Celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the “First Fort”

In 2020, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the first of the four Fort de Chartres structures built and located in the strategic Mississippi River bottomland of Le Pays des Illinois.

This “first Fort,” built of wooden palisades, signaled the creation of a new center of French colonial government in Illinois. First occupied by the French in 1720, the Fort became the nucleus of French civil and military government, as well as an economic center in the Illinois country and the French Louisiana area during the eighteenth-century.

A 300th Anniversary special ceremony was held at the 51st annual Fort de Chartres Rendezvous, celebrating its golden anniversary on September 11, 2021. The 51st Annual Rendezvous, one of the largest gatherings of its kind anywhere in the Midwest, attracted thousands to the site during this two-day special event.

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Capital Project Repair Giving Campaign

In celebration of the 300th anniversary and the important history it represents, Les Amis du Fort de Chartres successfully completed a $100,000 Capital Project Repair Giving Campaign for the Fort de Chartres State Historic Site in 2020-2021. 

Funds were raised through individual donations, proceeds from sales at the Heart of Illinois Country Shop during the 300th Anniversary/Golden Rendezvous weekend, and a $60,000 donation from the Randolph County Illinois Board of Commissioners. The Randolph County funds were available thanks to the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. As of January 2023, roughly $101,500 has been raised for the campaign.

Campaign funds enabled the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to make much needed repairs at the Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, in Prairie du Rocher, IL, with a focus on the area around the Fort’s Land Gate which was in need of considerable repair.

Link to full press release:

Campaign Donors

Thank you to the following donors for their support of our 2020-2021 Capital Project Giving Campaign in honor of the 300th Anniversary of the first Fort de Chartres:

$60,000-Randolph County, Illinois-Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund

$15,828-Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Illinois

$12,000-Matching Repair Grant from the French HeritageSociety- ($6,000 FHS grant and a matching $6,000 from the William T. Kemper Foundation) 

$5000-Randy Baustert

$1,904-Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Missouri

$1,250-The National Society of Colonial Dames of America

$1,320-300th T-Shirts Sales

$720-300th Souvenir Mugs

$300-Vicki Kehrer

$200-Margaret Brown

$100-Gary Henson, James & Merrill Hill, Lee Meliere

$50-Laveta Braun

Austen Boettcher, Anne Brewster, Kim Craft, Susan Fletcher, Jason Griffith, Susan Hezel, Patty Humphreys, John Hunt, Jason Johnsrud, Jane Knapp, Diana Mueller, Anna Poling, Kelley Schearf, Mardell Sibley, A .P. Woods,Tiffany Woods, Roger Yoakum

Les Amis du Fort de Chartres Heart of Illinois Country Artisan Shop 2020-2021 proceeds befitting the Capital Project Giving Campaign in honor of the 300th Anniversary of the first Fort de Chartres