There is a bottle of catsup in the National Register of Historic Places. It is, in fact, The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle, located just south of downtown Collinsville in Madison County. The 170-foot water tower was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant – bottlers of Brooks Rich & Tangy Catsup.

Madison County is proud of its catsup bottle landmark, a shining example of 20th-century roadside Americana at its finest. Named for James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, the county was formed before in 1812, before Illinois became a state. Madison was also a member of the Continental Congress and the federal constitutional convention of 1787.

In addition to Collinsville, other major cities and towns in Madison County include Glen Carbon, Granite City and Edwardsville, the county seat. Other significant attractions abound throughout the county.

• The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, also in Collinsville, holds the remains of a subtribe of the Illini who lived in the region. The 2,200-acre site has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization for its importance in understanding the cultural heritage of the native civilizations in North America.

• Horseshoe Lake State Park, in Granite City, is a 2,960-acre park that surrounds Oxbow Lake, and is a popular site for fishing, birding, boating, camping and hiking.

• Leclaire Village, in Edwardsville, was developed in the late 1800s by industrialist N.O. Nelson as a model company town. Today, it is a national historic district.