Christian Hill Historic District

Christian Hill is a residential neighborhood on the Mississippi River bluffs just west of downtown Alton, Illinois. Its boundaries follow the hill itself, and its streets bend to the topography, with brick paving, limestone retaining walls and steep grades. Of 274 structures, 72 were judged especially significant, and most of the rest predate World War I. The district was listed for its concentration of pre-Civil War buildings, many in the Federal style dating from the 1830s, alongside Italianate, Second Empire and Queen Anne houses built up to about 1910. Development began in the early 1830s, when the state penitentiary opened nearby. The neighborhood took its name after the Catholic church moved up the hill in the 1850s and became the cathedral. The site of Elijah Lovejoy's 1837 murder lies at its edge. Few changes have occurred over the last half century, and restoration work has been extensive.