Metro East

Metro-East is a region in Illinois that comprises the eastern suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It encompasses five Illinois counties in the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area's largest city is Belleville.

File:Storm2076uc3.jpg

MetroLink in Belleville IL

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the five counties of the area have a total area of 6,974 km² (2,692 mi²). 6,787 km² (2,620 mi²) of it is land and 186 km² (71 mi²) of it (2.74%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 599,845 people, 229,888 households, and 160,260 families residing in the five Metro-east counties.

The official language is English, although other languages are spoken. German is spoken in Southeastern Madison, Clinton, Southern and Eastern St. Clair, and most of Monroe. Spanish is spoken in the Fairmont City area, and in parts of Clinton County. The largest concentration of African-Americans is in Madison, Venice, West Granite City, East St. Louis, Washington Park, Belleville, and Alton. Secondary languages tend to be cultural or reminiscent of ancestry, and not related to the general business of the area.

List of counties

St. Louis MSA, the 5 counties in Illinois are known as Metro-East.

Map of Illinois highlighting Metro-East.

• Clinton
• Jersey
• Madison
• Monroe
• St. Clair

List of cities

Notes:

• ^ means part of city in another county(ies)
• Bold indicates County Seat.

Clinton County

Albers Aviston Bartelso Beckemeyer Breese Carlyle Centralia ^ (Also in Marion County)

Damiansville Germantown Huey Keyesport ^ (Also in Bond County) New Baden ^ (Also in St. Clair County) Trenton Wamac ^ (Also in Washington and Marion Counties)

Jersey County

• Brighton ^ (Also in Macoupin County)
• Dow
• Elsah
• Fidelity
• Fieldon
• Grafton
• Jerseyville
• Medora ^ (Also in Macoupin County)
• Otterville

Madison County

Alhambra Alton Bethalto Collinsville ^ (Also in St. Clair County) Dorsey E. Alton Edwardsville Fairmont City ^ (Also in St. Clair County) Glen Carbon Godfrey Granite City Hamel Highland

Livingston Madison Marine Maryville New Douglas Pierron ^ (Also in Bond County) Pontoon Beach Roxana South Roxana Troy Venice Wood River Worden

Monroe County

• Ames
• Burksville
• Columbia
• Fults
• Hecker
• Mayestown
• New Hanover
• Valmeyer
• Wartburg
• Waterloo

St. Clair County

Belleville Cahokia Caseyville Centreville Collinsville ^ (Also in Madison County) Dupo E. St. Louis Fairmont City ^ (Also in Madison County) Fairview Heights Fayetteville Freeburg Lebanon

Lenzburg Marissa Mascoutah Millstadt New Athens O'Fallon St. Libory Sauget Shiloh Swansea Washington Park

Highways

State Highways

Illinois Route 3 Illinois Route 4 Illinois Route 13 Illinois Route 15 Illinois Route 16 Illinois Route 100

Illinois Route 109 Illinois Route 111 Illinois Route 127 Illinois Route 140 Illinois Route 143 Illinois Route 153

Illinois Route 156 Illinois Route 157 Illinois Route 158 Illinois Route 159 Illinois Route 160 Illinois Route 161

Illinois Route 162 Illinois Route 163 Illinois Route 177 Illinois Route 203 Illinois Route 255 (An extension of Interstate 255) Illinois Route 267

U.S. Routes

• U.S. Route 40
• U.S. Route 50
• U.S. Route 51
• U.S. Route 66 (Historical Route Designation)
• U.S. Route 67

Interstate Highways

• Interstate 55
• Interstate 64
• Interstate 70
• Interstate 255
• Interstate 270

Major Employers

• Anheuser-Busch
• Charter Communications
• Scott Air Force Base
• Gateway Grizzlies
• Monsanto
• National Steel
• U.S. Steel
• Olin Corporation
• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
• Norrenberns Trucking
• Illinois Department of Transportation
• Korte Construction

Professional sports teams

• Baseball: Gateway Grizzlies, St. Louis Cardinals
• American Football: St. Louis Rams
• Hockey: St. Louis Blues
• Basketball: none
• Soccer: none

Tourist attractions

• Brooks Catsup Bottle, Collinsville
• Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville, on Madison-St. Clair County line
• GCS Ballpark, Sauget
• Père Marquette State Park, Grafton
• Raging Rivers Water Park, Grafton
• The Game, Glen Carbon
• St. Clair Square Mall, Fairview Heights
• Ft. Chartres, Prairie Du Rocher
• Popeye Statue, Chester
• Robert Wadlow Statue, Alton
• Horseshoe Lake (Madison County), Pontoon Beach, Madison, and Granite City
• Alton Square Mall, Alton
• Carlyle Lake, Carlyle

Residents, historic figures, and contributors

• Jason Boyd, Edwardsville, AAA pitcher
• Jimmy Connors, East St. Louis and Belleville, world-famous tennis player
• Brian Daubach, Belleville, MLB 1B/DH/Outfielder, currently playing for the St. Louis Cardinals
• Miles Davis, East St. Louis and Alton, world-famous jazz artist
• Jay Farrar, Belleville, musician
• Norm Greenberg, Belleville, Metro-East television personality
• Louis Jolliet, founder of the Mississippi River
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee East St. Louis, athlete
• Mark Little, Edwardsville, AAA outfielder
• Père Jacques Marquette, French discoverer
• Jeff Tweedy, Belleville, lead singer of the band Wilco
• Uncle Tupelo, Belleville, alternative country band
• Robert Pershing Wadlow, Alton, World's Tallest Man
• William Holden, O'Fallon, Hollywood actor
• Michael Stipe, Collinsville, lead singer of the band REM
• Josephine Baker, East St. Louis, performer and activist
• Senator Richard J. Durbin, East St. Louis, U.S. senator
• Kirk Rueter, Nashville, former MLB pitcher
• T.J. Matthews, Columbia, former MLB pitcher
• Neal Cotts, Lebanon, Pitcher currently playing for the Chicago Cubs

Media

MetroEast Internet News Site

MetroEast Report

• Note: All stations are from St. Louis unless otherwise noted.

St. Louis Area TV Stations

• KTVI (FOX) Channel 2.
• KMOV (CBS) Channel 4.
• KSDK (NBC) Channel 5.
• KETC (PBS) Channel 9.
• KPLR (The CW) Channel 11.
• KNLC (IND) Channel 24.
• KDNL (ABC) Channel 30.
• WRBU (My Network TV) Channel 46. (East St. Louis)
• KUMO-LP (RTN) Channel 51

Champaign-Urbana-Decatur-Effingham-Springfield Area TV Stations

• Note:This list is for Jersey County, however, the majority of these stations are not available for Jersey County residents.
• WCIA (CBS) Channel 3. (Champaign)
• WILL (PBS) Channel 12. (Urbana)
• WSEC Channel 15. (Jacksonville)
• WICD (ABC) Channel 15. (Champaign)
• WAND (NBC) Channel 17. (Decatur)
• WICS (ABC) Channel 20. (Springfield)
• WBUI (WB/CW) Channel 23. (Decatur)
• WCCU (FOX) Channels 26 and 55 (WRSP). (Urbana and Springfield)
• WCFN (UPN/My Network TV) Channel 49. (Champaign)

Daily Newspapers

• Note: daily newspaper coverage depends on county.
• Alton Telegraph (Madison, Jersey counties)
• Belleville News-Democrat (region-wide)
• Centralia Sentinel (Clinton and Washington counties)
• Southern Illinoisan (mainly in Washington County, rarely found elsewhere in Metro-East)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (region wide)
• Edwardsville Intelligencer (Madison County)

Radio Stations

• Note: stations listed have offices in Metro-East counties only. the ones that can be heard in the Metro-East but not listed have offices outside the Metro-East counties.
• WNSV 104.7 FM (Nashville), Hot AC
• WRXX 95.3 FM (Centralia), pop
• WLCA 89.9 FM (Godfrey), alternative/college radio
• WSIE 88.7 FM (Edwardsville), Jazz
• KATZ 100.3 FM (Alton), Urban
• WFUN 95.5 FM (Bethalto), hip-hop
• WDLJ 97.5 FM (Carlyle), classic rock
• WJAF 103.7 FM (Centralia)
• WRDA 104.1 FM (Jerseyville), nostalgia
• WTPC 105.3 FM (Elash), college
• WAOX 105.3 FM (Staunton), Hot AC
• WILY 1210 AM (Centralia), oldies
• WJBM 1480 AM (Jerseyville), talk
• WESL 1490 AM (East St. Louis), urban
• WBGZ 1570 AM (Alton), news/talk

See also: Radio stations in Illinois

Area Codes

• Area code 217: extreme northeast part of Metro East, in Madison County.
• Area code 618: majority of the Metro-East is in this area code.

References

• Metroeast Report
• WikiLou - The St. Louis Area's Wiki