Pere Marquette State Park is an protected area in southwestern Jersey County, Illinois, United States. It is located near the city of Grafton, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

. The park is located on

Illinois Route 100 Illinois Route 100 (IL-100) is a state highway in the southwest Illinois. It generally parallels the Illinois River. Starting in downtown Alton, it trends northward to Buckheart Township near Canton. It makes up much of the Illinois River Roa ...

, which at this location is also part of both the

Great River Road The Great River Road is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states of the United States. They are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Miss ...

and the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway. The park is operated and maintained by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and is Illinois' largest state park in area. The park is also part of the Confluence Greenway and is at the northwestern end of the

Sam Vadalabene Bike Trail The Sam Vadalabene Bike Trail, is a paved 21.5 mile biking/walking trail located in southwestern Illinois, located just north of the St. Louis, Missouri core urban area. The trail was named after Sam M. Vadalabene, a member of the Illinois Senat ...

History of park

The park was named in honor of Father (Père) Jacques Marquette, a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest who was the co-leader, with his comrade Louis Jolliet, of a 1673 voyage of exploration on the Mississippi River. Marquette was the first European to map the mouth of the Illinois River, which he and Joliet used to return from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes. Marquette NSHC

At the mouth of the Illinois River, the explorers found one of the richest and most densely settled regions of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, fully utilized by Native Americans of the

Illini Confederacy The Illinois Confederation, also referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were made up of 12 to 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. Eventually member tribes occupied an area reaching from Lake Michicigao (Michigan) to Iowa, Illi ...

. Large catches of fish, shellfish, and waterbirds were yielded from the rivers and adjacent

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

. On top of the river bluffs, fertile windblown

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

and topsoil could be used to grow

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, beans, and squash. During the years since 1673, many changes have taken place to this region. The beds of mussels and other shellfish have dwindled, harmed by over-harvesting and possible disease. Exotic fish, such as the Asian carps, have swum into the rivers and have partially replaced native species such as largemouth bass,

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

, catfish, and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

. One signature Pere Marquette State Park species, the American

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

, has made a remarkable comeback that started in the 1990s. Hundreds of eagles that nest in the wetland areas to the north congregate in and around the park areas in late winter to catch and eat fish during the cold months. In the late 1950s through 1968 the area just north of the Lover's Leap lookout area was the site of an active Project Nike missile site, constructed for the defense of St. Louis during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

Amenities and activities

Pere Marquette State Park was founded in 1931 as the ''Piasa Bluffs State Park'', but was soon renamed. The park's heart is a Civilian Conservation Corps-built lodge, first built in the 1930s and later expanded in 1985 to contain 72 rooms. A visitor center, with exhibits on local ecology and history, opened in 1997. The lodge and surrounding cabins were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, Pere Marquette Lodge was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois). The park contains approximately of marked trails. Approximately 230 species of bird have been logged in the park, and a horseback riding stable operates during the warmer months. There is also a public hunting area for deer,

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

, wild turkey, and other target species. The

lies adjacent to the western and southern boundaries of the park. There are also several launching ramps for private boats to enter the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The park includes a faulted geologic anticline, an upward arching of stratified rock dated to crustal movement circa 200 million years BP. The feature is related to the Lincoln Anticline of northeast Missouri.

References

External links

Pere Marquette Lodge & Conference Center

Pere Marquette Lodge

Society of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on Pere Marquette Lodge
{{Authority control Civilian Conservation Corps in Illinois Illinois River Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Protected areas established in 1931 Protected areas of Jersey County, Illinois Protected areas on the Mississippi River Rustic architecture in Illinois State parks of Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Jersey County, Illinois 1931 establishments in Illinois