Kaskaskia

the oldest town in the Mississippi Valley. It is situated in Illinois near the junction of the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi rivers. In 1700 the Jesuits, under the guidance of Tonti, established a mission here. They built a college and a convent. The French built a fort called Chartres here, and made the town their western capital. A considerable trade in furs and other Indian produce was built up by way of the Mississippi with Orleans. The French throughout the West sent their young people to be educated here. Kaskaskia was their social center. At certain seasons, the little town was thronged with visitors. What with Indians, traders, missionaries, students, young men of the college, and young ladies of the convent, residents, garrison and officers, the little town was full of life and gaiety. The French called it the "Paris of the West." In 1763 it was one of the posts that fell into the hands of the English, Who made it their western capital. July 4, 1778, it was captured by George Rogers Clark with a company of Virginia militia. Kaskaskia was for many years an important city. It was the territorial capital of Illinois and remained the capital of the state until 1818. The town was founded on bottom lands about three miles above the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. The Mississippi for years continued to eat its way toward the old town. In 1892 it cut across into the Kaskaskia, converting a large part of the old site into an island which a few years later crumbled and was swept away. The historical buildings are all gone. In 1891 the ancient cemetery was removed to a point on the bluffs, where an appropriate monument commemorates the memory of Kaskaskia. It is, indeed, a vanished capital. See Clark; Vincennes