Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. It was used as the administrative center for the province, which was part of New France. Due generally to river flooding, the fort was rebuilt twice, the last time in limestone in the 1750s in the era of French colonial control over Louisiana and the Illinois Country.
The magazine (ammunition storehouse) of the fort is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Illinois. A partial reconstruction now exists of the limestone fort and the site is preserved as an Illinois state park, four miles (6 km) west of Prairie du Rocher in Randolph County, Illinois. Located on the floodplain area that became known as the American Bottom, the site is south of modern St. Louis. The forts were placed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as a National Historic Landmark on October 15, 1966.
The name of the fort honored Louis, duc de Chartres, son of the Regent of France. The state historic site today hosts several large re-enactments at the fort of colonial-era civil and military life each summer.
History
left|thumb|200px|A [[bartizan at the corner of one of the reconstructed bastions]]
French rule
On January 1, 1718, the French government granted a trade monopoly to John Law and his Company of the West. Hoping to make a fortune mining precious metals, the company built a fort to protect its interests. The original wooden fort was built in 1718–1720 by a French contingent from New Orleans, led by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant. When administration of the Illinois Country was moved from Quebec City to New Orleans, governance was transferred to the Company of the Indies. The fort was built to be the seat of government and to control the Indians of the region, particularly the Meskwaki. The original fort was a palisade of logs with two bastions at opposite corners.
Within five years, flooding from the Mississippi had left the original fort in bad condition. The 34th Regiment of Foot renamed the installation Fort Cavendish, after its colonel. However, the post was known as Ft. Chartres from 1768 on, after the 34th were replaced by the 18th Regiment of Foot under the command of Lt. Col. Wilkins. The British abandoned the post in May 1772 when the majority of the 18th Foot was ordered back to Philadelphia. A small party under Capt Hugh Lord remained at Kaskaskia until May 1776.
Ruin
The Mississippi continued to take its toll after the fort was abandoned. In 1772 the south wall and bastion fell into the river. The remaining walls deteriorated, and visitors noted trees growing in them by the 1820s. Locals carted away stones for construction over the years. By 1900 the walls were gone. The only part of the original fort that remained was the stone masonry powder magazine.
Reconstruction
250px|thumb|right|The fort's powder magazine prior to restoration, from photograph in 1906
250px|thumb|right|The fort's powder magazine, here restored, is thought to be the oldest standing building in Illinois.
The State of Illinois acquired the ruins in 1913 as a historic site and restored the powder magazine in 1917. The powder magazine is thought to be the oldest existing building in the state of Illinois. In the 1920s the foundations of the fort's buildings and walls were exposed. In the late 1920s and through the 1930s, the US WPA rebuilt the gateway and two stone buildings.
A combination museum and office building, constructed in 1928 on the foundation of an original fort building, houses exhibits depicting French life at Fort de Chartres. The large stone "Guards House", reconstructed in 1936, contains a Catholic chapel furnished in the style of the 1750s, along with a priest's room, a gunner's room, an officer-of-the-day room, and a guard's room. Also on the grounds are an operating bake oven, a garden shed built of upright logs in French Colonial poteaux-sur-sol (French: "post on sill") construction, and a kitchen garden with raised beds of produce typical of French 18th-century Illinois.
Partial reconstruction of the fort's walls on the original foundations followed in 1989. The frames of some additional buildings were erected as a display of the post-and-beam construction techniques used for the originals. Other buildings' foundations and cellars were exposed for educational display as well.
Today the site has a museum and small gift shop. It plays host each June to a Rendezvous that is said to be one of the largest and oldest in the country, celebrating frontier French and Indian culture.
The site is protected by modern levees, but the Mississippi River is still an occasional menace. The flood of 1993 breached the levee and sent waters fifteen feet deep to lap at the top of the walls.
See also
- List of French forts in North America
References
External links
- Fort De Chartres Official Site
- Biography of Francois Saucier