The group this blog is directed towards grew up in the fifties on the Illinois flood plains of the Mississippi River just across from St. Louis, Missouri and immediately south of East St. Louis, Illinois. Back in 1966, on a quiet summer evening when the conditions were right you could sometimes hear the roar of the crowd as the St Louis Cardinal’s did battle at legendary Busch Stadium in downtown St Louis. That’s how close we were to St Louis.
In the fifties and sixties Cahokia was a low to middle income, blue collar town (still is) just south of and immediately adjacent to Monsanto, Illinois (now named Sauget) a factory town made up of a large concentration of chemical processing plants, a refinery, a rubber plant, and similar operations, all the type of plants that no one else wanted in their neighborhoods because all were an eyesore and generated some of the most noxious fumes and odors known to modern man – but they provided employment. The area we called Cahokia at the time included a small incorporated village of 500 and and, by osmosis, an adjacent unincorporated area of greater size known as Maplewood Park that was home to a small commercial airport and the notable Parks Aeronautical College, an arm of St Louis University and an important training facility for pilots during WWII.
Cahokia is named for the Native American tribe that lived there at the time the French explorer Joliet descended the river looking for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. I was told the name Cahokia translates to "many ducks" or something close referring to the marsh lands that attracted an abundance of waterfowl to the area in centuries past. Cahokia shares its name with the historic site of the largest Native American earthen structures in the Americas, the Cahokia Mounds, which are located eight miles to the north of our little town.
By the time I came along in 1939 it was a sleepy little burg of about 500 people with one grocery store, one gas station, a couple of churches and about five or six taverns. The priority was fairly obvious.
Growing up in Cahokia was most likely just like growing up in any small Midwestern town in the forties and fifties with the exception of Cahokia being so historic. The old historic French Courthouse, the Jarrot house and the old log church were always there to remind us that our little town held a special place in the relatively brief history of our exciting, new nation. As a child I felt a special pride that my family was part of that history although it wasn’t until I was in my fifties that I came to discover that my ancestors among the French and Indians included the Saucier family, forefathers who drew the first map of New Orleans, designed and engineered the construction of Fort de Chartres, and even one who once occupied the historic courthouse as his private residence.As a thirteen year old I remember lying in bed at night to the glow of an old tube radio, the volume up just enough to keep my mother from hearing as I listened to the local R&B stations playing Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, The Crows, The Orioles and other emerging black vocal groups that became famous for developing the Doo Wop music that crossed over the race barrier and captivated young white audiences nationwide. These same groups inspired the early attempts by artists like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison and others to emulate and merge the rhythm and blues sound with mainstream country and pop music – the evolution of Rock and Roll, a music which eventually swept the world.
My generation was there when it happened and we played a part in it’s development. The music genius, Chuck Berry, who in my book is perhaps the most influential rock artist of all time, grew up in St Louis and along with Ike and Tina Turner played the East St Louis clubs, Tina often seen driving around the Illinois side in a red Corvette. Add to that, Miles Davis, not rock and roll but one of the most celebrated Jazz musicians of all time whose father practiced dentistry in East St Louis and once had a Millstadt, Illinois address.
That’s a thumbnail sketch of the area where we grew up. There is much more to this story and we will be telling it over the next months and perhaps years depending on your participation and my longevity.
That's why I’ve established this blog, a place to come to for news, to reminisce and a place to comment and discuss the people and events that shaped our lives and brought us together as fellow travelers on the road of life.
Comments to any post by classmates, friends and visitors are encouraged. Feel free to participate – no mean or foul language please. I will edit you or block you if necessary. Don’t make me come to your house.
I have to rely on all of you for news and suggestions for posts. If you have information you want to share with the group just email me and I will post it in due time.
Gary
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