Browsing the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society : What is the Oldest Town in Illinois?

Have you ever read some old journals of historical societies?  The Oak Brook Heritage Center, located in the Old Butler School in Oak Brook, Illinois, houses the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society in their research library.  The Oak Brook Historical Society oversees this research library, which contains over one hundred reference materials that cover local, county and state history subjects.

I love to browse through these state journals.  They contain so many interesting articles about people, places and events of Illinois.  Recently I browsed Volume XXX covering  April, 1937 through January, 1938.  This volume contains fourteen articles, historical notes and historical news of Illinois.

Reading about "firsts" in history is a passion of mine.  I was happy to find a Historical Notes article about the oldest town in Illinois.  I knew that southern Illinois was inhabited by the white man earlier than other areas of the states.  Guessing that perhaps Shawneetown, Kaskaskia, Cahokia or nearby areas were the first inhabited, I found that I was wrong, according to this article.

Prairie Du Rocher is claimed to take the honor, according to Dr. H. K. Croessmann of DuQuoin.  He claims that this little town is at the foot of the Illinios bluffs and has been there since 1722. Who knew?  I did a little exploring for myself to see exactly how old Prairie Du Rocher really is.  Using Google, I find the Prairie Du Rocher Chamber of Commerce website where they have posted a nice timeline of the history of the town :

http://www.visitprairiedurocher.com/historical-information/

Beginning in 1719, according to this timeline, a convoy of canoes bring persons to the area, and a fort (Fort Chartres) is established. It became a military and government command center.  I'd say that is proof of being inhabited at that time. According to The Jesuit Missions of the Illinois Country, 1673-1763, the ISHS quotes that it has the most accurate account of the founding of this village....a Randolph County atlas notes the town as being founded in 1722, incorporated in 1725.  In an article written in  The Messenger, of Randolph County, some families were living there as early as 1722, and the official founding date of the village at 1733.  Land was granted to Boisbriant in 1720, who is mentioned in the timetable above.  

Well, of course there is going to be a dispute about what is the earliest known town in Illinois.  I would be disappointed if there wasn't a dispute.  The ISHS article finds that Cahokia is mentioned as being established in 1699.  It was a scattered village and small. The area was explored by early French explorers.  Missionary priests came into the area and tried to convert some of the Indians to Christianity.  The Church of the Holy Family was erected in 1696 by the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Quebec.  It was replaced by this church building in 1799:

Church of the Holy Family, erected 1799.

Even though the Cahokia Indians were established in the area for over hundreds of years, does this make Cahokia the oldest town in Illinois?  I guess it makes a good question as to what defines a town. Cahokia was the county seat of St. Clair County (the oldest county in Illinois) until the seat was moved to Belleville, Illinois in 1814.  

  Kaskaskia is also mentioned in some Illinois memoirs as having been founded in 1703, and existed until the Mississippi River changed course and destroyed it.  Kaskaskia was an important shipping point on the river. French fur traders inhabited the area, and it was a starting point for those who decided to explore westward.  It was also named the first capital of the Illinois territory.  But was the fur trading camp of 1703 the first town of Illinois?  I suppose it is a matter of opinion.  What defines a town?  

Mather, Irwin F. (1900). The Making of Illinois. Chicago: A. Flanagan Co. p. 196. Photographer unknown. This copy retrieved from archives housed at the Skinner House in Griggsville, Illinois

Then there is Chicago, known as Checagou in early times.  Milo M. Quaife authored a text, Checagou, where he examines the identities of early explorers that had passed through, and briefly stayed in the area of what is now Chicago, Illinois.  Various explorers have kept notes on their experiences when in the Chicago area from 1674 to the early 1800s.  But no one is considered a permanent settler until Jean Baptiste Point du Sable came in 1784.  He traded with the Indians of the area and lived his life as the first non-Indian resident of the area. He sold his land and moved to St. Charles, Missouri where he died in 1818. There are no known photos of Du Sable or his home.  Only depictions of his likeness and sketches of what his cabin may have looked like can be found.   But, does his encampment fit the description of a town?  What defines a town?  

Finally, the ISHS article examines the town of Peoria, Illinois.  According to the Peoria Historical Society briefs, the town was settled in 1680 when La Salle built Fort Crevecoeur.  But the fort only lasted a few months, then it burned.  Peoria Lake was inhabited by Frenchmen.  They followed the Indians of the area when they shifted to hunting and fishing grounds.  Missionary priests are said to have lived among the Peoria Indians along the Illinois River.  Most of the Frenchmen left the area by 1817, just before the territory became a state in 1818. Fort St. Louis was built in 1691 to replace the burned fort.  Europeans inhabited the area around the fort, and was considered the first European settlement in Illinois.  Was this considered the first town of Illinois?  What defines a town?

The articles comes to it's conclusion....What was the oldest town in Illinois?  It is a matter of definition.  Kaskaskia can be eliminated if you are looking for a town that is in existence today.  If your definition of a town is a compact village with close dwellings, a few stores, a post office....then Cahokia can be ruled out.  If the history of the town must be continuous, literally, Chicago and Peoria must not be contenders.  Prairie Du'Rocher, in that case gets the title of first town of Illinois.  However, the article states, if the community was continuous, liberally, then Peoria would be mentioned as the first town of Illinois.  

So, What is the definition of a town?  Read more on the subject, and come to your own conclusion.

Browsing in an Old Gazeteer of Northern Illinois Counties

Recently I came across a digital copy of the 1855-56 Gazetter and Directory for the Northern Counties of Illinois.  Have you ever browsed through one of these resources?  It's a great source to find out Who's Who in history of "east pudunk", meaning those old towns and villages.  It also has advertisements of the businesses of the areas that are referenced.  It's almost like an early type of Yellow Pages.  You can find out who the local politicians were, the post office locations and postmaster identities.  Some even have maps showing the locality of government buildings, schools, and the like. Where can you find old gazetteers?  Internet Archive www.archive.org, Mocavo www.mocavo.com, and Google www.google.com are just a few of the online sources.  Libraries that have local history reference sections should have some gazetteers and local directories.

Here's the title page of the Gazetteer that I was happy to peruse: 

Since I live in DuPage County, I wanted to find out who the "Movers and Shakers" were in this locale.

The DuPage County entry as printed:

Notice the location of  the county, that it's origins were a part of Cook County, and that it was organized in 1838.  I was not aware that the first settlers were from Ohio, thinking that they were from a little farther east, like New York or Vermont.  It does mention the German emigrants that came through Pennsylvania, which I did know.  

The description of  the land reads like a real estate advertisement.  Wood land, prairie and fertile soil...who wouldn't want to move here?  Then I stopped dead in my tracks.  The County Seat was located in Naperville????? Oh, yes, there is a nasty history about that.  The County Seat is now in Wheaton.  And, after the Civil War, there were some disputes about relocating the seat. I found the following excerpts from Wikipedia, which we all know is the honest truth (NOT!!!)  Read on...

In 1857, the Illinois state legislature authorized an election to be held to decide the question of whether the DuPage county seat should remain in Naperville or be moved to the more centrally located Wheaton, which was on the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad. Naperville won the election by a vote of 1,542 to 762. Hostility between the two towns continued for the next decade and another election was held in 1867, in which Wheaton narrowly won by a vote of 1,686 to 1,635. At a cost of $20,000, the City of Wheaton quickly built a courthouse to house a courtroom, county offices, and a county jail. The building was dedicated on July 4, 1868.^[10]

However, animosity between the two towns continued, and in 1868, as records were moved from the old Naperville courthouse to the new one in Wheaton, Naperville refused to turn over the remaining county records, prompting a band of Civil War veterans from Wheaton to conduct what came to be known as the "Midnight Raid" on the Naperville courthouse. As Wheatonites fled back on Wheaton-Naperville Road, Napervillians were able to secure some of the last remaining records, which were then taken to the Cook CountyRecorder in Chicago for safekeeping. During this time, Naperville was mounting a lawsuit against Wheaton accusing election judges of leaving their posts for lunch during the vote when duplicate ballot stuffing allegedly occurred. As the courts deliberated the fate of the county seat, the records were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Shortly thereafter, Wheaton was officially proclaimed the county seat.^[11]

.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheaton,_Ill.

I live in the eastern half of DuPage County, and I wanted to browse the text to see what information was written about this general area.  I found three entries:

        The first is a nice description of Cottage Hill, which is present day Elmhurst, Illinois.

Gee, they make it sound like a respite place from the bustling city of Chicago.  Further historical information, again from Wikipedia.....

 a native of Ohio named Gerry Bates established a community on a tract of "treeless land" in 1842.^[4]

The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community was officially named Cottage Hill when a post office was established. Four years later the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was given right-of-way through Cottage Hill giving farmers easier access to Chicago.^[4] The community changed its name to Elmhurst in 1869.  

wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmhurst,_Illinois

The Township of York is still alive and well here in eastern DuPage County.  Apparently it was organized and fully staffed back in 1855-56, too.  Here's the posting, although small, for York...

 It mentions the name of Gerry Bates, once again, but this time as the post-master of Babcock Grove.  Having lived in another town just west of here, I know that Lombard, IL used to be called Babcock Grove.  And, the famous Graue Mill, located in my village of Oak Brook, is mentioned with the owners name....Frederick Gray.  Members of the Graue family changed the spelling of their last name so that newcomers would not have a problem pronouncing it.  Horace Grant was the owner of a General Store in the area of Fullersburg, which is a historic area along the Salt Creek bounded by current day Hinsdale and Oak Brook. Supposedly, Mr. Grant was a cousin of General Grant.

Lastly, I found the descriptive information for Downers Grove, which is still a strong community today.

Once again, consulting Wikipedia, I find what has been contributed to this site regarding the history of Downers Grove :

Downers Grove was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, a religious evangelist from New York. Its other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, and Carpenter families. The original settlers were mostly migrants from the Northeastern United States and Northern Europe. The first schoolhouse was built in 1844

Wikipedia .org/wiki/Downers Grove

There were no advertisements for the businesses in these three areas. However, larger, densely populated towns like Rockford, Naperville, Wheaton, etc. had many advertisements printed in this gazetteer.  It fun to browse through those and see what kind a businesses were necessary to keep the communities functioning.  

So, when you want to find out who was running the show in some of these old towns and villages , consult an old gazetteer.  They have been around for a long time, and can still provide some bits of information that your I Phone won't give you.  Go "old school" in your research.  It's fun.