Prairie du Rocher, Illinois

Prairie du Rocher ("Prairie of the Rock" in French) is a small town founded in the French colonial period in the American Midwest. The town is located near bluffs that flank the east side of the Mississippi River, in the area once called the "American Bottom" in reference to its rich bottomland soil.

Prairie du Rocher, now part of Randolph County, Illinois, is one of the oldest communities founded as a French settlement that survives in the 21st century. The nearby Fort de Chartres, site of a French military fortification and colonial headquarters established in 1720, is now a state park and historical site. The fort and town were a center of government and commerce at the time when France claimed a vast territory in North America, New France, which stretched from Louisiana and the Illinois Country to Canada.

The population was 613 at the 2000 census. It was founded in 1722 by French colonists.

Geography

Prairie du Rocher is located at 38°4′54″N 90°5′46″W (38.081755, -90.096243).Template:GR It is approximately 40 miles south of St. Louis, Missouri. It has an elevation of 396 feet above sea-level and is situated underneath the Mississippi River bluffs. It is located approximately 4 miles east of the Mississippi River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²), all land.

Illinois Route 155 is the only state highway that runs through Prairie du Rocher. It connects the town with Ruma, Illinois, 7 miles to the northeast and Fort de Chartres, 4 miles to the west. Several other smaller roads connect it to various other surrounding communities.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 613 people, 240 households, and 160 families residing in the village. The population density was 415.2/km² (1,076.2/mi²). There were 255 housing units at an average density of 172.7/km² (447.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 99.02% White, 0.33% Native American, and 0.65% from two or more races.

There were 240 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.5% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the village the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 81.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $35,795, and the median income for a family was $44,659. Males had a median income of $31,750 versus $20,556 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,771. About 9.3% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.

History

Prairie du Rocher was founded in 1722 by French soldiers from nearby Fort de Chartres. A tract of land was donated to Pierre Dugue Boisbriant, the commandant and builder of Fort de Chartres, by the Royal Indian Company. The town was located under the fertile Mississippi River bluffs and provided food to New Orleans and other lower Louisiana Territory communities.

It is claimed to be the oldest town to continunally exist in Illinois. The only two older towns in Illinois - Kaskaskia and Cahokia - were each abandoned at some point during their history.

The fertility of the Mississippi bottom lands in this area first attracted settlers early in the eighteenth century. The territory was under French rule in 1718 when Pierre Duque Boisbriant built Fort de Chartres. In 1722, Prairie du Rocher was founded by St. Therese Langlois, nephew of Boisbriant. The Prairie du Rocher Common (land used by all the villagers) was granted to the village by the territorial government in 1743 and was used until 1852.

Following the British victory in the French and Indian War, many of the town's French residents fled across the Mississippi River to towns such as Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis to avoid British rule.

George Rogers Clark captured Prairie du Rocher for the United States of America during the American Revolutionary War in his campaign that eventually resulted in the capture of Vincennes, Indiana.

Prairie du Rocher was one of the few Mississippi River towns able to escape the flood waters from the Great Flood of 1993. After levees broke to the north near the towns of Columbia, Illinois and Valmeyer, Illinois, flood waters engulfed Fort de Chartres. They were also threatening the town of Prairie du Rocher itself. With only the Prairie du Rocher Creek levee protecting the town, residents found themselves in a unique situation. The water that had broken through the main Mississippi River levee and was lapping at the top of the Prairie du Rocher Creek levee was actually at a higher level than the water in the main Mississippi River channel. As a result, the Army Corps of Engineers decided to break through the Mississippi River levee near Fort de Chartres using a barge-mounted shovel to allow the flood waters to escape back to the Mississippi River channel. Unfortunately, this was not enough to significantly lower the water level and the Army Corps of Engineers decided no further action would be taken. In a 3:30 a.m. decision, with the flood waters lapping at the top of the sandbags that were stacked on top of the Prairie du Rocher Creek levee, all three commissioners of the Fort de Chartres - Ivy Landing Drainage and Levee District voted to use dynamite to breach the levee in two additional locations, against the advice of the Army Corps of Engineers. These two additional openings allowed enough water to escape back to the main channel, and the town was saved.

Today Prairie du Rocher is a small village with a rich history. Mainly a farming town, Prairie du Rocher still has a few reminders of that history. Besides nearby Fort de Chartres, there are several unique and historic houses in the town, including the Creole House. Several old, French customs are still practiced in Prairie du Rocher - including La Guiannee - a custom of caroling on New Years Eve that has been practiced every New Years Eve since 1722.