Section 1 Findings; purposes
Findings— Congress finds the following:
Prairie du Rocher and the French Colonial Historic District are the finest historical and architectural examples of French Colonial Heritage in the United States.
Kaskaskia, Fort de Chartres, and Prairie du Rocher once served as the western boundary of the United States.
The 1752 French census documents that Kaskaskia had a population of 275 White people, 246 Blacks, 75 Indians, and 77 mixed blood (Indian and white ancestry) making it a multi-ethnic community. Enslaved people from Africa began arriving in Kaskaskia by 1720 with skills as blacksmiths, joiners, masons, etc., precisely the skills needed to build the 1759 Fort of Kaskaskia.
Fort de Chartres was erected in 1720 by France and is one of France’s most imposing fortifications in North America. It was the administrative center in the era of French Colonial control over Louisiana and the Illinois Country. On October 9, 1960, the Fort was declared a National Historic Landmark.
The Powder Magazine at Fort de Chartres is the oldest stone building in the State of Illinois.
The Guard House at Fort de Chartres contains a Catholic chapel furnished in the style of the 1750s, along with a priest’s room, a gunner’s room, an officer-of-the-day room, and a guard’s room. Missionary Father Pierre Gibault taught and ministered to the settlers and Native Americans.
The King of France made land concessions to certain entrepreneurs that evolved into villages. The Village of Chartres was proximate to Fort de Chartres.
The Mitchigamea or Michigamea were a tribe in the Illinois Confederation who established a village north of Fort de Chartres. One of their villages in the American Bottom, inhabited from 1730 until 1752, is one of the region’s premier archaeological sites; it is known as the “Kolmer Site”.
In 1763, Pierre Laclede Liguest quartered in the Prairie du Rocher French Colonial District where he planned the new village of St. Louis which he established in February of 1764.
On July 4, 1778, General George Rogers Clark, with the assistance of Father Pierre Gibault, captured Prairie du Rocher and the Village of Kaskaskia.
On November 28, 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark visited the Village of Kaskaskia, seeking Engages and troops to accompany them on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Recently an American Fort was discovered that dates to 1803–1806. The site is next to the Garrison Hill Cemetery.
In 1818, Kaskaskia served as the first State Capital of Illinois.
In 1825, General Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Montier de Lafayette visited the Village of Kaskaskia.
In 1876, the religious order, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (ASC), established a convent near Prairie du Rocher in rural Ruma to minister to the region through education and religious instruction in southwestern Illinois. The health care needs of the people led the Sisters to also create and operate hospitals. Since 1877 the Sisters staffed schools at the request of Pastors. By 1938 their staffing helped to open schools in 103 towns. They also served in other outreach ministries throughout the region. The ASC Convent was built in 1876. It was expanded in 1890 and enlarged again in 1925. The entire complex was updated in 1980. It served as an educational institution and later a high school that even offered 30 hours of college credit from St. Louis University.
The ASC convent site contains a memorial to and the remains of five martyred nuns who ministered in Liberia, West Africa in 1992. ASC Sisters had served there since 1971.
On January 20, 1961, the Modoc Rock Shelter was declared a National Historic Landmark.
In 1973, the Creole House in Prairie du Rocher was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.
In 1974, Prairie du Rocher and the French Colonial Historic District, an area of 22 square miles, was created and added to the National Registry of Historic Places, along with the ancient Kolmer Indian site.
Purposes— The purposes of this Act are to—
recognize the importance of Prairie du Rocher and the French Colonial Historic District as a nationally significant architectural village of the cultural heritage of the United States;
establish a Prairie du Rocher French Colonial National Historical Park to serve as the focus of interpretive and educational programs on the history of the French Colonial Historic District, and to assist in the preservation of historic sites within the Prairie du Rocher French Colonial Historic District;
recognize the contribution of religious women in the development of the country through their missions and their intrinsic desire to better the lives of people through education, health, and social services, and other ministries and in particular southwestern Illinois; and
recognize the existence and contribution of the early enslaved African Americans, Indians and mixed bloods at Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher for their skills as blacksmiths, joiners, and masons, etc.