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Fort de Chartres

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture

   Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the
   east bank of the Mississippi River (in present-day Illinois). The Fort
   de Chartres name was also applied to the two successive fortifications
   built nearby during the 1700s in the era of French colonial control
   over Louisiana and the Illinois Country in North America.

   A partial reconstruction of the third and last fort, which was built of
   local limestone shortly before the end of French rule in the Midwest,
   is preserved in an Illinois state park south of St. Louis, Missouri,
   four miles West of Prairie du Rocher in Randolph County, Illinois.

   The original fort's name honored Louis, duc de Chartres, son of the
   Regent of France. The fort's stone armory, which survived the gradual
   ruin that overtook the rest of the site, is considered the oldest
   building in the state of Illinois. The state park today hosts several
   large re-enactments of colonial-era civil and military life each summer
   at the fort.

History

   The gatehouse of Fort de Chartres was reconstructed in the 1930s.
   Enlarge
   The gatehouse of Fort de Chartres was reconstructed in the 1930s.

   The original wooden fort was built in 1718- 1720 by a French contingent
   from New Orleans, led by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand, when
   administration of the Illinois Country was moved from Canada to New
   Orleans. Governance was transferred to the Company of the Indies and
   the fort was built to be the seat of government and to control the
   Indians of the region, particularly the Fox. The original fort was a
   pallisade of logs with two bastions at opposite corners.

   Within five years, flooding from the Mississippi had left the original
   fort in bad condition. Construction of a second fort farther from the
   river, but still on the flood plain, began in 1725. This fort was also
   made of logs and had a bastion at each of the four corners.

   The second wooden fort deteriorated somewhat less rapidly, but by 1742
   it was in bad repair. In 1747 the French garrison moved to the region's
   primary settlement 18 miles to the south at Kaskaskia, and the French
   debated where to rebuild the fort. Discussions of a stone fortress had
   begun in the 1730s after the Company of the Indies had failed and
   governance had reverted to the crown. The government in New Orleans
   wanted to move the garrison permanently to Kaskaskia, but the local
   commandant argued for a location near the original.

   The decision was eventually reached to build in stone near the first
   forts rather than at Kaskakia. Construction began in 1753 and was
   mostly completed in 1756. The limestone fort had walls 15 ft (3 m) high
   and 3 ft (1m) thick enclosing an area of 4 acres (16,000 m²). The stone
   for construction was quarried in bluffs about two or three miles (4 km)
   distant and had to be ferried across a small lake. In 1763 the Treaty
   of Paris was signed and the French transferred control of the Illinois
   Country to Great Britain. The stone fort had served as centre of French
   administration of the region for only ten years. The British had
   difficulty getting a regiment to their newly acquired fort, but on
   October 10, 1765, the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment took control of the
   fort and surrounding area. The fort was renamed Fort Cavendish. The
   British, however, saw little value in the fort and abandoned it in
   1771.

Ruin and Reconstruction

   One of the reconstructed bastions at the fort.
   Enlarge
   One of the reconstructed bastions at the fort.

   The Mississippi continued to take its toll after the fort was
   abandoned, and 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 the stone for construction bit by
   bit over the years, and by 1900 the walls were gone. The only part of
   the original fort that remained was the stone building that had served
   as the powder magazine.

   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
   foundations of the fort's buildings and walls were exposed, and in the
   1930s the WPA rebuilt the gateway and two stone buildings.

   Partial reconstruction of the fort's walls followed later. The frames
   of some additional buildings were erected as a display of the post and
   beam construction techniques used on 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 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 is still an occasional
   menace. In the flood of 1993 the levee was breached, and water fifteen
   feet deep lapped at the top of the walls.

Location

     * Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 38.084652° -90.157968°
          + Satellite image from WikiMapia, Google Maps or Windows Live
            Local
          + Street map from MapQuest or Google Maps
          + Topographic map from TopoZone
          + Aerial image from TerraServer-USA

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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
