's guess which year, only census estimates took place, the official census in 1970 had East St Louis being mostly white, and the 1980 census had East St Louis being mostly black.
I remember my mother saying a flood would wipe out the downtown area, although I've never witnessed it. Like how did she know? But here it is! Back in the 60's, home was the area down Exchange ave, across 7 railroad tracks, past Buck's confectionary, toward the Ohio market. It was a small area, made up of about 4blocks deep along the tracks, from Hunter's packing house on the east to St Clair ave and Sutherland lumber on the west. It was a close community with 2 schools, and park and plenty of fun. On the weekends we could get the best bbq ever made and donuts from Kruta's bakery! Ppl can from all around to buy it. We would walk everywhere to shop, or to go to the movies. That's how it was. We were poor, but so was everybody else. Soon we would leave here to purchase a house in 68. The neighborhood was mixed at first. But opportunity was hiding a darker purpose: white flight. We had new everything. At it lasted down to this day...but the past is gone! The houses, the ppl have died off, businesses closed up. We still got the crooked city officers, the booze and the floozies, but it has all vanished. The once great city that provided a home will disappear and be no more. It wasn't always this sad, but it will be forgotten!
Crime =/= violent crime, talk about the shootings and other murders that happen in East St Louis today. Talk about how it's got the highest murder rate of any city in the US. Talk about how if you scale it you've got an almost 1 in 10 chance of being killed while in East St Louis. Do you want to be one of those 10?
Fascinating and very informative! Hopefully we can forge worker owned enterprises and create good paying jobs that stay where citizens need them, a new manufacturing base that's cleaner, greener, safer, and owned by we the people, not by an investor class that did this to our nation. Thank you again for this real reel of the history of East St Louis.
So East Saint Lois was made to get cheap labor and when they brought Unions in the businesses moved out! So it was a long traditional thing called "Boom Town"!
Wasn’t just higher wages that caused the companies to move out. The factories got old and too expensive to rebuild. Was cheaper just to move on, build elsewhere, and just leave .
@@richardhusman3650 Hi Richard, Where was Ryan's tavern located? At 75 the memory is fading. My guess would be at 18th and State. Been there a few times.
East St. Louis serves as a modern-day monument to the worst elements of capitalism. The racial issue is a symptom of the disease that plagues the entire greater St. Louis metropolitan region, not just East St. Louis....it isn't the cause. And I'm not bad-rapping the town as an outsider....I grew up in St. Clair County and worked in ESL throughout much of the '70s so I saw it first-hand. A sad testament to the American dream transformed into a nightmare.
