The original Piasa Bird was a petroglyph (a prehistoric carving, usually pictorial, gouged into a rock surface). According to legend, in the years long before the Europeans arrived in the Meeting of the Great Rivers area. The current version was put in place in 1998. The limestone rock quality on this site is unsuited for holding an image, and the painting must be regularly restored.
Read moreThe John M. Olin Nature Preserve
The Olin Nature Preserve was dedicated as an Illinois Nature Preserve in. It is one of the largest privately owned nature preserves in the state and harbors 374 native plant species and provides habitat to nearly 150 species of birds. Marked trails give the visitor splendid views of the Mississippi River from the hill prairie, and a view of the Mississippi flood plain.
Read moreLincoln Douglas Square
Lincoln Douglas Square commemorates the seventh and last debate held in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas Alton with a monument to this historic event.
Read moreKoenig House
The Alton Museum of History and Art maintains the Koenig House which was built in 1887 by a German American Engineer employed by the Illinois Glass Company. The house was designed by Lucas Pfeiffenberger who became a well known architect in the St. Louis area. The home was occupied by several generations of the original owner until it was given to the Museum.
Read moreJacoby Arts Center
The Jacoby Arts Center is housed in the renovated 1899 Jacoby furniture store on Broadway. Tthis three-story, 40,000-square-foot brick building was donated to the Madison County Arts Council by C. J. Jacoby and Co., Inc. and opened as an art center in 2004. In this facility you will find a sparkling art gallery, a dynamic educational facility, and an array of exquisite artisan crafts.
Read moreHaskell Playhouse
This unique Queen Anne style playhouse was built in 1885 for five year old Lucy J. Haskell, daughter of Dr. William A. and Florence Hayner Haskell. It is believed Lucy's grandfather, John E. Hayner, commissioned prominent local architect, Lucas J. Pfeiffenberger, to design the playhouse. In 1889, at age nine, Lucy died of diphtheria. The playhouse has been retained in memory of Lucy J. Haskell.
Read moreThe Elijah P. Lovejoy Memorial
This monument honors abolitionist newspaperman Elijah Parish Lovejoy who was killed trying to after trying to put out a fire at the warehouse where he was guarding a printing press after three others had been thrown in the Mississippi River by pro-slavery supporters. . The memorial centers on a 93-foot high granite column topped by a 17-foot high winged statue of Victory.
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