Randolph County leaders pitch national park surrounding Kaskaskia

airforceguy1 · PostApr 28, 2023#12023-04-28T01:15+00:00

Randolph County leaders pitch national park surrounding Kaskaskia

There’s a renewed push to create a new national park in southwestern Illinois dedicated to the area’s French history and Illinois’ first state capital.
The locations in question are currently state historic sites near the Mississippi River in the Randolph County area about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis. They are Fort du Chartres, Kaskaskia Island, Fort Kaskaskia and Creole House. Now, leaders there want to create a national park surrounding the sites.
It was an idea born out of necessity after the 2019 floods highlighted the need for better infrastructure and funding for levee improvements to preserve the Mississippi River floodplains and the history and farmland they still contain.
“This is where the French history in the United States started. It started in Kaskaskia,” Randolph County Economic Development Director Chris Martin said. “Perpetuity. For the next generations. For my granddaughter and her grandchildren.”

https://www.kmov.com/2023/04/27/randolph-county-leaders-pitch-national-park-surrounding-kaskaskia/

GoHarvOrGoHome · PostApr 28, 2023#22023-04-28T14:17+00:00

Fort Deu Chartres is a cool place but this area is nowhere close to the level of becoming a National Park. The Arch is already a stretch. So is Chahokia Mounds, but I would support them becoming a NP before the Kaskaskia area

shadrach · PostApr 28, 2023#32023-04-28T15:22+00:00

I could see that area maybe becoming an expanded part of the Ste. Genevieve National Historic Park (which is as close to being a National Park without being one. Got the same logo so it’s almost the same to most people.)

STLEnginerd · PostApr 28, 2023#42023-04-28T15:26+00:00

Cahokia is not a stretch IMHO. Maybe as a NP but certainly justifiable as a National Monument or National Historic Site. It has UNESCO credentials after all.

RockChalkSTL · PostApr 28, 2023#52023-04-28T16:04+00:00

I drove through that Kaskaskia area a few years ago and thought it was kind of interesting.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is how Illinois has a sliver of land on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. On that land, which I believe is called "Kaskaskia Island," is Kaskaskia Bell State Memorial, where the "Liberty Bell of the West" is housed.

In Randolph County on the traditional side of the river for Illinois are Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site and Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, both of which I felt were worth the brief stops.

But I do have a hard time seeing the Kaskaskia region becoming a national park. The state acknowledgement seems good enough.

framer · PostApr 28, 2023#62023-04-28T17:22+00:00

Yeah, Kaskaskia was cut off from Illinois when a flood caused the Mississippi River to change course; one of it's meanders short-circuited.

JaneJacobsGhost · PostAug 16, 2023#72023-08-16T17:37+00:00

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑
Apr 28, 2023
Cahokia is not a stretch IMHO. Maybe as a NP but certainly justifiable as a National Monument or National Historic Site. It has UNESCO credentials after all.

Cahokia is the most significant archaeological site in the Untied States. Our failure to include it among the National Parks (and the tone expressed by folks about it in this thread) is a perfect illustration of how this country doesn’t give a damn about its Native People or their history.

PeterXCV · PostAug 16, 2023#82023-08-16T18:27+00:00

Yeah Cahokia should definitely be a national park or monument. It's a bummer that they couldn't do renovations of the interpretive center without closing it for a year and counting.