The park was named in honor of Father (Père) Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit priest who was the co-leader, with his comrade Louis Jolliet, of a 1673 voyage of exploration on the Mississippi River.

At the mouth of the Illinois River, the explorers found one of the richest and most densely settled regions of North America, fully utilized by Native Americans of the Illini Confederacy.

Exotic fish, such as the Asian carps, have swum into the rivers and have partially replaced native species such as largemouth bass, bluegill, catfish, and crappie.

One signature Pere Marquette State Park species, the American bald eagle, has made a remarkable comeback that started in the 1990s.

[2] The park includes a faulted geologic anticline, an upward arching of stratified rock dated to crustal movement circa 200 million years BP.