Alton Middle School Students to Tour Local Historical Sites

ALTON - Alton Middle School students will take a historical tour of Alton.

The Alton Community Unit School District #11 has partnered with Alton Odyssey Tours so students can take “The Abolitionists of Alton” tour. Students will engage with reenactors and learn more about each historical site in the city.

“History is very abstract for them,” explained social studies teacher Nicole McKinney. “I try to think of every way that it can relate to them. I think them being able to see and be around that stuff is going to be really exciting.”

The two-hour tour will take them throughout Alton. Students will visit the Lyman Trumbull House, Union Baptist Church, the Buckmaster House, the site of the Confederate prison, the site of Elijah P. Lovejoy’s assassination, Lincoln-Douglas Square, the Nathaniel Hanson House, Small Pox Island, and the Lovejoy Monument.

Led by local historians Kerry Miller, Jared Hennings, John Meehan and Carson Bailey, the tours will provide context to these locations and teach students about how local places and people impacted national conversations around abolition.

Jody Meggos, the Director of Curriculum for Alton Community Unit School District #11, shared that the tour group has worked closely with the district to align their stops with the middle school’s curriculum. She expressed her excitement for the students to learn more about Alton’s history, as she believes the city has an impressive array of historical sites.

“The students have that opportunity to learn a lot of factual information as they visit the different sites,” Meggos said. “We have such great history in our community, and most adults forget about it, so obviously the students don’t know about it.”

McKinney added that she hopes the tour “allows the students to access” the history they talk about in the classroom. She pointed out that students often feel disconnected from historical events, but touring Alton will hopefully remind them that they aren’t too far removed from these events and people.

"They’re like, ‘That happened so long ago. It has nothing to do with me.’ But it’s right in our town,” she explained. “So I think, and I’m hopeful, that it’s going to make that personal connection for them.”

McKinney thanked Meggos and Alton Middle School Principal Dr. Brian Saenz for their support, which made the tour possible. She said the school’s social studies teachers are “really excited” for the upcoming tour and can’t wait to share local history with their students.

She hopes the kids enjoy the experience and feel deeper connections to their town and the history of Alton.

“It’s accessible to everyone, because I think everyone should be able to feel history and see history and access it,” she added. “I’m really grateful that we in the seventh grade are getting the opportunity.”

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