When President James Monroe signed off on Illinois being admitted as the 21st state in the union in 1818, Kaskaskia was chosen as its first capital. But it didn’t last long.

This isolated island, where history runs deep, is an oddity even during dry weather. The home of the first capital of Illinois from 1818 until 1820, Kaskaskia has been severed from the rest of the ...

Even though flood water has fallen to levels that make some bridges and channel roads passable in the tiny island town of Kaskaskia, Ill., local officials still don't have a good idea of how much ...

KASKASKIA, Ill. — This tiny island town has its quirky distinctions. It’s a 300-year-old French settlement that became the state’s first capital. A banished lover’s curse may be triggering ...

A flood in 1881 carved out a new channel, resulting in Kaskaskia Island, home to the only Illinois community located west of the Mississippi River.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — Kaskaskia Island has been selected at the site to being the 100 Day Countdown to the Illinois Bicentennial Celebration. The decision was announced Friday by the Governor ...

But in 1881, the Mississippi, which once had arced west here, bored into Kaskaskia’s channel, severing the town from Illinois and turning it into Kaskaskia Island.

There is a lot to Kaskaskia’s story — a lot that wouldn’t be gleaned by a visit to the sparse island on what would seem to be the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. Emily Lyons, curator ...

KASKASKIA — On Kaskaskia Island, water from the Mississippi River covers fields normally bursting with soybeans and corn.