Kaskaskia, Illinois, Dec. 29 — There’s not much left in the first capital of Illinois. In the 2000s, it was the smallest city in the state. Although now in second place, it remains the only city in Illinois west of the Mississippi River. You see it in that little bulge of Randolph County on the state outline, south of St. Louis. A easy way to clinch the county is to do precisely what we did, get there from I-55. (This was the only positive of stopping early the previous night.)
The Chicago Tribune has more background on the former city. The capital’s move from Kaskaskia to Vandalia is one of the few times a center of government moved east as territories and states grew. Kaskaskia’s geographical oddness also got it featured on “How the States Got Their Shapes.”
There are three brick buildings left in town: the church, a building that looks like it used to be a school, and the Kaskaskia Bell State Memorial. It’s not much but the bell has an important connection to the Revolutionary War.
If you press a couple buttons, the door opens (but a gate still bars entry) and an audio recording about the bell plays. Here’s a video of someone’s summertime visit (but you can’t really hear the audio).
More trip posts next week.
