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I. Institutional Memory: the History of the ProjectVillage of Brooklyn, IllinoisCommunity and Economic Development AssessmentBy Meg GlynnIn this section, I introduce the Village of Brooklyn, Illinois and explain how I beganmeeting with the Brooklyn Revitalization Committee at the Southwestern IllinoisDevelopment Authority (SWIDA) headquarters in Collinsville, Illinois. To betterunderstand how the University could work with the Revitalization Committee toencourage Brooklyn’s participation in economic development processes, I researched theUniversity’s previous relationships with Brooklyn, identified the public and privateentities comprising the Revitalization Committee and noted on which Brooklyn projectsthese entities worked. Participants of the Brooklyn Revitalization Committee did notclearly indicate how they became involved with the group nor did they share all of theBrooklyn projects on which they were working. This section summarizes the informationobtained about the Revitalization Committee and their plans based on meetingobservations and telephone conversations held with Committee participants.Introduction to BrooklynThe Village of Brooklyn is located on Route 3 in St. Clair County, Illinois. The village isbounded by Venice, in Madison County to the north, the former National City to the east,the City of East St. Louis to the south and the Mississippi River to the west. Brooklyn islocated directly across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. (Appendix A: Location Map)Streets run southeast to northwest and southwest to northeast in a gridiron plan laidparallel and perpendicular to the river. Village blocks are bordered by railroad tracks tothe east, south and west because railroad tracks converge south of Brooklyn. One leveeborders the railroad tracks located west of Route 3 and another follows the MississippiRiver shoreline. (Appendix A: St. Clair County Maps)Brooklyn, also called Lovejoy in reference to abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy, was home to alarge freedman village and contained stops on the Underground Railroad. 1 Brooklynbecame one of the first incorporated Black towns in the nation in 1873. Residents wereemployed by railroads and industries in East St. Louis and the surrounding area as well asby business in town. In 1905, Brooklyn’s building stock included several churches, atwo-story brick schoolhouse, and a grocery store. In 1955, a dance hall, movie theater,restaurants, high school and community center stood in Brooklyn. 2 (Appendix A:Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps)Today, Brooklyn’s population of approximately 600 is nearly nine-nine percent AfricanAmerican. Economically, Brooklyn has very little industry and lacks a strong businessand housing market; the village has experienced increased unemployment and decreased1 For information regarding early history of Brooklyn, Illinois, please see: Cha-Jua, Sundiata Keita. 2000.America’s First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois 1830-1915. University of Illinois Press: Urbana. Foradditional information about Brooklyn, please see: Schoen, Elin. 1979. Tales of an All-Night Town.Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York.2 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. 1905 and 1950. Available online and in the Maps and Geography Library atthe University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Spring 2007Page 9 of 27