WOOD RIVER

city, Madison county, southwestern Illinois, U.S., near the confluence of the Wood and Mississippi rivers. It was from the mouth of the Wood River that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark embarked on their trip to the Pacific Northwest (May 14, 1804). Wood River was founded and incorporated as a village in 1908 with the establishment in the vicinity of a Standard Oil Company refinery. After joining with two other communities (East Wood River in 1911 and Benbow City in 1917), Wood River was chartered as a city in 1923. Now part of the Wood RiverEast Alton industrial complex, its economy depends mainly on petroleum and the manufacture of tank cars, as well as stone, clay, and glass products. Pop. (1990) 11,490.