I made it back up to Alton for a little bit and checked out Public Square first. Easton Street, named after the founder of the city, intersects the square, and I suspect that originally it was planned to be a grand expanse surrounded by stores and whatnot.
Instead, it is a quiet residential park, with nice houses surrounding it. I headed out and wandered around on the streets to the north and east.
There are some nicely restored Queen Anne houses.
And an extremely rare sort of Carpenter Gothic variant on the style.
Lots of painted brick, too.
This city grew fast in the mid Nineteenth Century, and it would be interesting to have seen what would have happened if St. Louis hadn’t stolen more of its thunder.
