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==History== ===Early settlement=== The area was settled much earlier than Granite City's official founding. In the early 19th century, settlers began to farm the rich fertile grounds to the east of St. Louis. Around 1801, the area saw the establishment of Six Mile Settlement, a farming area that occupied the area of present-day Granite City, six miles (10 km) from [[St. Louis]].<ref name=part1>{{cite web|title=History of Granite City: Part I|url=http://www.granitecity.illinois.gov/community/history_of_granite_city/part1.html|publisher=City of Granite City|access-date=3 June 2015}}</ref> Soon after, around 1806, the [[National Road]] was to be constructed through the area, but it was never completed.<ref name="part1"/> By 1817, the area became known as Six Mile Prairie, to distinguish it from Six Mile Township.<ref name="part1"/> By 1854, the first railroad was built.<ref name=part2>{{cite web|title=History of Granite City: Part II|url=http://www.granitecity.illinois.gov/community/history_of_granite_city/part2.html|publisher=City of Granite City|access-date=3 June 2015}}</ref> In 1856, the area known as Six Mile would be changed to Kinder.<ref name="part2"/> ===Granite ware=== Granite City was founded in 1896 to be a planned company city similar to [[Pullman, Illinois]], by German immigrant brothers [[Frederick G. Niedringhaus]] and William Niedringhaus for their [[Granite ware]] kitchen supplies factory. Since 1866, the Niedringhaus brothers had been operating the St. Louis Stamping Company, an iron works company, that made [[kitchen utensil]]s in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].<ref name="part2"/> In the 1870s, William discovered an [[enamelware]] process in Europe whereby metal utensils could be coated with enamel to make them lighter and more resistant to [[oxidation]]. At the time, most enamelware was usually just one color as the additions of any colors to the process was inefficient. On June 1, 1878, William applied for Patent 207543 to improve the efficiency whereby a pattern could be applied to enamelware while the enamel was still wet simply by placing a thin piece of paper with an oxidized pattern on top of it. The paper would fall off in the drying process and the pattern would be embedded. The brothers' pattern made the utensils resemble granite.<ref>{{cite web|title=Patent US207543 A|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US207543?oq=Niedringhaus+enamel|publisher=IFI CLAIMS Patent Services|access-date=3 June 2015|date=27 August 1878}}</ref> The resulting product was enormously popular. The brothers opened the Granite Iron Rolling Mills in St. Louis to provide [[tin]] (imported from [[Wales]]) to its prospering kitchen supplies manufacturer. The imported tin had a $22 per ton [[tariff]]. Frederick ran for Congress in Missouri in 1888. During his one term in the [[51st United States Congress|51st Congress]], he successfully urged the passage of a new tariff of 50 percent of value on imported iron and tin.<ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=eVVWdDcWkkwC&dq=Frederick+and+William+Niedringhaus+granite&pg=PA105 Made in USA: East St. Louis by Andrew J. Theising - Virginia Publishing (June 2003)] {{ISBN|1-891442-21-X}}</ref> With the increased tariff, the U.S. steel industry (including their iron plant) took off. As they planned expansion of their [[Bessemer process]] steel works, they were blocked by the city of St. Louis which did not want the expansion. As well, the [[Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis]] planned to tax coal crossing the [[Mississippi River]] into Missouri.<ref name="books.google.com"/> Another large factory in the city was owned by the [[Commonwealth Steel Company]], a business founded on [[Commonwealth Steel Company#Company promotion of citizenship|philanthropic principles]] in 1901 and acquired by the [[General Steel Industries|General Steel Castings Corporation]] in 1929. ===Company town=== In 1891, the brothers bought {{convert|3500|acre|km2}} from business tycoon [[Lauri Kovalainen|Lars Kovala]].<ref>Cheney Sentinel. September 13, 1889. p. 1, col. 1. (A newspaper in Cheney, Washington).</ref> This land extended from the [[Mississippi River]] across the [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad]] tracks for their new Granite City. With the help of the St. Louis City Engineer, a street grid was laid out with streets listed in alphabetic order plus numbered streets, and the only exception being Niedringhaus Avenue. The Niedringhaus family required that its employees live in the town. Houses were purchased with Niedringhaus mortgages. Unlike Pullman, however, they did not exert major control over the day-to-day lives of their employees and left the government of the city up to the residents.<ref name="books.google.com"/> African-Americans were not allowed in the community and instead congregated in [[Brooklyn, Illinois]].<ref name="books.google.com"/> The plant would later grow to occupy {{convert|1250000|sqft|m2}} and employ more than 4,000 people. The plant prospered until the 1950s when [[aluminum]], [[stainless steel]], and [[pyrex]] replaced iron-based utensils. The granite pattern in kitchen utensils, particularly in roasting pans, remains very popular. ===Early history=== In 1896, Granite City was officially incorporated as a City within Madison County, Illinois.<ref name=part3>{{cite web|title=History of Granite City: Part III |url=http://www.granitecity.illinois.gov/community/history_of_granite_city/part3.html|publisher=City of Granite City|access-date=3 June 2015}}</ref> The first seven years went as planned with rapid growth. Henry Fossiek was hired as the first policeman, a School Board of Directors was appointed by the Mayor, four schools opened, the 1st Church of the Concordian Lutheran Church was built, Stamping Company changed its name to National Enameling & Stamping Company (NESCO), and lots were sold for a new subdivision to be named 'Granite Park' (More commonly known as West Granite, today). Then in 1903, a massive flood covered all of West Granite while the rest of the town stayed relatively dry. In 1906, ten thousand persons emigrated to Granite City from [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Hungary]] and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, during a two-year period. The majority of these immigrants, primarily those from the country of Hungary, moved to present-day [[Lincoln Place (Granite City)|Lincoln Place]]. At the time, this area was called 'Hungary Hollow'. During the [[Panic of 1907]], the neighborhood of Hungary Hollow was nicknamed 'Hungry Hollow', as many immigrants starved during this period. The following year, one of the founding fathers of the city and of NESCO, William Niedringhaus, would die, leading to the beginning of a new era in both the company and the city's future. It was also during this period that St. Joseph Catholic Church was organized and a canal and levee system were built. Methody Bulgarian Church in America was built in Hungary Hollow for the large number of [[Bulgarians]] (incl. many [[Macedonian Bulgarians]]) living there. At the time, Granite City had the largest concentration of Bulgarians in the country and boasted the only American newspaper printed in the [[Bulgarian language]]. After the 1915 [[Armenian genocide|Armenian Genocide]] in the Ottoman Empire, thousands of Armenians fled [[Armenia]] and migrated to the United States. The promise of jobs at steel mills in Granite City created a thriving Armenian community in the town, with many Armenians settling in Lincoln Place. Since then, they have kept a church and community center, along with the Granite City "Antranig" Chapter of the [[Armenian Youth Federation]]. Around 1903, Granite City expelled its African American residents.<ref>{{cite book|first=James W.|last=Loewen|author-link=James W. Loewen|title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism|location=New York City|publisher=[[The New Press]]|date=2005|isbn=978-1-62097-454-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=abhIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT118|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1967, the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] alleged that Granite City was a [[sundown town]]. Mayor Donald Partney acknowledged that the city was commonly understood to have a sundown ordinance but denied that it was official.<ref>{{cite news|title=CORE Considers Housing Drive in Granite City|work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|location=St. Louis|page=2G|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7638111/granite_city_housing_issues_1967/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=Partney denied Randolph's charge that the city had a 'sundown' ordinance which forbade Negroes on the street after dark. 'Since I was a child, I understood that the city had a law of that sort,' Partney said. 'But when I became Mayor I went through our laws and found we do not have such an ordinance.'}}</ref> ===2000s history=== {{As of|2008}}, several large manufacturing corporations operate in the city, including [[U.S. Steel]], Precoat Metals, [[Capri-Sun]], [[Kraft Foods]], Heidtman Steel, Prairie Farms, and American Steel.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} The clothing retailer [[Glik's]] is also headquartered in Granite City.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} In July 2018, President Donald Trump visited the city to deliver a speech about industry growth at the U.S. Steel plant.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} A 2024 investigation into 17 [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] burning facilities in the US estimated that the SunCoke Energy plant in Granite City could be responsible for 6-11 premature deaths, increased [[asthma]] symptoms, and other health impacts for residents every year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bauer |first=Will |date=2024-12-04 |title=Granite City plant could be responsible for 6 to 11 premature deaths annually, report finds |url=https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2024-12-04/granite-city-plant-could-be-responsible-for-6-to-11-premature-deaths-annually-report-finds |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=STLPR |language=en}}</ref>
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