Mile 180.6 - LBD Schoenberger Creek
180.6 LBD Schoenberger Creek
An ancient channel of the Mississippi River looped outwards from this point ten miles into Illinois, and then returned not far downstream. The largest North American city was built along its banks at Cahokia. At its height 100,000 Mississippian peoples inhabited Cahokia. Cahokia was the largest city ever built north of Mexico before Columbus and boasted 120 earthen mounds. Many were massive, square-bottomed, flat-topped pyramids -- great pedestals atop which civic leaders lived. At the vast plaza in the city's center rose the largest earthwork in the Americas, the 100-foot Monks Mound. Around the great urban center, farmers grew crops to feed the city-dwellers, who included not only government officials and religious leaders but also skilled tradesworkers, artisans and even astronomers. The city was the center of a trading network linked to other societies over much of North America. Cahokia was, in short, one of the most advanced civilizations in ancient America. Nature dictated that the settlement rise near the confluence of the Missouri, Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Geographers affectionately call the lowlands that hug the eastern bank of the Mississippi there the "American Bottom." This fertile strip was carved and flooded summer after summer by torrents of glacial melt-off 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. As the glaciers receded and rivers shrank to their current size, the 80-mile-wide bottom was exposed. Native Americans who settled there after 700 A.D. considered this easy-to-till land prime real estate for growing corn, since they lacked the steel plows and oxen needed to penetrate the thick sod blanketing the surrounding prairie. Cahokia arose from this mini-breadbasket as its people hunted less and took up farming with gusto. By all evidence, they ate well. Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian Culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 500 years before European contact. Cahokia's population at its peak in the 1200s would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until the late 18th century. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico. Today the once noble river meander has been reduced to a drainage ditch and is forced to feebly run its course in between busy highways and the Gateway Motorsports Park. After the levee was built, it was forcibly pushed underneath by the pumping station at Bloody Island, and today enters the river stained by iron ore and heavy metals accumulated in its course. (parts adopted from Wikipedia)
Growing up in St.Louis, one of the highlights of the city was its riverfront. In elementary school, the field trip of the year was to visit the Arch and take a ride on the Admiral. The Admiral was a sold out attraction. You had to reserve your trip months ahead of time. The Admiral had a signature song called the "Hoky Poky" in which everyone sang at the top of their lungs . It was the main event and conclusion of the field trip.
As I got older, my dad would take us to the St. Louis Cardinal baseball and football games. The ritual was, get there early and spend some time by the River before and after the game. Busch Stadium was only a modest walk from the Arch and Riverfront, so many made the park part of the day. Laclede's Landing was the food and beverage district where everyone visited before and after games.
Coming into my teenage years, we would express our independence by spending many nights sitting on the Arch stairs gazing into the River with our favorite girl. We would walk from the Arch through the Riverfront, through Laclede's Landing , and do it over and over. We didn't have much money, so it was the thing to do. During the high school football season, the playoffs where held at Busch Stadium, so if your team did well, you got the chance to play in the stadium. Over the years they landlocked the Admiral and it went from a McDonald's to a Burger King, eventually being removed for good.
The music scene in St. Louis was vibrant when the nightclub, Mississippi Nights, hosted up and coming bands on there way to stardom. They had a under 21 section so we could see great bands and watch the mischief that went along with coming of age. It has been closed since the 90's , but everyone remembers the iconic club.They also had a club called Muddy Waters that hosted blues bands from all over. St. Louis is still a blues town.
The Riverfront is also the location for the VP Fair held every year during the week of the 4th of July. The host bands from all over for a free week of music and sun. Boats fill the port and it's one of the biggest gatherings of its kind. During the summer months, every weekend they have free music. It is the place to be in St. Louis. -Mark River