Pride, Incorporated Past Projects

Pride was formed to serve as a catalyst to coordinate beautification efforts throughout the entire area.

Since 1966, Pride, Inc. has worked with thousands of federal, state, and local government officials and agencies, labor and civic groups, schools, churches, industry, small businesses, park departments, and area citizens to develop resources to stimulate, coordinate, and help plan area beautification programs.

We realized that for true beautification to become a reality in this area, all must work together.

A partial list of the thousands of beautification and cleanup programs accomplished by Pride and area citizens from 1966 to present follows:

1. A three year program undertaken in 1966 to beautify, repair, and improve the Lovejoy Memorial Monument; dedicated in 1969 by Governor Richard B. Ogilvie.
2. Coordinated the beautification of three triangles on Court Street in Alton, including installation of a fountain on each triangle by members of Hellrung Construction company, donated to the City of Alton.
3. Formal dedication of the AltonGodfrey Jaycees lookout in Riverview Park in Alton.
4. Beautification of two triangles in Wood River with the Wood River Women's Club and Home Nursery.
5. Preservation of the Alton Lake as a national recreational area.
6. Operation Clean Lake and many River Road cleanups.
7. Project Soar in cooperation with Piasa Bird Council, Boy Scouts and OwensIllinois. This project included Operation Eye Sore, Litter Bag Sunday and the Great River Road Cleanup.
8. Worked with Senator Sam Vadalabene, IDOT, and other agencies to establish, maintain, upgrade and expand the Vadalabene Bike Trail along the Great River Road from Alton to Grafton.
9. Played a leadership role in development of a plan to preserve the bluffs from Alton to Pere Marquette State Park, except the City of Grafton. The Pridesponsored law was signed by the Governor of Illinois in early 1991 after nearly a year of work, and is known as The Alton Lake Heritage Parkway.
10. Improvement of Monument Street with the East End Improvement Association.  Trees were planted on both sides of the street.
11. Establishment of the Beltline Beautification Committee (now called Homer Adams Parkway).
12. Participated in the acquisition of 745 acres of Alton State Hospital land for the City of Alton free of charge for use as a park. Continued development of The Gordon F. Moore Park with Alton Area Park Development Committee.
13. Received $5 million grant from The Olin Foundation for design and construction of The Spencer T. Olin Community Goff Course under auspices of Afton Park and Recreation Commission headed by Dr. Gordon F. Moore. Requested traffic lights be installed at the entrance to The Gordon F. Moore Park for safety reasons.
14. Development and dedication of fountains in Upper Alton, Belle Street, State Street, and North Alton.
15. Participated in the highly successful Alton Street Tree Program, considered one of the best in the country.  Thousands of flowering trees were initially planted as part of this program.
16. Sponsored Project Look Good attempting to control the weed problem in the business areas of the City of Alton.
17. Worked in cooperation with the Greater AltonTwin Rivers Growth Association, the Corps of Engineers, and City of Alton for the development of the Alton Riverfront.
18. A beautification Program, including the planting of flowering globe locust trees, along Madison Avenue in Wood River by American Oil's Wood River refinery.
19. An arboretum and street tree planting in Bethalto with the Bethalto Beautification Committee.
20. Planting of bushes at the East Alton Community Center with the East Alton Women's Club.
21. Coordinated beautification of the Olin parking lot area in East Alton by Olin Corporation.
22. Coordinated a tree planting program in Rock Spring Park with the Upper Alton Women's Club.Planted 500 hardwood seedlings in the area of Homer Adams Parkway by the Godfrey Lion's Club and the Boy Scouts.
23. Cleanup of Vaughn Hill Cemetery in Wood River by Scout Troop 44 in Roxana.
24. Cleanup of debris in Pere Marquette State Park by students of Principia College.
25. Coordinated planting of forsythia bushes along Clifton Terrace Road with the area's residents
26. An Earth Week Program in cooperation with Alton, Marquette, and Wood River High School students.
27. Cleanup of roadsides in Rosewood Heights by the youth of the First Baptist Church, Rosewood Heights.
28. Coordinated cleanup of both sides of Brussels Ferry Road by the youth of Brussels.
29. Coordinated planting of 100 dogwood tees along Route 67 in Alton by Boy and Girl Scouts.
30. Arbor day planting of White Oaks, the Illinois state tree, by 25 area schools.
31. Cleanup weeks in Alton, East Alton, and Wood River.
32. Planting of trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses along Godfrey, Humbert, and Delmar Roads sponsored by the Godfrey Women's Club and the Village of Godfrey.
33. Neighborhood park improvement in cooperation with the Concerned Citizens' organization.
34. Placed litter containers along the Great River Road Bike Trail by PepsiCola Company in Alton.
35. Development of the Nan Elliott Memorial Rose Garden.
36. Worked with the Village of Hartford and Clark Oil and Refining Corporation on a major beautification project along Route 3.
37. Worked with IDOT to develop a beautification plan for the new Route 67 through Alton.
38. Worked with IDOT to develop planting of trees at the entrance to the new Clark Bridge.
39. Student Pride Members organized the first "March for Parks" in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of Earth Day.
40. Cosponsored Golf for Youth Program with the Spencer T. Olin Community Golf Course.
41. Purchased thirty wroughtiron trash cans thanks to a grant from Alton Township and worked with the Upper Alton Business Association, the Parkway Association, the North Alton Business Association, and the Alton Marketplace to make the project possible.
42. Pride’s Students Pride committee has organized many fall and spring cleanups.
43. Planted 600 wildflower plugs and 100 pounds of wildflower seeds at the northwest corner of the intersection of Twentieth Street and Highway 67 in Alton.
44. Planted 1,200 spring flowering bulbs 850 in flower beds around LincolnDouglas Square in Alton, 200 in Bethalto, and 250 in Roxana thanks to a donation from Alton Community Service League.
     

RECENT & ONGOING BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS:

1. Coordinated the design, construction and landscaping of the limestone and granite Welcome To Alton sign, at Ridge and Landmarks Blvd., along with many partner organizations. More signs are planned in the future.
2. Renovated the Charles Lindberg Relay Station, and moved it to an accessible location at Godfrey Village Hall.  The station was surrounded landscaping and benches.
3. Planned the Paul Owens Memorial at Barth Park in Alton.  The plan included the replacement of a long asphalt sidewalk with pavers and concrete edging, benches, wrought iron litter receptacles, American Hollies, flowering trees, shrubs and flowers.  A lovely granite plaque dedicates the memorial to Paul Owens, a longtime Pride board member and area leader.
4. Landscaped the front of the Alton YWCA, along the entire length of the building’s main entrance on 3rd Street.
5. Planted Adirondak crabapple trees, ornamental grasses, and shrub roses in the median along Landmarks Blvd. near the Clark Bridge in Alton.  This was the first median planting allowed by IDOT in southern Illinois.  Future medians are now planned for the area.
6. Planted Spring Snow crabapple trees at Dorman Park in Alton, as the first phase of a comprehensive park improvement program.
7. Helped to coordinate the Alton City-wide Litter Cleanups, sponsored by the Alton Clean City and Beautification Committee.  The first cleanup occurred on April 16, 2005.
8. Annual Pride/Telegraph Bucket Brigades have painted almost 1,000 homes for homeowners who are unable to do the work  themselves.
9. Work on an ongoing basis with IDOT, the City of Alton, and the Villages of Bethalto, Elsah, and Godfrey in coordinating the AdoptaHighway Program.  Now working with the City of Alton to coordinate the new Adopt-a-Block program.
10. Ongoing coordination of annual summer cleanups and the planting of annuals at the sunken garden at Riverview Park in Alton.
11. Ongoing sponsorship of the annual Pride Home and Garden Tour.
12. Ongoing participation in "Make a Difference Day."
13. The Pride Memorial Tree Program has planted almost 7,500 trees in memory of  deceased loved ones or in honor of special people and events.
14. Presentation of thousands of Pride Eye Awards each year for beautification achievements of homes throughout the area, as well as the awarding of Home of the Month awards, Awards of Achievement, President’s awards, and Outstanding Citizens awards to those who have made a real difference in improving our local communities.