Did you know that Springfield is actually Illinois’ third capital city?
When Illinois became a state in 1818, its first capital was the city of Kaskaskia. Illinois’ statehouse in Kaskaskia was a two-story building that the government rented, with the House of Representatives meeting on one floor and the Senate on the other.
At the time, Kaskaskia was a booming city – full of industry and culture. It was actually one of the oldest European settlements in the Midwest, as French settlers had created the city with a Native American tribe in 1703. However, France lost the land to the British after the French and Indian War, and then the city became part of the U.S. when it was captured during the Revolutionary War. Kaskaskia was even the capital of the Illinois territory before Illinois became a state.
In 1820, Illinois decided to move its capital to Vandalia to be in a more centralized location as settlers expanded. Kaskaskia was about 400 miles south of Illinois’ northern border, so the state’s General Assembly petitioned the U.S. Congress for federal land to build a new capital – and Vandalia was born.
Today, Kaskaskia is pretty much a ghost town. It now has approximately 21 residents – very different from the roughly 7,000 residents it had in the 1700s as a French colony. Nevertheless, part of what made it that way is not the city’s fault.
There were a number of natural disasters affecting Kaskaskia throughout the years – even while it was the state capital. However, the largest one had farther-reaching effects than crop shortages and earthquakes.
In 1881, the Mississippi River’s course changed, erasing most of Kaskaskia and leaving the remaining portions stranded from the rest of Illinois. It even left Illinois’ first statehouse underwater, wiping away a large amount of history from that timeframe in the state’s history.
If you want to visit Illinois’ first capital, you actually have to enter from Missouri, as Kaskaskia is now the only part of Illinois that is west of the Mississippi River. Even though Kaskaskia is connected to Missouri’s land and not Illinois, it is still part of Illinois – the legal borders never moved.
Moreover, Kaskaskia still has some history there – it was not all washed away with the Mississippi River.
