In September, I wrote about people in Edwardsville, Illinois, who wanted the statue of Ninian Edwards, for whom the town was named, removed because of his being a slave owner. Edwardsville is in Madison County, which has quite a bit of history.
From the Madison County site.
Madison County was established and named after President James Madison in September 1812. The county seat and third oldest city in Illinois is Edwardsville.
The county's rich history includes the departure point of William Clark and his troops from Camp Dubois (in present-day Wood River), to join Meriwether Lewis in 1804. That was the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase lands.
One of the Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in Alton in 1858. The "Gentle Giant," Robert Wadlow grew up in Alton as well. He stood 8 feet 11 inches tall. Also, Paul Simon, famed for his ever-present bowtie, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate from 1975 to 1997 lived in Troy for 25 years.
For you Route 66ers, the Chain of Rocks Bridge is in Madison and St. Clair counties.
--RoadBridge
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