Alto Pass

History

Alto Pass was originally known as Quetil, or "Quail Gap". The community was platted on January 20, 1875, when the narrow-gauge Cairo and St. Louis Railroad was extended to that point. The settlement developed as a railroad and agricultural shipping point. According to the Sundown Towns Database, Alto Pass was named because it was the highest elevation in Illinois traversed by a railroad, and by the turn of the 20th century the village had a post office, general stores, hotels, a blacksmith shop, a lumber yard, and other businesses serving the local fruit and vegetable trade. The former railroad corridor through Alto Pass later became part of the route associated with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The line between Percy and Cairo, including Alto Pass, was subsequently abandoned. In 1937, Wayman Presley and the Reverend W. H. Lirely organized the first Easter sunrise service on nearby Bald Knob, drawing about 250 people. Attendance grew in later years, and between 1948 and 1951 a newly formed not-for-profit organization acquired land on the mountain for a permanent site. The Sundown Towns Database maintained by Tougaloo College lists Alto Pass as a community that was a sundown town in the past. The database records local accounts describing a practice of excluding Black people from remaining in the village after dark, including a reported folk interpretation of the town name as "all to pass".

Geography

Alto Pass is located at (37.569758, -89.318873). According to the 2020 census gazetteer files, Alto Pass has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Bald Knob Cross is located approximately five miles southwest of the village.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,442
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,940
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,292
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  7,250
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  6,533
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,491
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  5,272
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,036

Largest nearby schools

• Anna-Jonesboro High School
  High · Anna · 497 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Jonesboro Elem School
  Elementary · Jonesboro · 341 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Anna Junior High School
  Middle · Anna · 238 students · 12.5:1 ratio
• Lincoln Elem School
  Elementary · Anna · 219 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Cobden Elem School
  Elementary · Cobden · 211 students · 10.6:1 ratio
• Cobden High School
  High · Cobden · 161 students · 12.4:1 ratio
• Shawnee Elementary School
  Elementary · Wolf Lake · 151 students · 21.6:1 ratio
• Davie Elem School
  Elementary · Anna · 117 students · 11.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.53 — 2024-03-05
  6 km ENE of Pinckneyville, Illinois
• M 3.07 — 2023-12-18
  5 km WNW of Waltonville, Illinois
• M 2.59 — 2023-08-23
  3 km ENE of Wilson City, Missouri
• M 2.59 — 2022-09-02
  10 km SE of Matthews, Missouri
• M 2.52 — 2022-05-17
  6 km NNW of Mount Vernon, Illinois
• M 2.57 — 2022-04-15
  3 km SW of Anniston, Missouri