St. Philippe, Illinois

St. Philippe was strategically located near the bluffs that flank the east side of the Mississippi River in the vast Illinois floodplain known as the "American Bottom".

After the British takeover of this area following their victory in the Seven Years War, many French from the Illinois country moved west to Ste.

Genevieve, Saint Louis, and Missouri In 1719, Philip Francois Renault arrived from Picardy to the area.

A friend of the French King Louis XV, Renaud was given a large tract of land for mining purposes.

Surpluses from the productive cultivation by habitants later helped supply critical wheat and corn to New Orleans and other lower Louisiana Territory communities.

Additionally, King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763 designated all the land west of the Appalachians and east of the Mississippi as an Indian Reserve.

Reportedly, his campaign caused some of the remaining French settlers to emigrate to the Spanish-controlled territories west of the Mississippi, leaving relatively few in Prairie du Rocher.

Because St. Philippe was within the floodplain of the American Bottom and suffered severe seasonal flooding, the village was eventually abandoned before 1765, as was Fort de Chartres.