Granite City (Illinois)
| Granite City | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Location in Illinois
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| Basic data | |||
| Foundation : | 1896 | ||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Illinois | ||
| County : | Madison County | ||
| Coordinates : | 38 ° 43 ′ N , 90 ° 8 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) | ||
| Residents : | 31,301 (as of: 2000) | ||
| Population density : | 722.9 inhabitants per km 2 | ||
| Area : | 44.5 km 2 (approx. 17 mi 2 ) of which 43.3 km 2 (approx. 17 mi 2 ) is land |
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| Height : | 129 m | ||
| Postal code : | 62040 | ||
| Area code : | +1 618 | ||
| FIPS : | 17-30926 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 409282 | ||
| Website : | www.granitecity.com/wfapp/user | ||
Granite City is a city in Madison County in the US state of Illinois with 31,301 inhabitants ( as of 2000 ). The city is located in the eastern part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area called Metro-East around the city of St. Louis in neighboring Missouri .
geography
Granite City is located in southwest Illinois, west Madison County, just a few miles from the Mississippi and 6 miles northeast of St. Louis . Granite City has an area of 44.5 km², of which 1.3 km² is water.
history
The first immigrants settled in this area as early as the beginning of the 19th century and began farming, mainly for the food supply of St. Louis. Around 1830, the area of today's city was called Six Mile , originating from the distance to St. Louis.
Around 1850, two German immigrants, the brothers Friedrich and Wilhelm (Frederick and William) Niedringhaus, came to St. Louis, where they began manufacturing kitchen appliances. Around 1870 they patented the manufacture of granite items and in 1891 they relocated production to the Six Mile area. In 1896, Granite City was officially founded based on the granite production . In the following years, the Niedringhaus brothers employed up to 4,000 people in their factory. The factory produced until the middle of the 20th century, when new materials such as aluminum , stainless steel or pyrex replaced objects made from granite.
economy
Granite City is today, also due to the good transport options for heavy haulage across the Mississippi and the connections to Interstates 270 , 255 , 70 , 55 and 64 , an industrial location with branches of large US companies such as US Steel , Precoat Metals , Tower Automotive , Capri-Sun (US production of Capri-Sun ), Kraft Foods Group , Heidtman Steel , ADM Packaged Oils , Nestle Company and Praire Farms .
sons and daughters of the town
- Andrew J. Goodpaster (1915-2005), General
- Ralph Tyler Smith (1915–1972), politician
- Andy Phillip (1922-2001), basketball player
- Jimmy Haggett (1928-2000), country and rockabilly musician
- Robert Olen Butler (* 1945), university professor and writer