Kaskaskia, IL: This Town was isolated when the Mississippi River meandered east

(Satellite, the Illinois border (dotted white line) shows the original course of the Mississippi River.)

USACE, St. Louis District posted three images with the comment:

The original Village of Kaskaskia, Illinois was once a center of trade and culture until later in the 1800s, when the Mississippi River started to migrate towards the Kaskaskia River.
The combination of the heavy snowfall and ice jams on the river from St. Louis, Missouri to Cairo, Illinois in the winter of 1880 and 1881 caused the Mississippi River current to penetrate behind the obstructions.
The Mississippi River ultimately, over the course of several years, swallowed up the Kaskaskia River as well as the original village of Kaskaskia.

Vanessa Byer: Kaskaskia was the first capital of Illinois before they moved it to Vandalia and then to Springfield.

Larry Braun: I read once that cutting all the trees down to fuel the steam boats contributed to this change of course.

Perry Whitaker: Larry Braun - The trees were clear cut on both sides of the river so the river just went wild. It was like meandering on steroids.

Dave Erzfeld: I had coworker that grew up on the island. He had an Illinois drivers license but the address was PO BOX St. Mary, Mo.

He laughed... Try explaining that to a cop when you get pulled over 🙂

Steve Tuba Hoog: Almost unrelated except that it's in the map.."St Marys" is now actually, St Mary. About 20 years ago someone found the original city charter. They had to change all the official stuff to reflect the legal name. But no one seems to know when it changed.

[Some comments claim that the New Madrid Earthquake help change the flow. But others point out that the earthquake was in 1811-12 while this change happened in 1880-81.]

Tommy Burgdorf: shared

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Blake Rabe commented on the above post
Wish i could have seen this back before it was an island!
[Note that the town was gone by 1909.]

Jon Ray Thomas Roche commented on the above post, cropped
My Ancestral Roche family immigrated to Kaskaskia in 1841 from Fermoy Ireland. Having purchased the former State house to live in.

The Immaculate Conception Chapel is about the only thing left.

Street View, Jun 2024

Matthew Range, Jun 2021