Many business and industrial parks are located in the River Bend including Raifort Commerce Park, Lewis & Clark EnviroTech Park, Bethalto Business Park, Lewis and Clark Commerce Center, St. Louis Regional Airport Business Park, and Alton Center Business Park.

American Water Works, Inc. moved their national customer service office to Alton Center Business Park in 2001 and is one of the area's major employers.

TOP TEN EMPLOYERS IN RIVER BEND REGION

Millers First Insurance Companies

In May 1877, Captain David R. Sparks, a successful flour miller from Alton, called twelve other millers together to propose a mutual insurance organization. Thus, Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Association of Illinois was chartered on September 20, 1877. That same company, now Millers First Insurance Company, remains an Illinois domiciled insurance company. It is part of Millers First Insurance Companies, which includes Millers Classified Insurance Company, D.R. Sparks Insurance Services, Inc. (dba: Affiliated Insurance Specialists) and Insurance Specialists, Inc.

Personal auto, homeowners, personal umbrella liability and dwelling fire property and casualty coverages are issued for Millers First Insurance Companies policyholders in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa. Policyholders and prospects can receive claims or policy service by phone, the Internet or through an Affiliated Insurance Specialists agent. In addition, Millers accommodates other insurance needs, such as life, health and commercial exposures, through their business partner, Affiliated Insurance Specialists, an independent agency system.

Millers First employees work to protect and serve its policyholders from the headquarters in Alton, Illinois. Millers employees make the difference by providing service and products you can depend on.

St. Louis Regional Airport

St. Louis Regional Airport, located in Bethalto, provides aeronautical services for private, corporate, and military aviation needs. It is located at the intersection of two primary state highways; at an interchange of the new Interstate 255; within 20 minutes of downtown St. Louis; and within a half hour of Lambert St. Louis International Airport. St. Louis Regional Airport maintains safety and certification standards in accordance with Federal Aviation Regulations Part 139. This includes full-time airport rescue and firefighting response, precision and non-precision instrument approaches, and dual runways. The airport can accommodate any aircraft that has ever been built. Aviation services includes two full-service FBOs, a flight academy, and FAA certified repair stations. The airport also hosts business parks for aeronautical and non-aeronautical tenants. Over 600 acres are available for development.

The Telegraph

The history of The Telegraph dates to January 15, 1836, when the weekly Alton Telegraph was founded by Richard M. Treadway and Lawson A. Parks. In April of that same year, Samuel G. Bailey was admitted to the publishing firm.

On September 8, 1836, abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy founded the Alton Observer. Lovejoy angered many pro-slavery citizens with his newspaper's stand against slavery.

On August 21, 1837, an enraged pro-slavery mob attacked Lovejoy's press, destroying it and murdering him. The dismantled press was thrown into the Mississippi River. In December of that year, publication of the Alton Observer resumed in Cincinnati with the papers sent to Alton.

The Alton Telegraph was one of a number of newspapers in the city that continued publication in the years after Lovejoy's murder. The newspaper changed ownership several times and it became the Alton Telegraph & Democratic Review in 1841. In 1850-51, the paper became a tri-weekly publication. The next year, the paper became a daily. In 1853, the name was changed to the Alton Telegraph & Madison County Record.

The paper's subscription lists were sold to the Alton Daily Courier in 1855, and the paper continued to publish under that name until January 20, 1861, when publication of the Alton Daily Telegraph resumed in the building formerly occupied by the Daily Courier.

In 1889, John A. Cousley took charge of the newspaper and changed the name to the Alton Evening Telegraph. Paul B. Cousley joined the staff four years later. Over the years, the paper consolidated with several other publications, changing its name to the Alton Telegraph in 1977.

The Cousley family continued its involvement with the newspaper into the 1980. In 1985, Alton Telegraph Printing Co. merged with Sunrise Industries, a St. Louis holding company whose parent was Ingersoll Publications Inc. Sunrise acquired the Cousley family's interest in the paper, ending 95 years of the family's ownership and control of the paper through four generations.

Ingersoll installed a new press and added a Sunday edition in 1988, changing the paper's name to The Telegraph. In 1990, the paper was acquired by the Journal-Register Co., which converted it to a morning edition in 1994.

Freedom Communications Inc. bought the newspaper and took control on October 25, 2000, and is the current owner of The Telegraph. Freedom, based in Irvine, California, has a long-standing tradition in newspaper ownership, being founded by libertarian R.C. Hoiles.

The Telegraph has a daily circulation of 28,000 and a Sunday circulation of 29,000. It covers news in Madison, Jersey, Macoupin, Greene and Calhoun counties. The newspaper's main office is located at 111 E. Broadway in Alton and it has bureaus in Edwardsville and Jerseyville.

In recent years, The Telegraph has racked up numerous awards. It was the 2001 General Excellence winner in the Illinois Press Association competition and took second in that competition in 2002. It took first place in the Southern Illinois Editorial Association General Excellence contest in 2002.

Besides publishing its daily newspaper, The Telegraph also produces a biweekly entertainment section called 24Seven and a monthly family and parenting section called PB&J.

Anyone wanting to subscribe to The Telegraph should call 618-463-2511.

Industry and the Environment

Although long a home for industry, the St. Louis District of the Corps of Engineers has established the Riverlands Environmental Demonstration Area on lands adjacent to the Melvin Price Locks and Dam. This integrated management approach strikes a favorable balance between river commerce and environmental concerns, while accommodating the public's desire for more quality open space. The Riverlands staff has taken advantage of the river's continuing influence to create a 1,200 acre bottomland wet prairie. The area offers excellent opportunities for viewing large numbers of both resident and migratory populations of waterfowl and shorebirds, as well as other varieties of wildlife that depend on quality wetland sanctuaries to survive.

Nature trails, winding through the prairie/marsh complex with walkways over the marsh and observation platforms will be established through partnerships with private conservation organizations and the help of volunteers.

Bald eagles are seasonably abundant at the Melvin Price Dam, foraging for fish in the tailwater area during periods of harsh winter weather. An observation area provides an excellent opportunity for viewing these magnificent birds.

Olin Corporation

Olin Corporation is a Fortune 1000 company and is one of the world's best basic materials companies and a leading North American producer of copper alloys, ammunition and chlorine and caustic soda. In 2005, Olin posted annual sales of more than $2.4 billion. The company has a total of approximately 5,800 employees at its manufacturing and distribution sites in the United States and abroad.

Olin's East Alton facility, where Olin began in 1892, is headquarters for the Metals Group and Winchester Ammunition. It is the largest single plant location in the company with approximately 3,500 employees working at the more than 1,700-acre facility. The majority of Olin's workforce is represented by the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers with others represented by the Western Employees Trades Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry and the International Chemical Workers. Both East Alton divisions have powerful competitive advantages and market leadership positions within their industry.

The Winchester Ammunition division is a leading producer of sporting ammunition in North America. Its principal users are recreational shooters, hunters, law enforcement agencies, the power and concrete industries, the construction industry, the U.S. Armed Forces and certain allied governments. In fact, Olin's Winchester Ammunition division has had a long history of providing ammunition to military forces dating back to World War I. Currently, approximately 10 to 15 percent of total Winchester Ammunition sales are represented by its military business.

ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery

The ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery has been part of the River Bend's landscape for almost 90 years. Built in 1917, the facility has been producing fuels for our region and country.

Today, the facility makes more than 6.3 million gallons of gasoline a day and supplies major airports with jet fuel. Other products made at the facility include diesel fuel, asphalt, propane and benzene. The refinery employs more than 780 full-time people and has approximately another 200 contract employees on-site at all times.

ConocoPhillips is considering growth investments at the Wood River Refinery which would include a new coker and crude unit expansions, adding between 10 to 15 percent more capacity to what is already the company's largest refinery. The refinery is the tenth largest refinery in the United States.

The facility encompasses more than 2,200 acres and is primarily located within the Village of Roxana. Following a purchase of another refinery in Hartford in 2003, the refinery also owns operations in the Village of Hartford and borders the communities of Wood River and South Roxana. ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery generates a tax base of more than $8 million a year to the local taxing districts.