Editing Alton, Illinois (section)

===20th century===
Alton native [[Robert Pershing Wadlow]], listed in the [[Guinness Book of Records]] as the world's tallest man at 8 feet 11.1&nbsp;inches tall, 2.72 m, is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in the area known as Upper Alton. The earth over his grave was raised so visitors can compare its length to other graves. A memorial to him, including a life-sized statue and a replica of his chair, stands on College Avenue, across from the [[Southern Illinois University]] Dental School (formerly [[Shurtleff College]]).

The [[Sisters of St Francis of the Martyr St George]] have their American province [[motherhouse]] in Alton.

In 1937 two commercial fishermen from Alton caught a [[bull shark]] in the Mississippi River.<ref>{{Cite news |last=DeBrock |first=Ron |date=2021-07-14 |title=Researchers affirm two bull shark sightings |url=https://www.thetelegraph.com/insider/article/Researchers-affirm-two-bull-shark-sightings-16308838.php |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shell |first1=Ryan |last2=Gardner |first2=Nicholas |date=2021 |title=Movement of the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) in the upper Mississippi River Basin, North America. |journal=Marine and Fishery Sciences |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=263–267 |doi=10.47193/mafis.3422021010607 |via=ResearchGate|url=https://ojs.inidep.edu.ar/index.php/mafis/article/download/181/233 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Late that summer they had realized something was troubling their wood and mesh traps. Concluding that it was a fish, they built a strong wire trap and baited it with chicken guts. The next morning, they caught the 5-foot 84-pound shark, which they displayed in the Calhoun Fish Market, where it attracted crowds for days.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

World War II saw a group of seven brothers join the military and variously became decorated veterans.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Yakstis|first=Ande|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44317474/two_of_altons_7_war_hero_brothers_die/|title=Two of Alton's seven war hero brothers die|date=January 11, 1972|work=Alton Evening Telegraph|publisher=Alton Telegraph Printing Company|issue=301|location=Alton, Illinois|volume=136|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Among these were Millard Glen Gray, who was decorated by [[Douglas MacArthur]], and Neil Gray, who received the [[Silver Star]].<ref name=":0" />

In 1954, the city of Alton was named as one of three finalists for the location of the new [[United States Air Force Academy]]. Alton lost to the winning site of [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]].<ref name="Simon">Steven A. Simon, "A Half-Century of History", ''Fifty Years of Excellence: Building Leaders of Character for the Nation,'' 2004.</ref>

[[File:Alton Illinois sinking in 1993.jpg|thumb|upright|Alton flood, 1993]]
Because of Alton's location at the Mississippi River, the [[Great Flood of 1993]] with its high water levels caused severe damage to the city. Alton's water supply was cut off due to flooding, and townspeople had to be supplied with bottled water for more than three weeks. Many local businesses, including [[Anheuser-Busch]] of St. Louis, donated funds to help the people of Alton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/codebook/index.php?book_id=461|title=Sterling Codifiers, Inc.|website=sterlingcodifiers.com|access-date=2019-11-19|archive-date=July 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708130725/https://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/codebook/index.php?book_id=461|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The original bridge connecting Alton with [[West Alton, Missouri]], was a two-lane (one in each direction) bridge that had become a hazard for motorists and a hindrance for emergency vehicles. The northernmost bridge in the St. Louis metropolitan area, it was torn down in the 1990s. The current [[Clark Bridge]], with two lanes of divided traffic in each direction, plus two bike lanes, opened in 1994. Work had proceeded during the Great Flood of 1993. The award-winning cable-stayed design was done by Hanson Engineers of [[Springfield, Illinois]]. Pieces of cables identical to those of the bridge were handed out in educational settings all over the city to allow the city's children to "take home a piece of the bridge". The complex work of construction of the bridge, in which engineers had to deal with the strong river current, barge traffic and the 1993 flood, was featured in the documentary ''Super Bridge'' on ''[[Nova (American TV series)|Nova]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Super Bridge |publisher=WGBH |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/ |access-date=November 5, 2013}}</ref>