Coordinates: 38°5′30″N 90°10′51″W

Kolmer Site
The Kolmer Site is an archaeological site in the far southwest of
Kolmer Site
the U.S. state of Illinois. Located near Kaskaskia and Prairie du
Rocher in western Randolph County, it lies at the site of an early U.S. National Register of Historic
historic Indian village from the French period. Because it Places
occupies a critical chronological and cultural position, it has been U.S. Historic district
given national recognition as a historic site. Contributing property

Contents
Historical events
Archaeological significance
Historic designation
Overview of the site from the west
See also
References

Historical events
Under René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the Mississippi
and Ohio Rivers were discovered and explored for the first time,
and claimed as part of New France. The earliest explorers were
soon followed by Catholic Christian missionaries led by Jacques
Gravier, who soon won converts among the Illini, and some of
these praying Indians founded riverside villages at Cahokia,
Kaskaskia, and Peoria.[3]:14 These villages were small by modern
standards, although they remained comparable in size to
European settlements in the area; according to letters by one
missionary written in 1750, three Illini villages in the American
Bottom together numbered fewer than eight hundred inhabitants,
while the five French villages in the same region comprised
eleven hundred Frenchmen and three hundred blacks.[3]:15

Established in 1720, the village at the present Kolmer Site was

inhabited by a subgroup of the Illini known also as the
Michigamea. Here the flickering light of civilization grew for
little more than thirty years before it was unexpectedly snuffed
out: in 1752, a confederation of the Fox, Sioux, and Cherokees
came up against the village suddenly,[2]:3 and although it had
been fortified with a stockade,[2]:2 the inhabitants were unable to
Location Levee Rd., west
hold off the invaders. Many were savagely killed and numerous
of Fort Chartres
others captured, and the survivors fled to Kaskaskia. The invaders
withdrew, but only after burning the abandoned village; instead of State Park[2]:4
Nearest city Prairie du
Rocher, Illinois
rebuilding their destroyed homes, the Michigamea established a Coordinates 38°5′30″N
new village nearby at a location known to modern archaeologists 90°10′51″W
as the Waterman Site.[2]:3 Area 89 acres (36 ha)
French dominion in the American Bottom ended with the Treaty Built 1720
of Paris in 1763, by which all lands east of the Mississippi were Part of French Colonial
ceded to the Kingdom of Great Britain. British dominion, in turn, Historic District
was ended by the American Revolution: while the French settlers (ID74000772 (htt
and local Indians were originally favorable toward the British,
ps://npgallery.np
skillful manoeuvering by George Rogers Clark won the support
s.gov/AssetDetai
of both populations for the Americans. The influence of the
Catholic faith may have waned by this time, as Clark addressed l/NRIS/7400077
the inhabitants of Kaskaskia and Cahokia using traditional 2))
religious terms instead of Christian words, [3]:201 and by the early NRHP reference No. 74000773 (http
nineteenth century Kaskaskia was home to numerous Protestant s://npgallery.nps.
churches, such as the Episcopalians,[3]:259 the Baptists,[3]:268 and gov/AssetDetail/
the Reformed Presbyterians.[3]:243 Nevertheless, the Kolmer NRIS/74000773)[1
residents' church endured: the parish of the Immaculate
Conception in Kaskaskia survived the great nineteenth-century Added to NRHP
May 1, 1974
flood that saw the Mississippi abandon its banks and leave
Kaskaskia an island on the western side of the river,[3]:254 and although the village had fallen to a population
of fourteen by the time of the 2010 census,[4] Mass is still celebrated at the church weekly.[5]

Archaeological significance
When the Michigamea lived at the Kolmer Site, it sat on the riverbank along the Mississippi, but subsequent
course changes have stranded the site from the river: it now lies a full mile (more than 1.5 km) away from
the shoreline,[2]:6 behind the levee system that has been built to keep the river in its banks.[6] Now used for
agricultural purposes, the soil is a mixture of sandy humus and gumbo.[2]:2 The area's original character has
been well preserved, due largely to the lack of modern development that it has experienced.[7]:2 Because of
the suddenness of the attack that destroyed the village in 1752, the Michigamea are believed to have
abandoned most of their possessions, and because they established a new village rather than restoring the
old, it is likely that most artifacts that survived the village's burning yet remain in situ. For these reasons,
Kolmer is significant for its potential to yield information about the late Illini period, but its importance is
greatly expanded because of its inhabitants' relationship with the French. As original artifacts from the site
must be dated within a third of a century, comparisons of Kolmer artifacts with artifacts from other French-
influenced sites would enable archaeologists to gain a far clearer understanding of previously undated sites,
while the significant changes inherent in the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to European-influenced
civilization are also likely to appear in the site's artifacts.[2]:3 Finally, as the Kolmer Site was intimately
connected to the most prominent French settlements in the upper Mississippi valley, it is a critical component
of a region without parallel in the United States for its preservation of colonial France, especially as the
larger village of old Kaskaskia has lain under the Mississippi River since its course changed.[7]:2

Historic designation
In the spring of 1974, the Kolmer Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in two different
ways. It was individually added to the Register in early May, qualifying because of its archaeological
significance, while one month previously it had been added as part of a large historic district. This district,
the French Colonial Historic District, preserves 22 square miles (57 km2) of land connected to early French
settlement in the region,[1] and the Kolmer Site was named one of its most significant contributing
properties. Among the other contributing properties are truly ancient sites such as the Modoc Rock Shelter
and important French or French-influenced structures such as the Creole House, the Pierre Menard House,
Fort de Chartres, and the site of Fort Kaskaskia, as well as the Waterman Site where the Michigamea lived
after their first village was razed.[7]:6

See also
List of archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois
Grand Village of the Illinois, a significant village site in northern Illinois

References
1. "National Register Information System" (https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP). National Register of
Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. Brown, Margaret Kimball. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Kolmer
Site (http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200817.pdf). National Park Service, n.d.
3. Combined History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties, Illinois: With Illustrations
Descriptive of Their Scenery and Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and
Pioneers (https://archive.org/details/combinedhistoryo00mcdo). Philadelphia: McDonough,
1883.
4. "U.S. Census website" (https://www.census.gov). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved
2011-05-14.
5. Parish Listing: Immaculate Conception (http://www.diobelle.org/parishes/parish064.aspx),
Diocese of Belleville, 2013. Accessed 2013-11-20.
6. DeLorme. Illinois Atlas & Gazetteer. 6th ed. Yarmouth: DeLorme, 2010, 74. ISBN 978-0-89933-
321-2.
7. Brown, Margaret K. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: French Colonial
Historic District (http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200816.pdf). National Park Service, n.d.

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