Illinois Information - Identifying traits in Collinsville

Identifying traits
Collinsville is the self-proclaimed "Horseradish Capital of the World", including an annual Horseradish Fest. The city and surrounding area are said to produce 85% of the world's horseradish, of such high quality that it's actually exported to Germany and China (key users of the herb) for gourmet use.
90W also passes through Collinsville, thus making it one quarter of the distance west from Greenwich, England or east of the International Date Line.
"The World's Largest Ketchup Bottle", a water tower in Collinsville. Collinsville is also home of "the world's largest catsup bottle", a 170 foot tall water tower in the shape of a ketchup bottle.
The recently completed Super-Walmart in Collinsville is one of the largest Wal-Mart's in the United States.
Monk's Mound, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas (and larger at its base than the Great Pyramid of Giza), is also located within the city limits of Collinsville in the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the largest Pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico and one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

Collinsville also has the distinction of being host to the only lynching of a German-American during World War I. On April 5, 1918, a group of Collinsville residents numbering in the hundreds took Robert Paul Prager from his home and paraded him barefoot and wrapped in an American flag through the streets of Collinsville, forcing him to sing patriotic songs. The Collinsville police interceded and took Prager into protective custody. A group formed outside of the city jail, however, and were permitted entry into the jail. Two men found Prager hiding in the basement in a pile of sewer tiles. These men took Prager outside and the group marched him to the outskirts of town, where they lynched him. His final request was to be buried in the American flag. Eleven men stood trial for the murder, but all were acquitted.
Collinsville High School, The Kahoks, named for a fictional Native American tribe, have won several Illinois State Championships, in 1961, 1965 (basketball), 1980 (baseball) and 1981, 1986, 1991, 1992 (soccer). Former Coach Vergil Fletcher, who was recently named one of the 100 "legends of Illinois high school basketball" by the Illinois High School Activities Association, won over 700 games in his career. Other famed Kahoks were Kevin Stallings, now coach of Vanderbilt University; Bogie Redmon, also a "top 100 legend," who played on the undefeated 1961 team; Tom Parker, a star at the University of Kentucky after his Collinsville High School days; and Richard Keene, a McDonald's All-American, who played at Illinois in the 1990s.

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