We visited Illinois recently without having to cross the Mississippi River. Yes, it’s possible, in what of the stranger parts of the greater St. Louis region south down Interstate 55.
Back in November of 2010, we saw the remnants of the colonial town of Kaskaskia, that once sat along the banks of the Kaskaskia River, until a giant flood in 1881 rerouted the Mississippi, cutting a new course of the mighty river, and leaving the original channel to the west a marshy relic.
Map was taken out of “Illinois Transactions, Vol. 10, Pg. 364. Note with the map says “Toll bridge at Kaskaskia was authorized Jan. 8, 1823 to by built by Wm. Morrison and Elisha Hickox.” The map shows three ferry routes to and from Kaskaskia, one across the Mississippi River from Ste. Genevieve, and the other two across the Kaskaskia River. The map shows a large sandbar in the Mississippi River with the note saying “dry at low water” and shows part of Kaskaskia Island. The footprint of Kaskaskia (town) is laid out in orange saying “Kaskaskia that is to be,” there is a drawing of a house “house on frame,” and shows the surrounding common fields. This depicts Kaskaskia on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, before the river shifted.
Much of Kaskaskia, a thriving town, was washed away forever, and the townspeople relocated to the west, into what was now essentially an island.
We crossed over a bridge from Missouri, out into Illinois and visited that relic of what was once that town, and visited the few buildings left.
There’s a church, a building or two, and a very special bell.
First up, the building holding the bell.
At first, you think the building is locked and closed, but you push the doorbell and a door swings open like Dracula’s casket, and a totally blown-out speaker begins to narrate the story of the Liberty Bell of the West.
It’s taught poorly in school, but the Mississippi River Valley played a critical role in the Revolutionary War. George Rogers Clark’s critical victory over British forces, at Vincennes and Kaskaskia helped lead to the cession of the Illinois Country to the United Statesin the Treaty of Paris (the victory of Spanish forces over the British at St. Louis also was of utmost importance, as well). The Liberty Bell of the West was supposedly rung when the French settlers learned they had been liberated from British rule.
There’s a nice parish complex, as well.
The church of the Immaculate Conception, in different locations, dates from 1675; its altarpiece is from Quebec, sculpted by the LaVasseur Family.
Lafayette also apparently visited the former site of Kaskaskia, as well.
The Liberty Bell of the West is the oldest bell west of the Appalachian Mountains to have been made specifically for the place where it was installed. The nearby church holds two bells made by one of the Stuckstede bellfoundries of St.Louis, probably when the church was move to (or rebuilt at) its present location about 1893.