Picture courtesy of Jim Kuntz

The American Bottom is that six mile long strip of lowland lying between the bluffs and the east bank of the Mississippi River. Its earliest recorded history is written in the annals of France, England and Spain. In the wars these nations fought against each other and against Native Indian Tribes for dominion of the New World.

Following the discoveries of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 and the exploration of La Salle in 1682. France claimed possession of the entire Mississippi Valley, extending from the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Spanish Empire in the west. Here in the center of this vast expanse known as the Illinois Country. Louis XIV erected a fort and settlers from Canada and France established the village of Cahokia in 1699 and the villages of St. Philippe, Fort Chartres, Prairie Du Rocher, and Kaskaskia early in the eighteenth century.

During Englands occupation of the Illinois Country, 1765-1778, she retained the American Bottom as the center of Administration for the area renamed the Illinois province of Quebec. Virginia, likewise established the American Bottom as headquarters for her Illinois Country, 1778-1781. When George Rogers Clark drove the British from the area.

The American Bottom part of the old North West Territory, gained recognition under the government of the United States by being named the site of the first county established in Illinois in 1790. The Capital of the Illinois Territory, 1809, 1818 and the home of the first State capital.

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