Alton

In the 20th century, St. Louis was a hub for candy manufacturing. As 94-year-old candy magnate Menlo Smith puts it, “St. Louis was the best place in the country to manufacture confectionery if you were going to be distributing it nationwide.” Smith is the man behind favorites such as Pixy Stix, SweeTarts and Nerds.

A masked violinist has been making music while strolling the streets of Alton. Local rumor has it that she last played during the 1918 Spanish influenza…

The town of Alton was a major stop for escaped slaves making their way to freedom from St. Louis.Some runaways stayed in Alton, and some continued north…

The Old Town Farmers Market draws people seeking fresh, local produce to Belleville’s downtown every Saturday morning. Food stands line a block of South…

The Fourth of July will be even more of a celebration in Alton and Grafton this year, as the riverfront communities mark the reopening of businesses…

Just beyond the closed Alton Visitor Center, a building surrounded by water, stands a temporary flood wall that protects the city’s downtown.The…

Yet again in communities along the Mississippi River, residents and business owners are filling sandbags and holding their breath as the water creeps…

Updated: 8:50 p.m. May 5 — with information about flood damage to an Illinois American Water plant.Floodwaters have continued to rise over the weekend in…

Civic leaders along the Mississippi River are bracing for near-record flood levels in the coming days and weeks.Mayors in Missouri and Illinois say…

When Lauren Pattan and James Rogalsky started looking for a building to house their brewery, they didn’t plan to move from St. Louis to Alton, where…