Cahokia's 300 Years of History

The Cahokia area was settled in 1699 by priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions at Quebec, who built a log church outpost dedicated to the Holy Family (visible in the background of the above picture). As missionaries, they sought to convert local Indian tribes to Christianity. Over the next 100 years, Cahokia became the most populous of the northern French colonial towns.

By the 1740s, Cahokia had become a strategic center for the trade of Indian goods and furs. Nearby Kaskaskia had become the area's largest shipping port, while Fort de Chartres had become a military and governmental headquarters. The 50-mile stretch between Cahokia and Kaskaskia became prime farmland for the settlers, whose principle crop was wheat. As the French settlement grew larger, relations between the French and the Indians continued to remain peaceful.

With the loss of the French and Indian War in 1763, France was forced to cede a large portion of the Illinois country to Great Britain. Many of the area's settlers fled in fear of the British occupation to area such as St. Genevieve. In 1764, these relocated Cahokians helped found the city of St. Louis.

Cahokia officially became a part of the United States on July 5, 1778. 30 mounted Virginia Rangers and a like number of French militiamen under Captain Joseph Bowman took Cahokia without resistance. Soon after, the 105 Cahokia "heads of household" swore allegiance to the Continental Congress of the United States.

Cahokia was later named the county seat of St. Clair County following the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. For the next 24 years, the Cahokia Courthouse served as a United States territorial courthouse and an important center of political activity in the region.

When St. Clair County was enlarged in 1801, William Henry Harrison named the Cahokia Courthouse the judicial and administrative center of a vast area extending to the Canadian border. By 1814, however, St. Clair County had decreased to its present size and the county seat was moved to the city.