Thousands of immigrants from many points on the globe arrived in Granite City, Illinois, in the early twentieth century, drawn by the prospect of employment in heavy industry. Many settled in a ten-square-block area between the railroad and the Mississippi, in the shadow of the steel mills.

Known first as “Hungary Hollow” and later as Lincoln Place, the neighborhood became home to Hungarians, Macedonian Bulgarians, Armenians, Mexicans, and people of more than thirty other nationalities, making it one of the most ethnically diverse places in southwestern Illinois. This cross section of the world made distinctive contributions to the world, including the first Bulgarian Orthodox church in the Americas, a Macedonian newspaper read internationally, and a tradition of athletic achievement that carried the 1940 Granite City High School basketball team to a state championship victory.

This program, part of the 2014 Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival, will tell the inspiring story of Lincoln Place in words, pictures, and artifacts. Learn how Lincoln Place residents adapted to life in the United States while maintaining their own cultures, share your own memories of this remarkable community, and contemplate how we might apply lessons from its history in the present and the future.

Reservations are recommended and can be made online.

Exhibits open for viewing starting at 5p.
Program starts at 6p.

 

The program, free and open to the public, is presented by the Illinois Humanities Council, the Lincoln Place Heritage Association of Granite City, and the Southwestern Illinois College Sam Wolf Granite City Campus, with generous assistance from Celebrate Granite City and the Six Mile Regional Library District.

              

          

 Lincoln Place is part of the 2014 Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival coordinated by the Missouri Humanities Council.

                  

 

For more information, please call 312.422.5580.