Editing East St. Louis, Illinois (section)

===20th century===
East St. Louis continued to have an economy based on industry. Through and after World War II, many workers could make decent livings. It was named an [[All-America City]] in 1959 by the National Civic League.<ref>{{cite web|title=Previous All-America City Winners|url=http://www.nationalcivicleague.org/previous-all-america-city-winners/|website=National Civic League|access-date=15 March 2017}}</ref> East St. Louis celebrated its centennial in 1961. It was known as the "Pittsburgh of the West".<ref name=":0" /> Its population had reached a peak of 82,366 residents in the 1950 census, the fourth-largest city in Illinois at the time.

Through the 1950s and later, the city's musicians were an integral creative force in blues, rock and roll and jazz. Some left and achieved national recognition, such as [[Ike & Tina Turner]]. The jazz great [[Miles Davis]], who became internationally known, was born in nearby [[Alton, Illinois|Alton]] and grew up in East St. Louis. The 1999 [[PBS]] series ''River of Song'' featured these musicians in its coverage of music from cities along the Mississippi River.

[[File:Cargill and grain elevator in East St. Louis.jpg|thumb|[[Cargill]] grain elevator in East St. Louis]]
The city suffered from the mid-century restructuring of heavy industry and railroads, which caused widespread loss of jobs. As a number of local factories began to close because of changes in industry, the railroad and meatpacking industries also were cutting back and moving jobs out of the region. This led to a precipitous loss of working and middle-class jobs. The city's financial conditions deteriorated. Elected in 1951, Mayor Alvin Fields tried funding measures that resulted in raising the city's bonded indebtedness and the property tax rate. More businesses closed as workers left the area to seek jobs in other regions. The more established white workers had an easier time gaining jobs in other localities, and the city population became increasingly black. "[[Brownfields]]" (areas with environmental contamination by heavy industry) have made redevelopment more difficult and expensive.

[[File:East St. Louis, IL - damaged apartment building.jpg|thumb|left|Urban blight in East St. Louis]]
Street gangs appeared in city neighborhoods. Like other cities with endemic problems by the 1960s, violence added to residential mistrust and adversely affected the downtown retail base and the city's income.

The construction of freeways also contributed to East St. Louis' decline. They were constructed through and broke up functioning neighborhoods and community networks, adding to the social disruption of the period. The freeways made it easier for residents to commute back and forth from suburban homes, so the wealthier people moved out to newer housing. East St. Louis adopted a number of programs to try to reverse decline: the [[Model Cities]] program, the Concentrated Employment Program, and Operation Breakthrough. The programs were not enough to offset the loss of industrial jobs due to national restructuring.

In 1971, [[James E. Williams (East St. Louis mayor)|James E. Williams]] was elected as the city's first black mayor. Faced with the overwhelming economic problems, he was unable to make much of a difference. In 1975, [[William E. Mason (East St. Louis mayor)|William E. Mason]] was elected mayor; his term marked a return to patronage politics and the city sank deeper into debt and reliance on federal funding.<ref name=Theising>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVVWdDcWkkwC&q=Mason&pg=PA25|first=Andrew J. |last=Theising|authorlink=|title=Made in USA: East St. Louis, the Rise and Fall of an Industrial River Town|pages=25–28 |publisher=Virginia Publishing|date=August 1, 2013|isbn=978-1891442216}}</ref> In 1979, Carl Officer was elected as mayor (the youngest in the country at that time, at age 25). Despite hopes for improvement, conditions continued to decline. Middle-class citizens continued to leave the city. People who could get jobs moved to places with work and a decent quality of life. Lacking sufficient tax revenues, the city cut back on maintenance, sewers failed, and garbage pickup ceased. Police cars and radios stopped working. The East St. Louis Fire Department went on strike in the 1970s.

Structure fires destroyed such a significant number of consecutive blocks that much of the post-Armageddon film ''[[Escape from New York]]'' was filmed in East St. Louis.<ref name= "Beeler, Michael">{{cite news | last = Beeler
 | first = Michael | title = ''Escape from N.Y.'': Filming the Original | publisher = [[Cinefantastique]]
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Maronie | first = Samuel J. | title = From ''Forbidden Planet'' to ''Escape from New York'': A candid conversation with SFX & production designer Joe Alves | publisher = [[Starlog]] | date = May 1981 | url = http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/starlog8105.html | access-date = March 10, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070317172834/http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/press/starlog8105.html | archive-date = March 17, 2007 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

In 1990, the State of Illinois passed (65 ILCS 5/Art. 8 Div. 12) The Financially Distressed City Law.<ref>{{cite web|title=(65 ILCS 5/) Illinois Municipal Code. DIVISION 12. FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED CITY LAW|url=http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=006500050HArt.+8+Div.+12&ActID=802&ChapterID=14&SeqStart=97800000&SeqEnd=100300000|website=Illinois General Assembly|access-date=15 March 2017}}</ref> Under this law, Illinois Governor [[James R. Thompson]] provided $34&nbsp;million in loans to East St. Louis, with the stipulation that an appointed five-member board, called the East St. Louis Financial Advisory Authority, manage the city's finances.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Harrison|first1=Eric|title=UPDATE / EAST ST. LOUIS : Illinois Bails Out Troubled City Close to Bankruptcy : No one thinks the town's problems can be solved with $34 million. But the plan might increase investors' confidence.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-09-mn-375-story.html|access-date=15 March 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=9 August 1990}}</ref> In 1990 the state legislature approved riverboat gambling in an effort to increase state revenues. The opening of the ''Casino Queen'' riverboat [[casino]] generated the first new source of income for the city in nearly 30 years.

In 1991, [[Gordon Bush]] was elected mayor. Several major industries operating in the area had gained separate incorporation as jurisdictions for the land where their plants are sited. These "communities" have virtually no residents, and the shell jurisdictions are outside the tax base of East St. Louis (See: [[Sauget, Illinois]]). Residents of the city, however, suffer from contaminated air and other adverse environmental effects of these sites. At the same time, the city's tax base is too poor for it to maintain its infrastructure, including the sanitary sewers, many of which have broken and overflowed in residential neighborhoods and schools.<ref>[http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Third_World_US/SI_Kozol_StLouis.html Jonathan Kozol, "Life on the Mississippi: East St. Louis, Illinois"], excerpted from ''Savage Inequalities,'' hosted at Third World Traveler, accessed April 2, 2015</ref>