A Unique Town North Of St. Louis: Alton, Illinois 4K.

alton is a city that is about a 35-minute drive north of st louis and is a part of the metro east region [Music] alton has to be the most unique town in the metro east region the town is situated at the southern end of a stretch of limestone bluffs that line the mississippi river downtown alden has quite a few steep hills with brick streets in the original town many of the homes were built with victorian style architecture well let's get to it shall [Music] we when i was down this way the goal was to film quite a few cities over the course of four days the weather forecast called for partly cloudy skies during the four days that i had planned to film these videos instead it was full of spotty light rain and misty conditions which meant that i had to sit around in my car and wait it out quite a bit in order to film several cities this particular video was no exception once i got into downtown alton you'll notice that i pull into a parking lot after it starts to drizzle there was just enough of a gap in between rain showers that i was able to film enough of this city even if i wasn't able to film everything that i had wanted to alton illinois has a population of 26 000 residents which is down from a 1960 peak population of 43 000 that means that alton has lost nearly half of its peak population the median household income here is 38 000 per year and 28 of the city's residents are living in poverty which is over two times the national average make sure to drop a like for that amazing insight alton is in the state of illinois which means that the property taxes here are out of the wazoo that makes it harder for economically struggling towns like alton to turn things around illinois consistently ranks as one of the least business-friendly states year in and year out which is part of the reason why illinois has lost more people than any other state in the last 10 years as the town sits on the mississippi river there are quite a few industrial jobs nearby the town grew as an industrial-based town early on just like every other city along the mississippi river along with industry tourism has been big economically for alton in recent years downtown alton actually looks pretty cool and appears to have been kept up with pretty well over the years they say that there are a lot of haunted attractions in downtown alton well that's not really my thing as i don't believe in that crap there are plenty of people that do and ghost tours are a popular thing here among several older buildings another quality about alton that attracts tourists is the geology of the area as it's at the southern end of a string of limestone bluffs that line the mississippi river north of town downtown alton has quite a few steep hills as you'll see ahead and as you follow the mississippi river north of alton on highway 100 you'll see that the bluffs extend that way i wanted to drive along that route while i was here but as the weather caused me to delay the filming of several cities on this trip i wasn't able to film everything that i had wanted to stupid weather if you head south of town though you'll notice that the bluffs along the river come to an end on the illinois side as it's just flat flood plains and run down metro east cities make sure to drop a like for that amazing insight [Music] more on the negatives of alton while i'm still in a crappy part of town as there are plenty of negatives to speak of the violent crime rate is 644 for every 100 000 residents and the property crime rate is 3 700 for every 100 000 residents both of those rates are nearly twice the u.s average not good most of the locals here though seem to have quite a bit of pride for their city and there are a lot of unique things to be proud of here especially when you compare it to other illinois cities so i'll put an end to the negatives about alton there [Music] as i mentioned earlier it started to drizzle lightly just enough to make for a bad picture so i parked the car for about an hour or so and waited it out something that i really liked about alton was the streetscape of downtown something about the old buildings the brick streets and the steep hills that made it look pretty cool there's also been quite a few shops that have re-opened up in downtown alton over the past several years so that's been really good for the city as well as that hasn't been the case for many illinois cities with the high property tax rates that the cities in illinois face [Music] and oh man here we go it's the mysterious mineral springs hotel right on the left like i mentioned earlier ghosts and haunted things aren't really my thing i don't believe in them one bit but if you do i won't judge and the mineral springs hotel is the biggest haunted attraction in the city [Music] if you were to continue heading straight that turns into a highway as soon as it turns the corner and runs through a tight space between the mississippi river and limestone rock cuts it's a road that i wanted to film but the rain forced me to make tough decisions [Music] [Music] as you can imagine the lower parts of alton towards the river are subject to severe flooding as is every city along the mississippi river once you get up on the hills though there isn't a threat of floods as the water never gets to be that high if you're looking to buy a home in the alton area just make sure that the home that you invest in or buy is located on higher ground [Laughter] [Music] despite the economic struggles of the city and the drugs that are obviously present you've got to admit that most of the homes in the old part of alton are really cool [Music] [Music] [Music] among the most notable people from here the legendary jazz musician miles davis was born here and dallas cowboys running back ezekiel elliott was born here even though he grew up in missouri make sure to drop a like for that amazing insight [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and it looks like this is where the nightlife is in alton [Music] so [Music] do [Laughter] [Music] well i say it's time to escape the downtown portion of alton and check out some of the areas further away from the river before the rain kicks in [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] wasn't sure how the rain was affecting the picture on the camera so excuse him why while i uh wipe off the camera lens real quick i was just so frustrated with the rain as it wasn't in the forecast and i was tired of sitting around for hours in my car waiting for the rain to disperse and i just wasn't gonna do that anymore [Laughter] [Music] and you can see just how much the droplets of rain cause for a really bad picture it wasn't even raining that hard it was a light drizzle with misty conditions throughout my time here and the rain was often just enough to cause bad picture quality and at the same time the rain was so light that the best weather radar apps weren't picking it up the struggle was definitely real on this road trip [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] i wanted to make sure that i got the high school in since the channel is called nostalgia tours most people that grew up here went to this school alton's athletic teams are named the redbirds it also looks like something is going on at this high school while i drive by which made me feel uh really awkward to say the least but i did my best to play it off like i was there for whatever was going on [Music] i will also say that alton schools perform above average according to niche.com which is a pretty accurate site when it comes to the performance of public school districts with that said i do end the video here if you enjoyed this video make sure to drop a like comment and subscribe as doing all of those things helps these videos out with the youtube algorithm also make sure that you hit that notification bell so that you can be notified every time that i upload a new video of an area near you we'll see you next time [Music] peace so

Channel: Chris Harden

Views: 18,429

Keywords: Alton Illinois, Alton, East St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis Missouri, St. Louis Arch, Missouri, Illinois, Chicago, NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL, Ezekiel Elliott, St. Louis Rams, LA Rams, St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bears, Metro East, Mississippi River, Haunted Towns, Ghost Towns, Mississippi River Floods, Bad Drivers, Dash Cam, Road Rage, Driving, Cars, GoPro, Donald Trump, USA, United States of America

Id: FDV1kFGgBf8

Length: 20min 6sec (1206 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020