Many claim the first Peoria location dates to 1691 when French soldiers, traders, and missionaries, joined several thousand Illinois Indians, as they moved from the Village of La Vantum at the Starved Rock area, 65 miles upriver. Add in all the French traders, soldiers who married Illinois Indians creating a multi-cultural community. {{The 1691 La Vantum Village Massacre of the Illinois Indians by the Iroquois and its Aftermath.}}
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| The Village of La Vantum aka Grand Village of the Illinois Tribe (home to thousands of Indian residents), Fort St. Louis du Pimiteoui (serving as the administrative center for French military and traders), and the Mission of the Immaculate Conception (continuing the work begun by Father Père Jacques Marquette in 1673). |
Historians over the years have given this subject much attention; gathering up scraps of history relating to it, and by conversing with many of the descendants of the Peoria French, some of whom trace their genealogy back to the days of La Salle. By comparing these different accounts it is shown conclusively that the settlement at Peoria commenced in the year 1711, and under the following circumstances:
In the summer of 1711, Father Marest, a Jesuit priest from Canada, preached to the Indians at Cahokia, and by the force of his eloquence, a large number of them were converted to Christianity. Among these converts was a chief named Kolet, from Peoria, who at the time was at Cahokia, visiting friends. The chief prevailed on Father Marest to accompany him home to his village at Peoria Lake, and proclaim salvation to his people. Late in November the priest and chief, accompanied by two warriors, started in a bark canoe for Peoria, but after going ten leagues the river froze up so that further progress by water was out of the question; therefore the travelers hid their canoe, with most of their baggage, in the thick river timber, and continued their journey on foot.
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| Lake Pimiteoui, today's Peoria Lake. |
This Indian village (afterward called Opa by the French) was situated on the west bank of Peoria Lake, one mile and a half above its outlet. On La Salle's first visit to this place, thirty-one years before, he found here a large town and was cordially received by the head chief, Niconope. This chief had long since been gathered to his fathers, and his place was occupied by Kolet, above referred to.
Father Marest found quarters in an Indian lodge and remained in the village until spring without meeting with one of his countrymen. He preached to the Indians almost daily, many of whom embraced Christianity, and their names were afterward enrolled in the church book.
On the following spring, the French at Fort St. Louis established a trading post at Peoria Lake, and a number of families came there from Canada and built cabins in the Indian village. For fifty years the French and half-breeds continued to live in the town with the Indians, and during that period peace and harmony prevailed among them. But in course of time, this town was abandoned for one that figured extensively in its day and known in history as La Ville de Maillet.
In the summer of 1761, Robert Maillet, a trader of Peoria, built a dwelling one and a half miles below the town, near the outlet of the lake, and moved his family there. He called it La Ville de Maillet (the New Village). Here the land rises gradually from the water's edge until it reaches the high prairie in the rear, forming a beautiful sloping plateau, unequaled by any spot on the Illinois River. This locality for a town was considered preferable to the old one, the ground being dryer, the water better, and it was considered healthier, consequently, others came and built houses by the side of Maillet's.
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| The New French Village - known as La Ville de Maillet, located along the river in modern-day downtown Peoria. This substantial trading village was the site of Robert Maillet’s fort, built-in 1761, and then an American Fur Company post. The town was burned out by Americans soldiers in 1812 and the Americans built their own fort (Fort Clark) the following year. |
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| Fort Maillet was built in 1761. The fort was located along the river in modern-day downtown Peoria. |
The new town took the name of La Ville de Maillet (that is Maillet's village), after its proprietor, and was in existence fifty-one years. A fort was built on high ground, overlooking the lake on one side, and the sloping prairie on the other. This fort consisted of two large blockhouses, surrounded by earthworks and palisades, with an open gateway to the south next to the town, and was only intended as a place of retreat in case of trouble with the Indians. The fort was never occupied except a short time by Robert Maillet, who used one of the blockhouses for a dwelling, and the other for the sale of goods. Some years afterward, Maillet left the fort for a more desirable place of residence and trade, and it remained vacant for many years, the enclosure within the stockades being used by the citizens in common for a cow-yard. {{In 1820 Hypolite Maillet (a decedent), in testifying in the United States Court, in a snit brought on French claims, said that he was forty-five years old, and was born in a stockade fort which stood near the southern extremity of Peoria Lake.}}
When the Americans commenced a settlement at Peoria, in the spring of 1819, the outlines of the old French fort were plain to be seen on the high ground, near the lake, and a short distance above the present site of the Chicago and Rock Island depot. The line of earthworks could be traced out by the small embankments, and in some places, pieces of pickets were found above ground. Back of the fort was the remains of a blacksmith shop, and nearby grew a wild plum tree. This plum tree was dug up by John Brisket, the owner of the land, and under it was found a vault containing a quantity of old metal, among which were a number of gun barrels, knives, tomahawks, copper and brass trinkets, etc. Among other things found in this vault, were pieces of silver and brass plate for inlaying gun-stocks, ornamenting knife handles, etc. These things appeared to be the stock in trade of a gunsmith, and for some unknown reason were buried here.
According to the statements of Antoine Des Champs, Thomas Forsyth, and others, who had long been residents of Peoria previous to its destruction in 1812, it’s believed that the town contained a large population. It formed a link between the settlements of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Canada, and is situated in the midst of an Indian country, caused it to be a great place of the fur trade. At one time it contained about sixty houses, besides many lodges occupied by Indians part of the year. The town was built along the beach of the lake, and to each house was attached an out-lot for a garden, which extended back some distance on the prairie. The houses were all constructed of wood, some with framework and sided up with split timber, while others were built with hewed logs, notched together after the style of a pioneer's cabin. The floors were laid with puncheons, and the chimney built with mud and sticks.
General Clark conquered Illinois and took possession of the settlements at Kaskaskia and Cahokia in 1778, after which he sent three soldiers with two French Creoles, in a canoe to Peoria to notify the people that they were no longer under British rule, but citizens of the United States. Among these soldiers was a man named Nicholas Smith, afterward a resident of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and whose son, Joseph Smith, (Dad Joe) was among the first American settlers at Peoria. Through this channel, we have an account of Peoria as it appeared over two centuries ago, and which agrees well with other traditional accounts.
Mr. Smith said Peoria, at the time of his visit, was a large town, built along the beach of the lake, with narrow, unpaved streets, and houses constructed of wood. Back of the town were gardens, stock-yards, barns, etc., and among these was a wine press with a large cellar or underground vault for storing wine. There was a church with a large wooden cross rising above the root; and gilt lettering over the door. There was an unoccupied fort on the bank of the lake, and close by it was a windmill for grinding grain. The town contained six stores or places of trade, all of which were well filled with goods for the Indian market. The inhabitants consisted of French half breeds and Indians, not one of whom could speak or understand English.
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| The Old French Village consisted of French settlers and was located near today's Detweiller Marina, 2 Caroline Street, Peoria. Portions of the old properties and lot lines were recorded by the American government in the 1820s. |
The French settled at Peoria without a grant or permission from any government, and the title to their lands was derived from possession only. But these titles were valid according to usages, as well as a village ordinance, and lands were bought and sold the same as if patented by government. Each person had a right to claim any portion of the unoccupied land, and when in possession his title was regarded sacred. Every settler had a village lot for a garden attached to his residence, and if a farmer, a portion in the common field.
On the prairie west of the town were extensive farms, all enclosed in one field, and each person contributing his share of fencing, and the time of securing the crops and pasturing the stock, and was regulated by a town ordinance. The boundaries of these farms could be traced out in the early settlement of Peoria, as the lands showed marks of having been cultivated. When a young man married, a village lot and a tract of land in the common field (if a farmer) was assigned to him, and it was customary for the citizens to turn out and build him a house.
The inhabitants of Peoria had extensive vineyards, and each year made a large quantity of wine, much of which they traded to the Indians in exchange for furs. They domesticated the buffalo and crossed them with native cattle, which was found to improve the stock. These cattle could live during the winter without the expense of feeding, but while buffalo remained in the country they lost many by straying off with the herd. On the following summer, after the French were driven away from Peoria, a party of adventurers from St. Clair County came here and drove a large number of these cattle home with them. These cattle were highly prized by the inhabitants, as they would winter on the American Bottom without having to feed them. This stock of cattle was known here for many years, and their hides were frequently tanned for robes.
{{For one hundred years after the French made a settlement in the west, no horses except Indian ponies were used by them, and for the first thirty years, cattle and hogs were unknown. Tradition says two young pigs were brought in a canoe from Canada to Fort St. Louis, and from these hogs were raised to supply the settlements on the Mississippi River. At Cahokia, the settlers caught a number of buffalo calves and raised them with the expectation of domesticating them, but it proved a failure, for they went off with a herd of wild ones. It Is said when Crozat obtained a patent for the Illinois country, in 1771, then called Louisiana, his agent, Colonel De Mott, employed two half-breeds to drive a herd of cattle through the wilderness from Canada to Kaskaskia, and from these originated the stock in the Mississippi valley.}}
When a settlement was commenced at Peoria, the country belonged to France, afterward to Great Britain, and lastly to the United States. When Illinois came under British rule in 1756, Captain Stirling, commanding at Kaskaskia, sent a messenger to Peoria to notify them that they were British subjects. Afterward, when Illinois by conquest came under United States authority, they were again notified of a change in government, but they still remained French in feeling and sympathy. They claimed no allegiance to any government, paid no taxes and acknowledged no law except their own village ordinance. While these people were living in peace and harmony, being two hundred miles from the nearest point of civilization, they were attacked by an armed force, their town burned and the heads of families carried off prisoners of war. There are many incidents related, showing that trouble existed at different times between the French and their Indian neighbors, among which are the following:
In the year 1781, a Frenchman killed an Indian with whom he had trouble, and for a time all the white population was threatened with destruction. A large party of warriors came to Peoria and demanded the murderer, but he could not be found, having fled down the river, as was afterward shown. But the Indians believed that the murderer was secreted by his friends, so they gave the French three days to deliver him up, and if not forthcoming at the specified time they would burn the town. This caused a great panic; some fled for Cahokia, others took quarters in the fort, but before the time had expired, the Indians were convinced that the murderer had fled, consequently, pledges of friendship were renewed.
Again, in 1790, about five hundred warriors came to Peoria and demanded the surrender of a certain trader, whom they accused of causing the murder of Pierre de Beuro, but finally left without him.
It is claimed that between four and seven forts and stockades were constructed along Peoria’s waterfront from 1691 and the 1820s.
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| The remains of the 128 years between the 1691 Peoria settlement and the initial 1819 American settlers have only been found in a few areas, but the precise locations of the Illinois Indian villages, the Jesuit mission, and various French forts are still unknown. The area outside the pre-1939 flood levels along the shoreline north and south of Detweiller Marina is certainly the prime location where such remains can be found. |
Peoria, Illinois History as Presented Today:
What has become Peoria and the surrounding area bears many remnants of Native Americans. Artifacts and Native American burial mounds show that people lived in the area as far back as 10,000 BC.
The French were the first Europeans to explore the area that would become Peoria in 1673. Father Père Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the region, finding the Illinois Indians who were part of the Algonquian people. Those tribes that were part of the Illinois Confederacy at that time were the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Cahokia, and Tamaroa.
In 1680, two French explorers, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (Sieur de La Salle being a title only), and Henri de Tonti, constructed the first fort on the east bank of the Illinois River and named it Fort de Crévecoeur. Eleven years later, in 1691, another fort was built by Tonti and his cousin, François Daupin de La Forêt. It is believed the fort was near present-day Mary and Adams Streets. Called Fort St. Louis II, it is also known as Fort Pimiteoui. {{Pimiteoui translates to It Burns Past it.}} The fort, and the town established around it, was the first European settlement in Illinois.
The settlement became legally British in 1763 after the French and Indian War but remained French in practice. By 1778 the village had become part of the territory of the new United States, and George Rogers Clark appointed Maillet as a military commander. Robert Maillet established a new village, 1½ miles south of the old one. It later became known as "La Ville de Maillet" and was on the present-day site of downtown Peoria. The new village was considered to be better situated, and by 1796 or 1797, all the inhabitants of the old village had moved to the new location.
Peoria was incorporated as a town in 1835, having then a population of about 1,600. In 1845, it was incorporated as a city.
[1] "SAVAGE" is a word defined in U.S. dictionaries as a Noun, Verb, Adjective, and Adverb. Definitions include:
- a person belonging to a primitive society
- malicious, lacking complex or advanced culture
- a brutal person
- a rude, boorish or unmannerly person
- to attack or treat brutally
- lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings
The term Red Men is used often in historical books, biographies, letters, and articles written in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.
I change this derogatory term to "INDIANS" to keep with the terminology of the time period I'm writing about.
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