Old Fort Chartres on the Mississippi River

On the banks of the Mississippi stood an extraordinary outpost of French America: Fort Chartres, surrounded by villages, traders, soldiers, and Native communities in the fertile Illinois country. Established in 1720 amid the grand ambitions of the Mississippi Company, the fort was meant to protect French interests and support a promised wealth of mines, commerce, and settlement. Its early history reflects both the optimism of France’s colonial schemes and the harsh realities behind them.

Listeners are introduced to a world of fur trading, military expeditions, uneasy rivalries, and everyday life shaped by the river. After the original wooden stockade deteriorated, a formidable stone fort was built, complete with bastions, magazines, barracks, and a prison. Yet even these strong defenses could not overcome the Mississippi’s relentless power: within a few years, the river had crept dangerously close, threatening the structure and the community around it.