Southern Illinois in the context of "Godfrey, Illinois"

Madison County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a part of the Metro East in southern Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 264,776, making it the eighth-most populous county in Illinois and the most populous in the southern portion of the state. The county seat is Edwardsville, and the largest city is Granite City.

Madison County is part of the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis. The pre-Columbian city of Cahokia Mounds, a World Heritage Site, was located near Collinsville. Edwardsville is home to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. To the north, Alton is known for its abolitionist and American Civil War-era history. It is also the home of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine. Godfrey, the village named for Captain Benjamin Godfrey, offers Lewis and Clark Community College formerly the Monticello Female Seminary.

St. Clair County is the ninth most populous county in Illinois. Located directly east of St. Louis, the county is part of the Metro East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in southern Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, St. Clair County had a population of 257,400, making it the second most populous county in Illinois outside the Northern Third. Belleville is the county seat and largest city.

Along the Mississippi River, Cahokia Village was founded in 1697 by French settlers and served as a Jesuit mission to convert tribes of the Illinois Confederation to Christianity. The area became the center of the French Illinois Country. Prior to the establishment of Illinois as a state, the government of the Northwest Territory created St. Clair County in 1790. In 1809, the county became the administrative center of the Illinois Territory and one of the two original counties of Illinois, alongside Randolph County. In 1970, the United States Census Bureau placed the mean center of U.S. population, which generally has moved west every decennial census, in St. Clair County.

The Metro East is an urban area in Southern Illinois, United States that contains the eastern and northern urban, suburban, and exurban areas on the Mississippi River in Greater St. Louis. It encompasses eight Illinois counties and constitutes the second-most populous metropolitan area in Illinois.

A historically significant region, the area included the mound building native culture of Cahokia, and the later French settlements of the Illinois Country. It also includes the fertile lands of the riparian American Bottom. The region has almost 700,000 residents and its most populated city is Belleville, with 42,404 residents. The area hosts several colleges and universities, with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as the largest. Also located in Metro East is the Scott Air Force Base.

Cairo (/ˈkɛəroʊ/ KAIR-oh, sometimes /ˈkeɪroʊ/ KAY-roh) is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. A river city, Cairo has the lowest elevation of any location in Illinois and is the only Illinois city to be surrounded by levees. The city is named after Egypt's capital on the Nile and is located in the river-crossed area of Southern Illinois. It is coterminous with Cairo Precinct.

Cairo is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the largest rivers in North America, and is near the Cache River complex, a Wetland of International Importance. Settlement began in earnest in the 1830s and busy river boat traffic expanded through the 1850s. Fort Defiance, a Civil War base, was located here in 1862 by Union General Ulysses S. Grant to control strategic access to the rivers and launch and supply his successful campaigns south. The town also served as a naval base for the Mississippi River Squadron to pursue the Anaconda Plan to win the war. Developed as a river port, Cairo was later bypassed by transportation changes away from the large expanse of low-lying land, wetland, and water, which surrounds Cairo and makes such infrastructure difficult, and due to industrial restructuring, the population peaked at 15,203 in 1920, while in the 2020 census it was 1,733.

Hardin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 3,649, making it the least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Elizabethtown. Hardin County is located in the part of the state known as Little Egypt. Hardin County was named for Hardin County, Kentucky, which was named in honor of Colonel John Hardin, an officer in the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War.

Jerseyville is the largest city in and the county seat of Jersey County, Illinois, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 8,337.

Jerseyville is a part of Southern Illinois, the Metro-East region and the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Edwardsville is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 26,808 as of the 2020 census. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, former governor of the Illinois Territory. Edwardsville is a part of Southern Illinois and the Metro East region within Greater St. Louis, located 18 miles (29 km) northeast of downtown St. Louis.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Edwardsville Arts Center, the Edwardsville Journal, the Madison County Record, and the Edwardsville Intelligencer are based in Edwardsville. Edwardsville High School and Metro-East Lutheran High School serve students in the area. Edwardsville also serves as the headquarters for Prairie Farms Dairy, one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the United States and ranked in the top 10 of the largest privately held companies in the St. Louis region. The city is part of the Edwardsville School District, which also includes the villages of Glen Carbon, Hamel and Moro, as well as the township areas around them.

Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, within the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Its population was 27,549 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Metro East and Southern Illinois regions, behind Belleville and O'Fallon. Officially founded in 1896, Granite City was named by the Niedringhaus brothers, William and Frederick, who established it as a steelmaking company town for the manufacture of graniteware kitchen utensils.