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Wiggins' Ferry
In 1819 Samuel Wiggins, a politician and businessman, bought an
interest in the Piggott family's ferry operation
and began to
compete with the McNight-Brady
ferry and other ferry services.
Soon after he began operations Wiggins used his political clout
to persuade the Illinois General Assembly to grant him a charter
with exclusive rights to two miles of Illinois river front opposite
St. Louis and the right to establish a toll road leading to his
landing. The act went further and allowed no new ferry operations
to be created within a mile on either side of Wiggins' landing.
Wiggins later bought out the McNight-Brady interest in Piggott's
Ferry. To further his control of the Illinois side of the river
he went into partnership with a prominent businessman who owned
substantial portions of land in what was known as Illinoistown.
The Wiggins operation marks a watershed for the area that would
become East St. Louis. Through Wiggins' political power in Illinois
he established a stronghold on river transportation to St. Louis
and the west. This concentration of power was temporary, but lasted
long enough to make Illinoistown and later East St. Louis a central
crossing point for goods and people heading west. One of the first
steamboats to ply the Mississippi stopped at St. Louis and the
McNight-Brady landing in 1817. The new technology promised new
economic potential for the Illinois side of the river and Samuel
Wiggins capitalized on this future.