[edale]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

That’s because most of DTStL has been razed. East StL has also been on a downward spiral for 70+ years. The suburbs on the IL side of the Mississippi are actually relatively old towns (some settled in late 1700s) and are mostly middle income communities. Illinois was actually settled from the south northward rather than the opposite, which seems counterintuitive.

http://www.citytoriver.org/history/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/399483429421571625/
https://nextstl.com/2013/05/what-the...bout-st-louis/

The lack of....anything...on the Illinois side was surprising to me, as I thought it would be a similar situation to Cincinnati and the Northern Kentucky river cities that basically serve as an extension/continuation of the urban core just across the river. It just seems crazy to me that the Illinois side is so close to downtown, yet basically looks rural. I guess proximity to downtown isn't much of a selling point if the real business and economic center isn't downtown, but actually several miles west of the urban core. Still quite strange.