Featured Apartment:
Columbus-Alton - Exceptional hotel alternative, studio units contain
new cabinets,
granite counters, stainless steel appliances, modern lighting, HD TV. All utilities, free phone, cable, HSD Modem hook up,
and Concierge services. Maid service available.
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About Alton
Alton was developed as a river town in 1818 by Rufus Easton, who named the
town after his son. He ran a passenger ferry service across the Mississippi
River to the opposite Missouri shore. Alton is located amid the confluence of
three important navigable rivers: the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the
Missouri. Alton grew into a matter-of-fact river town with an industrial
character and its steep-sloped streets filled with silos, railroad tracks, brick
commercial buildings. Many blocks of housing in Alton were built in the
Victorian Queen Anne style, which marks a more successful period of the city's
history. Alton is subject to floods.
North along the river the River Road stretches north to Grafton, a dramatic
contrast between the high cliffs of the Illinois side to the broad, flat, green
countryside of Portage des Sioux, Missouri. The Great River Road is a popular
bicycle tour destination. Hidden in a notch of the cliff is the tiny town of
Elsah, Illinois, once a down-and-dirty liquor-soaked tug-boater's retreat, now
reborn as a quaint antique center with trimmed front lawns.