Madison
County, Illinois
There
is a bottle of catsup in the National
Register of Historic Places. It is, in fact,
The World’s
Largest Catsup Bottle, located
just south of downtown Collinsville in
Madison County. The 170-foot water tower was
built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company
for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant
– bottlers of Brooks Rich & Tangy
Catsup.
Madison County is proud of its catsup bottle
landmark, a shining example of 20th-century
roadside Americana at its finest. Named for
James Madison, the fourth president of the
United States, the county was formed before
in 1812, before Illinois became a state.
Madison was also a member of the Continental
Congress and the federal constitutional
convention of 1787.
In addition to Collinsville, other major
cities and towns in Madison County include
Glen Carbon, Granite City and Edwardsville,
the county seat. Other significant
attractions abound throughout the county.
-
The
Cahokia
Mounds State Historic Site,
also in Collinsville, holds the remains
of a subtribe of the Illini who lived in
the region. The 2,200-acre site has been
designated a World Heritage Site by the
United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization for its
importance in understanding the cultural
heritage of the native civilizations in
North America.
-
Horseshoe
Lake State Park, in Granite
City, is a 2,960-acre park that
surrounds Oxbow Lake, and is a popular
site for fishing, birding, boating,
camping and hiking.
-
Leclaire
Village, in Edwardsville, was
developed in the late 1800s by
industrialist N.O. Nelson as a model
company town. Today, it is a national
historic district.
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