ALTON, Ill — Tonight, here in Alton, a public hearing was held to determine whether the birth home of jazz musician Miles Davis should be designated as a city landmark.

“When you have a person of the stature of Miles Davis, I feel we have a responsibility to put that forward,” said Chase Green, an Alton Historical Commission member.

98 years ago, the house that sits on the corner of Milnor Avenue in Alton, Illinois, was the home of jazz musician and composer Miles Davis.

He lived there for one year, then shortly after moved to east St. Louis, where he was raised. Now the Alton Historical Commission wants to make the house a landmark.

Alton Mayor David Goins told Fox 2 that he is for anything that promotes the good work that Alton residents have done over the years. Some residents are advocates for the landmark.

“He should be remembered and revered as one of our own who spread his wings and became an international icon. Without it, I highly recommend his birth home as an Alton landmark,” said Pete Basola, Miles Davis Memorial Project committee.

The current property owner, Morgan Construction and Lawn LLC, is opposed to the landmark.

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“He opposes the choice for it to become a historic landmark. It is not that we deny or he denies that Miles Davis deserves that honor. There is a landmark in Alton already. The difference in opinion is that it is a private…It is a rental property. There is a private citizen living there. And to make that rental property a historic home takes away his right to make changes to the property as he sees fit,” said a spokesperson for Morgan Construction and Lawn LLC.

Some residents are opposed as well.

“Leave it alone, because people have to live in that house. They just came. I don’t know where they came from but they need a house for real,” said Sam Rivers, a resident.

Miles Davis is known to be one of the most influential musicians in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.

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Daily News

Davis was at the forefront of changes in the jazz genre for nearly 50 years. This is why the Alton Historical Commission wants to turn his home into a landmark.

This is the only statue of Miles Davis in the United States. There are a total of three in the world. The city council came to a unanimous decision to make the home a landmark.

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