Collinsville

collinsville

city, Madison and St. Clair counties, southwestern Illinois, U.S. It lies a few miles east of the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis, Missouri. First settled in 1810 by John Cook of Virginia, the community was laid out in 1837 on bluffs above the river's floodplain. The village was originally named Unionville but was soon renamed Collinsville for an early pioneer family that had bought Cook's claim in 1818. Once a bituminous-coal mining centre (the first mine was sunk in 1870), the area also had lead and zinc mines and a cowbell factory. Collinsville is now mainly residential, and the economy is based on government services, Fairmount Park (a horse racing facility), retail, and clothing manufacturing. It is also a centre of horseradish production; an annual horseradish festival is held in June. A notable local attraction is the "World's Largest Catsup Bottle" (built 1949), which stands 170 feet (52 metres) high. Just west of the city is Cahokia Mounds, which preserves a large prehistoric Mississippian culture city, and Horseshoe Lake State Park. Inc. village, 1850; city, 1872. Pop. (1990) 22,446; (2000) 24,707.

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