"Historic Alton" is a book of beautiful art work and interesting facts. Growing up in Alton, Mr. Mossman has captured a unique insight surrounding the history and art of local Alton. This attractive book will make a valuable addition to any history lovers coffee table.

Readers can take a trip back in time and discover the people and places of yesteryear and find out why Alton, Illinois, has been named one of the most haunted regions in America. Explore its early history, then prepare for a spine-tingling look at the area's legends, lore, ghosts and hauntings.

A driving tour guide to selected areas of Alton, Illinois describing buildings, homes, and landmarks of architectural and historic significance.

This work is intended to be under the umbrella of art. The information provided is intended to inform the viewer about the historic elements centered on the art. I would like to thank the Alton Telegraph Newspaper and the Hayner Genealogy Library for providing historical photos and information about those buildings that have long been razed. Almost all the art work was painted from my own personal photos. Although a few other photographs, paintings and illustrations were used as examples, the art work was colored, changed and re-shaped into my own ideas and methods of painting. Some of my paintings, such as the Blue Pool, were entirely done by sketch work. I used my own point and shoot camera to take many of the photos. MBM

The river bend near the confluence of three great rivers--the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois--was founded by Rufus Easton between 1814 and 1818 for land development and a ferry service between Illinois and St. Louis. Named for one of Easton's sons, Alton developed into a bustling river town. In 1837, Alton's economy was hurt by financial panic and its reputation blotted by the murder of abolitionist newspaper publisher Elijah Lovejoy. But by the 1850s, Alton had caught "railroad fever," which, along with plentiful natural resources, fueled its growth as a manufacturing city. Fortunes were made, and by the 20th century, Alton boasted fine churches, schools, and millionaires' mansions. On the other end of the social scale lived the workers in their neighborhoods. The river, the railroad, and the diverse people they brought to the river bend shaped Alton's history and culture.

North Carolina's Ocracoke island has produced a remarkably cohesive community of islanders. For more than two centuries, these Ocracokers lived in relative isolation, enjoying the beauty and battling the destructive forces of the Atlantic. In the past two decades, tourists discovered this "unique fishing village by the sea," and the tiny island was forever altered. Alarmed at the dramatic changes in the island's character over the past generation, Alton Ballance set out to capture the story of Ocracoke and its people from the unique perspective of a native. Ballance accompanies the people of Ocracoke on their everyday activities--fishing, hunting, boating--all the time recording their stories about events and people that have shaped the island's history. They have lived through hurricanes, and they remember their ancestors talking of the shipwrecks and daring rescues that occurred off the treacherous coast. During the many years when no doctor resided on the island, Ocracokers delivered each other's babies and attended to their own illnesses, sometimes with local cures. When Ballance was growing up on Ocracoke in the 1960s and 1970s, the number of year-round residents hovered around 500. Now Ocracoke is a major tourist attraction visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year. As tourism has flourished, the island has become less isolated, and Ballance discusses the consequences of this development for both islander and visitor. The modernization that accompanies tourism has provided many benefits for the island, among them better health care and schooling and more jobs. Nonetheless, the Ocracoke of old is rapidly disappearing. This book is a tribute to that Ocracoke and her people.

A September morning in 1989 changed Alton's history forever. At 7:34 a.m., a Dr Pepper truck collided with Mission School Bus no. 6. After the bus and its occupants plunged into a water-filled caliche pit, twenty-one students lost their lives. The resulting investigation flooded the small South Texas community with reporters and lawyers. The heavily scrutinized legal battle divided the city, but it did ultimately produce changes in school bus safety that continue to save lives today. Juan Carmona navigates the complicated legacy of the tragic accident and its aftermath.

A driving tour guide to selected areas of Alton, Illinois describing buildings, homes, and landmarks of architectural and historic significance.

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