Extremely of Chartres

The Fort of Chartres is a station French, set up in 1720 with the accesses of the the Mississippi, and administrative center of the area of the Pays of Illinois in News-France, more particularly in Louisiana.

Two forts which preceded it in the vicinity bore the same name: they were built in the Années 1700.

The strong third was partially rebuilt out of calcareous stone, little before the end of French Louisiana. This state is currently preserved in a park of State of the south of the Illinois, in the county of Randolph.

The three forts draw their name from Louis, duke of Chartres, wire of the Regent Philippe of Orleans. The Arsenal of the fort, built out of stone, which survived the ruin of the remainder of constructions, is the oldest building of the State of Illinois. The park accommodates each year several civil and military reconstitutions of the time.

Constructions

The fort out of wooden is built in 1718 - 1720 by a French detachment come from the New-Orleans, ordered by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand, when the administration of Illinois passed from the News-France to the company of the Indies Occidentales, which has its seat in New-Orleans. It must supervise the Indiens area, in particular the Fox. Its only defense is a Palissade with two bastions with the opposite angles.

During five years, the floods of the Mississippi cause serious damage at the height. The construction of a strong second, more far from the bed of the river, but always in the opened plain, begins in 1725. This fort is also defended by a palisade of piles, with a Bastion with each of the four angles.

The strong second is degraded quickly, and of serious repairs are made in 1742. In 1747, the garrison moves towards the first establishment of the area, 25 km more in the south, Kaskaskia, before seeking a better site of construction for the fort. A stone construction is considered at the beginning of the Années 1730, after the bankruptcy of the Company of the Indies and the return of Louisiana to the Crown. The two options were a final displacement with Kaskaskia (preferred by the governor of New-Orleans), but the chief of the station preferred to rebuild it close to the original site.

Finally, one chooses a stone construction, close to the first site, and not in Kaskaskia. It begins in 1753 and is completed in 1756. The stone walls make 3 m in height and 1 m broad, and protect a zone from 16 000 m square. The stone is extracted with a few kilometers, and is transported through a small lake.

The strong British

In 1763 the treated of Paris transfers Louisiana to the Great Britain, after having been useful only during ten years. The British place the October 10th, 1765 the 42 {{E}} royal regiment of Highlands in garrison. The fort is famous Fort Cavendish . Not granting a value to this position, the British give up it in 1771.

Ruin and rebuilding

The Mississippi continues to erode its banks after the departure of the British, and in 1772 the wall of the south and the bastion fall into the river. The other walls are damaged, and of the travellers of the Années 1820 note that trees push above. Gradually, the stone of the walls is extracted by the inhabitants from the area, and towards 1900 the walls entirely disappeared. It does not remain whereas the store with powder.

The State of Illinois buys the ruins in 1913 like historic site and rebuilt the store with powder in 1917. The foundations of the enclosing wall and the buildings are put at the day in the Années 1920, and the administration of public works rebuilds the stone buildings in the following decade.

The enclosure of the fort is partially rebuilt a little later. Posters presenting the technique of construction timber are exposed, and the cellars and the foundations of the other buildings presented to the public, with an educational aim.

Today, the site is used as museum and shelters a souvenir shop. At June, is held to with it the most important reconstitution and oldest of the United States, which commemorates the culture free-Indian of the border. Although protected by Dam S, the Mississippi is always a threat: at the time of the large flood of 1993, the dam broke and the level of water reached the top of the walls.

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