Population (1200 CE) 20,000 Introduction If the Mississippian culture had built with stone instead of dirt, their civilization would be as famous as the Mayans and draw crowds of tourists like Angkor Wat. Instead, we collectively ignore or remain ignorant of the sophisticated civilization that dominated much of the
Population (2010) 27,891 Introduction Alton is a city with a layered history that is worth the time to explore. When you’re done, take a drive along the Mississippi River up to Grafton, which is one of the most scenic stretches of the Great River Road; it can be very
While we settled on the name Mississippi by the mid-eighteenth century, we were still trying to define what body of water that name applied to—specifically, just where the river we called Mississippi began. This wasn’t just an act of intellectual curiosity. At the end of the eighteenth century, border disputes between the U. S.
Population (2010) 4,405 Introduction France hasn't governed the Mississippi Valley for over 250 years, but their influence is still alive along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Sainte Genevieve. Many of these communities pre-date the founding of New Orleans and have preserved impressive remnants of their earlier days.
Hannibal draws a lot of tourists eager to step into the world created by Mark Twain, which is a remarkable thing considering he wrote about a world that existed (more or less) 150 years ago. Hannibal has a lot of Twain to offer, but it's also an old river town worth getting to know on its own merits.
Population (2010) 319,305 Introduction St. Louis, my hometown, is a city with a long and layered history. As residents of Flyover Country, we tend to make the national news only when something goes wrong. Sure, we have our problems, but so do plenty of other places. We are a big
