The Oldest Town In Illinois Is Also The First Capitol Of The State

It is always great to look at the history of states and cities in that state. Today we are looking at Illinois' oldest town. We will be looking at the Library of Congress to get our results!

Some Of The Oldest Towns

Here are some of the older towns in Illinois. We got these towns from onlyinyourstate.com

Peoria

This town was settled in 1680. French explorers René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and Henri de Tonti built Fort Crevecoeur. But there is strong evidence that this place was inhabited as far back as 10,000 BC.

Palestine

Palestine was first discovered by Jean Lamonte in 1678, who named it Palestine. He named it such because it reminded him of Palestine, the land of milk and honey.

Barrington

Originally, this area was settled by the Potawatomi tribe. The U.S. government then paid some tribes around $100,000 for the land.

Edwardsville

Edwardsville holds the distinction of being the third oldest city in Illinois. In 1805, Thomas Kirkpatrick moved up to this area and named it after his good friend, Ninian Edwards (hence Edwardsville). Fun fact: five Illinois governors have come from Edwardsville.

 

Illinois Oldest Town

Some may disagree with this result, but we will talk about other villages, not towns that may be older, but according to the Library of Congress, it is Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Kaskaskia, Illinois is not only the oldest town in the state, but it was also the first capital of Illinois.

Some other areas that some may consider older than Kaskaskia, Illinois, but are no longer standing are as follows. These claims come "Onlyinyourstate."

Shawneetown

Since it was all but abandoned I can see why it is not considered the oldest town still up and running today.

A village was established here in 1748 by the Pekowi Shawnee. Some 60 years later, it was visited by Lewis and Clark. In 1816, the first bank chartered in Illinois was in Shawneetown. A devastating flood went through the area in the 1930s, leading to a near abandonment of "old Shawneetown."

Cahokia

Considering this place was bustling in the early 1000s, this counts as the oldest community in Illinois. This was the most sophisticated pre-Columbian civilization north of Mexico. At its height, this area had a higher population than London did at the time.

Did you know about the oldest towns in Illinois?