Granite City

Granite City, IL is a steel town. It was founded in 1896 by brothers operating a steel-making company in St Louis  who sought to expand their business and focus on an enamel process whereby utensils made of steel could be made to look like granite (hence the name). St Louis blocked the expansion, so they moved across the river, where they could also avoid paying cross-river taxes on coal.

Situated on the Mississippi, about six miles north of East St Louis, Granite City maintains a population of around 30,000. But unlike ESL, Granite City seems to be focusing on restoration of it's crumbing downtown. According to their website, there are efforts underway to repave streets and install street trees to the urban core. This is a good first step into the beautification and eventual rehabilitation and preservation of the downtown.

Here are some Google Earth images:

This overhead shot shows the dominance of industry in the city. Presently, industry is still active but closures of these plants would surely have a devastating effect on the community.

The boarded up remnants of downtown.

A fence here at least tries to hide the vacant lot behind.

An expansive row of boarded up commercial storefronts. It's not hard to imagine how this block would look with the addition of street trees, minor facade upgrades and thriving businesses.

The International Style Steel Works Building looms over this commercial strip, out of character with the surrounding architecture.

This facade could use a face-lift...

Ruins stand amongst the possibilities. A concerted effort needs to be taken to prevent this fate from happening to the surrounding storefronts.

I presume this street is closed for paving, the first step in a revival of this commercial center.