Downtown East St. Louis Historic District

The Downtown East St. Louis Historic District is comprised of two blocks along Collinsville Avenue, one and a half blocks along Missouri Avenue, and one block along St. Louis Avenue on the south side. The Downtown East St. Louis Historic includes thirty-five buildings, twenty-five of which are considered contributing resources to the historic district. These contributing resources include the Majestic Theatre, an ornate movie palace that was built in 1928. Once at the heart of a thriving downtown, the theatre was shuttered in 1960 following the closure of a number of Midwestern factories, which further caused the local economy to decline. The Downtown East. St. Louis Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 2014.

The Downtown East St. Louis Historic District includes of two blocks along Collinsville Avenue, a block and a half along Missouri Avenue, and one block along St. Louis Avenue on the south side. During the 1950s, Missouri Avenue was considered part of 'Route 66' through the city. At that time, the highway was rerouted to the 1951 Veterans Bridge (now the Martin Luther King Bridge), connecting East St. Louis with St. Louis on the opposite side of the river. Collinsville Avenue was part of U.S. Route 40, also called the National Road.

During the 1950s and 1960s, many factories in the Midwest closed down. East St. Louis experienced a period of neglect, with numerous buildings abandoned in that era and the decades that followed. In September 2014, St. Louis Public Radio interviewed Michael Allen, Director of the Preservation Research Office, about the nomination of Downtown East St. Louis Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places, Allen stated:

“Almost all of downtown [East St. Louis] has been torn down. … It’s surrounded sadly by nothing... But this little area is cohesive, coherent and full of a great sense of history… It has all the bones needed for economic revitalization. It’s really remarkably intact.”

The Downtown East St. Louis Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 2014. The district includes thirty-five buildings, twenty-five of which are considered contributing resources to the district. Some of these contributing resources, such as the Majestic Theatre, are also listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places.

Most of the buildings in the Historic District date from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The Majestic Theatre was a movie palace that opened in 1928, but by 1960 it was forced to close. Thereafter, it faced a period of neglect and deterioration. Nevertheless, like most of the other buildings in the historic district, the Majestic Theatre remains standing. Located in the heart of downtown, it reflects the architecture of East St. Louis during its early twentieth-century heyday.

Warnick, Ron . Part of downtown East St. Louis added to National Register, Route 66 News. September 27th 2014. Accessed July 3rd 2022. https://www.route66news.com/2014/09/27/part-downtown-east-st-louis-added-national-register/.

Downtown East St. Louis Historic District, Preservation Research Office. Accessed July 3rd 2022. http://preservationresearch.com/projects/downtown-east-st-louis-historic-district/.

Naffziger, Chris. New Hope for Historic Downtown East St. Louis, St. Louis Magazine. September 10th 2014. Accessed July 3rd 2022. https://www.stlmag.com/history/downtown-east-st.-louis/.

Kirsch, Tom. https://opacity.us/site254_majestic_theater.htm, Opacity. Accessed July 3rd 2022. https://opacity.us/site254_majestic_theater.htm.