The March 2014 meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on Thursday, March 13, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
The following is the Treasurer's report for the month of February:
Do you have a family member that
is interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership
in the Madison County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful
gift. A gift card will be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at [email protected],
about a gift membership.
On March 13, 2014, Norma Asadorian,
President of the Lincoln Place Heritage Association, presented
a program on the history and culture of Lincoln Place in Granite
City, Illinois. Lincoln Place Heritage Association was established
in 2008 to preserve the history and culture of the ethnic groups
that settled in the area now known as Lincoln Place.
Granite City got its start when the Niedringhaus brothers from
St. Louis were looking for a place to manufacture their line of
household goods coated with crushed granite, called Granite Ware.
That is the origin of the name Granite City. The steel mills then
moved in, supplying material for the granite ware and the railroads
that passed through Granite City on the way to St. Louis. Other
industries developed in the area as well. All of this industry
was a huge draw during the late 1800s and the early 1900s for
immigrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe. The first
groups that came to Lincoln Place came from Hungary in large numbers.
As a result, Lincoln Place was originally called Hungary Hollow
or Hunky Hollow. Railroad tracks separate Lincoln Place from the
rest of Granite City. There was a train station at the entrance
to Lincoln Place. You disembarked from the train, crossed the
tracks, and you were in Lincoln Place - it literally was on the
other side of the tracks.
Lincoln Place became a complete little community; not because
they necessarily wanted it that way, but the immigrants who earlier
settled in the Six Mile (Granite City) area were primarily German
farmers. The Germanic people of uptown Granite City did not accept
the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.
As the people settled in Lincoln Place, they had to rely on themselves.
They did not have much money and they developed a little community
in Lincoln Place. There was a movie theater, a bowling alley,
several grocery stores, and many taverns. Interestingly enough,
there were no churches although almost everybody who settled in
this area was either Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christians.
In the early 1920s, a lot of Mexicans immigrated to Lincoln Place
as well, and they were primarily Roman Catholic.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Lincoln Place was called
Hungry Hollow. After the 1930s, there was a push to Americanize
the immigrants of Lincoln Place. The neighborhood had started
to build up a little. There lots of businesses and boarding houses,
taverns, etc., but there were not very many streets. The streets
were just muddy paths with boards so you could cross the street
without getting in the mud. People began to realize that these
immigrants were going to be here permanently. In addition, there
were families starting to develop in Lincoln Place, not just men
coming for the work.
Over the long run, the businesses in Granite City wanted to incorporate
the immigrants into American society and to help Americanize them.
In the 1920s, the Commonwealth Steel Company got together with
businessmen in town and decided to meet with the people in Lincoln
Place and discuss the Americanization and development of the Lincoln
Place area. It was decided at that meeting that it needed a better
name than Hungary Hollow. At that time, the immigrants suggested
that they call it Lincoln Place, because President Abraham Lincoln
was a person the immigrants greatly admired. That is how the neighborhood
got its name Lincoln Place.
Commonwealth Steel offered to provide materials and a design for
a building that would become the focus of the neighborhood. It
became known, at that time, as The Lincoln Place Community House.
Today it is called The Lincoln Place Community Center.
The Community House was built by the labor of the immigrant men
and the material and design were paid for by Commonwealth Steel.
The men would come home from their work shifts; the women would
cook all day. They would take the food to where the building was
going up. The men would work on the building, the women would
ready the food, and the children would be playing. It was similar
to a barn raising.
The Community House eventually became a focus for a number of
things. A lot of it was geared toward Americanizing the immigrants.
The Lincoln Place Heritage Association was started to preserve
the ethnicity and culture of the neighborhood; the Community House
was developed to Americanize the immigrants by wiping out their
different ethnicities and cultures. What came out of it was an
"Americanization" where people had their ethnic identity
as well - a cultural pluralism.
In their efforts to help Americanize the neighborhood, Commonwealth
Steel funded a kindergarten - the first kindergarten in Granite
City. The Community Center programs were geared mostly toward
the children. During the summer, the girls were taught to sew
and embroider and the boys were taught vocational crafts. The
Community Center also had classes for the adults - cooking, food
preservation, hygiene, etc., and especially citizenship classes.
Becoming an American citizen was very important to the immigrants
in Lincoln Place.
Many oral history interviews of the immigrants, their children,
and grandchildren have been done. (Many of the children and grandchildren
of the original immigrants still live in Lincoln Place.) One thing
that almost everyone points out in their interviews is that they
were like one big community. It did not matter that they came
from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. (At last count,
there were 31 different ethnic groups represented in this five
block by seven block area.) They learned each other's languages,
tasted each other's foods, and played with each other's kids.
It was one really cool neighborhood - a mini-United Nations. They
said Lincoln Place was a wonderful place to grow up and a place
where every body got along.
Norma had many photographs and items from Lincoln Place on display.
She also brought some home-made Armenian baklava as refreshments
for the attendees. If you were not there, you really missed out!
If you would like a chance to experience the flavors and cultures
of Lincoln Place, the 2014 Lincoln Place Heritage Festival is
scheduled for September 20, 2014, 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM, at the Lincoln
Place Community Center, 822 Niedringhaus Avenue, Granite City,
Illinois. For more information, call (618) 451-2611.
This presentation was very well attended, very well received,
and produced several questions from the audience..