Education

• The area boasts seven public school systems and two post-secondary entities. Please see Demographics page for a regional Community Profile.

Government

• Our communities’ police and fire departments are very active in the community and offer exceptional service.
• A federal office building is located in our largest municipality, Alton. A county police station is located in Godfrey.
• The St. Louis Regional Airport in Bethalto operates as a designated reliever for St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
• Access to seven library districts is available and they are networked into hundreds more libraries in other towns, colleges, and universities across the nation.

Recreation

• The Alton Marina provides more than 300 slips for motor and sail boaters to use the Alton Lake, the most heavily used inland lake on the upper Mississippi River. Piasa Harbor offers 100 slips. The Grafton Harbor offers 154 covered slips and 150 uncovered slips.
• We have six golf courses including one designed by Arnold Palmer- the Spencer T. Olin Golf Course. Two courses offer an executive 9-hole course in addition to the 18 holes.
• In addition, you can find public access to tennis courts, football fields, baseball diamonds, softball diamonds, soccer fields, track fields, basketball courts, volleyball courts, pistol ranges, archery range, trap & skeet range, swimming pools, and aquatic parks.
• The Great River Road provides scenic beauty in all four seasons. Beginning in Alton near the spectacular Clark Bridge and the historic Riverfront, the road spans 15 miles along the Mississippi River. It provides access to Alton’s Antique District, the turn-of-the-century villages of Chautauqua and Elsah and the tourist destination point of Grafton which includes Pere Marquette State Park and Raging Rivers WaterPark.

Culture

The Riverbend region offers all the amenities of St. Louis and a few hometown options as well. Alton Symphony Orchestra, Alton Little Theater, Jacoby Arts Center, and the Great Rivers Choral Society are a few. Other offerings are festivals ranging from cultural events (ArtEast) to historical celebrations (Lewis and Clark Camp Dubois) to hometown homecomings or picnics.