My next stop while visiting my hometown is the magnificent monument dedicated to Elijah P. Lovejoy, which stands atop the bricked Monument Avenue overlooking the Mighty Mississippi River. Lovejoy was a abolitionist in the 1830's and run a a newspaper called the St. Louis Observer within the borders of Missouri, a slave state. After his printing press was destroyed three times by slavery advocates, he relocated to nearby Alton, IL, which was a free state, and renamed his newspaper the Alton Observer. Although Illinois was a free state, it's close proximity to Missouri meant that there were many supporters of slavery in Alton. In late 1837, a crowd of these slavery supporters attacked the warehouse where Lovejoy's printers were stored. Lovejoy and his men tried to defend his property, but he was killed during the exchange. He is celebrated as martyr of both the freedom of speech and the abolition of slavery. This grand monument was erected in his honor in 1897.
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