What to See in Collinsville - Top Sights and Attractions

Sports facility in Collinsville, Illinois. Fairmount Park Racetrack is a horse racing track in Collinsville, Illinois, a part of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The track hosts Thoroughbred flat racing. It is one of three horse racing venues currently active in Illinois, and the only one outside the Chicago, Illinois metro area. The track also featured Standardbred harness racing, but discontinued it in 1999.

The track opened in 1925. The racing surface is a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval, with straight chutes for six furlong and 1¼ mile races.

Ogden Corporation bought the track in 1969. In 2000, Ogden sold the track to Bill Stiritz, then the chairman of Ralston Purina.

Fairmount Park offers simulcast wagering from tracks throughout the country. It also operates four off-track betting facilities in Alton, Carbondale, Springfield and Sauget, Illinois; a fifth OTB facility in Grayville, Illinois closed in early 2007.

As recently as 1997, Fairmount Park offered as many as 232 live racing days per year. But in recent years, the track has suffered greatly with the advent of riverboat casinos in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Racing dates have declined to 90 per year, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

In 2007, track management announced a plan to build a 20,000-seat amphitheater at the track and expand live racing (including the reinstatement of harness racing), pending approval by state lawmakers to allow slot machines to be installed, similar to racinos in nearby locations. When the legislature did not approve slots in its regular session, Fairmount management applied to the Illinois Racing Board for 90 days of live racing, but said that if lawmakers did not approve relief for horse tracks in its November veto session, the track would only run 60 days, citing declining attendance and betting handle, competition from casinos, and overpayment of the horsemen's account for purses. The track's general manager claimed that purses at the track were less than half that of similar tracks in neighboring Kentucky and Indiana. The request was granted with those conditions intact.^[1]

The Collinsville City Hall and Fire Station are two connected buildings located at 125 Center St. in Collinsville, Illinois. The Italianate City Hall was built in 1885. It was Collinsville's first dedicated city hall; prior to its completion, government meetings were held at the mayor's house. The new city hall, along with several other public works projects, created a large debt which contributed to mayor Charles L. Oatman's defeat in the next election. The Romanesque Revival fire station was built next to City Hall in 1910. Additions in 1972 and 1994 connected the two buildings. A Civil War monument on the southeast corner the property was dedicated in 1926; while it was originally located between the two buildings, it moved to its current location when the fire station expanded in 1956.

The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 20, 2004.^[3]

Heritage building in Collinsville, Illinois. The State Bank Building is a historic bank building located at 102 W. Main St. in Collinsville, Illinois. Built in 1916, the bank was the third used by the State Bank, which was chartered in 1891. Architect Robert G. Kirsch designed the building in the Classical Revival style. The building's north and east facades are faced with Amicoloa marble. The front entrance is located on the north side, which has three arched bays flanked by Ionic columns. The front foundation extends 5 feet above the ground; the entrance is located in a recessed break in the center of the facade. The facade is topped by an entablature, a dentillated cornice, and a marble parapet. The five bays on the building's east side are similar to the front bays; six Ionic pilasters flank these bays.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 2010.^[4]

Historical landmark in Collinsville, Illinois. The Daniel Dove Collins House is a historic house located at 621 W. Main St. in Collinsville, Illinois. Daniel Dove Collins built the house in 1845 for himself and his wife. Collins, a cousin of the founders of Collinsville, was the first president of the then-village's Board of Trustees, and he held board meetings in his house. The post-and-beam house was designed in the Greek Revival style. The house has five bays delineated by the six Doric columns supporting its front porch. It is a rare surviving example of a five-bay Greek Revival home in Illinois. In the late 1880s or early 1890s, the house was moved from its original site at Main and Center Streets to its current location.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 2002.^[6]