Fort de Chartres
1350 State Route 155, Prairie du Rocher, IL 62277
Historic Sites
Visitors are invited to explore the most significant French fortification in Illinois. Built in the 1750s, it served as the military and administrative headquarters for France in the Illinois Country.
Fort de Chartres State Historic Site holds many popular annual events. An annual two day Rendezvous is held the first weekend in June, features shooting competitions, military drills, dancing, music, food, and traders of eighteenth-century style goods. The first weekend in October marks the site's French and Indian War Assemblage, a living history event that portrays life during the time period of 1754-1763. The area's rich farmland produced much of the grain that fed towns on the lower Mississippi River. France surrendered Fort de Chartres to the British in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris.
