The French were not just in Louisiana. They were all along the Mississippi.
Louisiana and Quebec are often what comes to mind when one imagines French colonial settlements in North America. However, they were all over the place along the Mississippi River. In fact, modern day Illinois was settled by the French before Louisiana.
The French came for the fur trade and missionary work. They first settled near modern day Peoria but had moved on the Mississippi River by 1699. The French mission, turned village, of Cahokia was founded then. Further settled continued southwards. Kaskaskia was founded in 1703 as a mission and trading post. By the 1720s, many of these missions and fur trading posts became agricultural villages as well. The soils of the Mississippi Bottomlands are extremely fertile. Wheat, corn and other food stuffs became important trade goods. French Illinois would feed the French settlements in Lower Louisiana. New Orleans would not have survived if food hadn’t made it down the river.
The largest collection of Colonial French structures survives across the Mississippi from Kaskaskia, in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Not a whole lot remains on the Illinois side of the river. It didn’t help that most of the French structures were built on a flood plain. A few buildings have been reconstructed or restored, but they are a bit neglected unfortunately.
The French colonial era officially ended in 1763. As a result of the French and Indian War (Seven Years War), France lost most of its territory in North America. The Illinois side of the Mississippi became British territory, and the west became Spanish. While the area was no longer administered by the French, it was still full of ethnically French people on both sides of the river.
Nothing remains of the original settlement of Kaskaskia. It fell into the river in the 1880s. Until then, Kaskaskia was still connected to Illinois. Now it is an island on the Missouri side of the river. A few remains of the French era can still be found nearby the original townsite in Illinois.
The Pierre Menard Home, constructed for a French resident of Kaskaskia around 1815. Even though it was built in 1815, it was built in a similar style as other French colonial homes. Pierre Menard was a wealthy French Canadian businessman and served as a presiding officer of the Illinois Territorial Legislator and as the first lieutenant governor, when Kaskaskia was the territorial capitol. His house was built on a gently sloping bluff that once over looked the town of Kaskaskia and the Kaskaskia River. It now overlooks the Mississippi River (the view is blocked by trees today).
Fort Kaskaskia once overlooked the town of Kaskaskia high above on the bluff. The fort would have had a great view of the Mississippi River. Dating from around 1759, only some earthen remains remain, as it was never fully completed.
Not far to the north is Prairie du Rocher (“The Rock Prairie”), founded in 1722. Not much remains of the French colonial period in town. Flooding did a lot of damage.
Just a bit north is Fort du Chartres. The current fort (1750s) is a reconstruction of the third fort in this area. Flooding damaged the first two forts nearby. That didn’t dissuade them from building a stone fort in the flood zone. In 1772, the south wall fell into the river, but by that time, it was the British soldiers’ problem.
Heading norward towards St. Louis. Across the river in what is now East Carondelet. The Martin-Boismenue House is in rough shape. This small house was added onto over the centuries, making it a large farmhouse. You would never have guessed it was French colonial. The original house was built around 1790, in the village of Pierre du Pont.
Cahokia was the first permanent village here started in 1690s as a mission to the local Native American tribes. Many of the French speaking residents moved across the river and founded St. Louis after the French and Indian War. The British won the territory east of the Mississippi River. The French were having none of that protestant business and left. Only a couple French colonial buildings still survive in Cahokia.
This is really all that remains from when the French culturally dominated along this area of the Mississippi River. Buildings have been lost or torn down, or simply just rotted away. Many of the homes were built on the flood plain and have since been lost. They still celebrate their French heritage in Prairie du Rocher. French themed events have also become popular in the area. Don’t try to find French food though, that’s impossible.
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