Madison
County, Illinois
There is a
bottle of catsup in the National Register of Historic
Places. It is, in fact, The World’s
Largest Catsup Bottle, located just south
of downtown Collinsville in Madison County. The
170-foot water tower was built in 1949 by the W.E.
Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling
plant – bottlers of Brooks Rich & Tangy Catsup.
Madison County is proud of its catsup bottle landmark,
a shining example of 20th-century roadside Americana
at its finest. Named for James Madison, the fourth
president of the United States, the county was formed
before in 1812, before Illinois became a state.
Madison was also a member of the Continental Congress
and the federal constitutional convention of 1787.
In addition to Collinsville, other major cities and
towns in Madison County include Glen Carbon, Granite
City and Edwardsville, the county seat. Other
significant attractions abound throughout the county.
-
The Cahokia
Mounds State Historic Site, also in
Collinsville, holds the remains of a subtribe of
the Illini who lived in the region. The 2,200-acre
site has been designated a World Heritage Site by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization for its importance in
understanding the cultural heritage of the native
civilizations in North America.
-
Horseshoe
Lake State Park, in Granite City, is a
2,960-acre park that surrounds Oxbow Lake, and is
a popular site for fishing, birding, boating,
camping and hiking.
-
Leclaire
Village, in Edwardsville, was developed
in the late 1800s by industrialist N.O. Nelson as
a model company town. Today, it is a national
historic district.
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