Editing Granite City, Illinois (section)

===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>