Fort Crevecoeur

For the Illinois Terminal Railroad service, the fort in the Netherlands or the fort in Accra, Ghana, see Streamliners (Illinois Terminal Railroad), Fort Crèvecoeur (Netherlands), and Ussher Fort.
Fort Crevecoeur
Native name
Fort Crèvecœur (French)
Locationpresent-day Creve Coeur, Illinois
Built1680
RebuiltDestroyed in 1680 and replaced by Fort Pimiteoui in 1691
Map of Fort Crevecoeur in 1680
Map by Abbott Claude Bernou in 1681, showing Fort Crèvecoeur on the East bank of the Illinois River.

Fort Crevecoeur (French: Fort Crèvecœur) was the first public building erected by Europeans within the boundaries of the modern state of Illinois and the first fort built in the West by the French.[2] It was founded on the east bank of the Illinois River, in the Illinois Country near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680. It was destroyed on April 16, 1680 by members of La Salle's expedition, who mutinied and abandoned it, fearful of being attacked by the Iroquois League as the Beaver Wars extended into the area.[3]

Reestablishing a more lasting presence, the French founded Fort St Louis du Pimiteoui nearby in 1691, at the former Kaskaskia village destroyed by the Iroquois (Pimiteoui being the French name for what is now called Peoria Lake, a noted widening in the Illinois River). It became a center of trade and was partially settled during the colonial period. Henri de Tonti was a primary founder of both the Crevecouer and Pimiteoui posts.[4]

  1. ^ a b "Fort Crevecoeur Stone Monument - Creve Coeur, IL in Illinois Historical Markers".
  2. ^ "The Site of Fort de Crèvecoeur", University of Illinois, 1925.
  3. ^ "History of Fort Crevecoeur". Fort Crevecoeur Park website. Fort Crevecoeur Inc. 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  4. ^ A., P. M. (1937). "The Oldest Town in Illinois". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 30 (2): 256–260. ISSN 0019-2287.