Edwardsville had its beginnings in 1805 when Thomas Kirkpatrick, a North Carolinian, came into the Illinois Territory looking for a place to settle. He selected a ridge along a bluff overlooking Cahokia Creek and built a two-room log cabin. By 1820, Edwardsville was a flourishing prairie town of some 60-70 homes and was the center of government for the area. The town's industry was geared toward agriculture and included saw and carding mills, tanneries, blacksmith shops and brickyards.

Glen Carbon had its beginnings in 1799 when, David Bagley, a Virginia Baptist minister passed through the Glen Carbon area. He determined that it was a land of such expanse and luxuriant vegetation that he compared it to the Biblical "Land of Goshen." References to this Land of Goshen have persisted since that time. In 1801, Colonel Samuel Judy received a military grant for 100 acres of land near the base of the bluffs, just north of Judy's Creek and became the first permanent settler of Madison County. The area became known as the Goshen Settlement.

Today Edwardsville and Glen Carbon have 11 schools that includes six public, four parochial, and one private. A new public High School opened in the Fall of 1997. Edwardsville also boasts the four year Southern Illinois at Edwardsville University (SIUE). There are 41 churches offering every denomination, four major shopping areas, two public golf courses and a recently renovated YMCA with a very strong program for families and singles.