Illinois was first colonized by the French on the Mississippi River. The Kaskaskia area contains the secrets of that time period.
Fort de Chartres provided a staging area for the French communities in the area: Prairie du Rocher and even Ste Genevieve in Missouri.
Fort Kaskaskia down the river didn’t fare as well.
The only way to get to the old city of Kaskaskia Illinois is to cross the Mississippi River and drive through Missouri. This is the only section of Illinois west of the Mississippi River.
Kaskaskia was the most populous city when Illinois became a state, and it served as the capital for a few years.
Ste. Genevieve, MO is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Missouri. Kaskaskia and Ste Genevieve are in the same area.
In 1881 a major flood wrecked the area and the Mississippi River took over the Kaskaskia river channel. This is how this section of Illinois ended up on the “wrong” side of the river. In the map, the Mississippi is in the background. But in 1881 the mighty Mississippi took over the river in the foreground.
Freshly "Pic'ed" 