Near the intersection of Broadway and William Streets
Alton, Illinois
A State marker designates the remnants of a portion of a cellblock of the Alton Federal Prison as the site of the First Illinois Prison, built in 1831. Because prisoners were not kept in solitary confinement, the system was considered humanitarian for its time. In 1841 Dorothea Dix's prison reform movement had the Alton prison as one of its targets. Because of unsanitary conditions, she proposed the closing of the prison in 1847. By 1860 all of the inmates had been transferred to a new facility in Joliet and the prison was abandoned.
During the Civil War, the prison reopened as a military detention camp because of overcrowding in the two St. Louis prisons that housed Confederate prisoners of war. The first military prisoners arrived in Alton in February, 1862. According to official reports, a total of 11,745 Confederate prisoners were kept at the prison during the three years it was open ,with an average of 1,261 housed there at any given time.
Conditions at the Alton prison were oppressive and overcrowded. Diseases such as pneumonia and dysentery were common killers. A smallpox epidemic in December, 1862 killed as many as 2,200 prisoners. The prison closed July, 1865 and the buildings were completely demolished shortly there after. The land was eventually used by the city as a park named after the Joel Chandler Harris character, "Uncle Remus." Stone from the prison's buildings can be found in walls and other structures all over the Alton area.
Visiting the Alton Federal Prison and Memorial
The Site of the Alton Federal Prison can be visited at any time
There is no charge to visit the Alton Federal Prison and Memorial.
Alton in the Civil War - Alton Prison
Focus on the Civil War era with records on the Confederate prisoners who died at the prison.
Explore the community of Alton area.
