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History · Prairie du Rocher

Prairie du Rocher dates to 1722, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Creole House. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.

1722founded
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Prairie du Rocher’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Prairie du Rocher began

When was Prairie du Rocher founded?

1722

Prairie du Rocher dates its founding to 1722 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 228 in 18802020 census: 502304 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1821.The full story ↓

What stands out about Prairie du Rocher’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Boom and bustPeaked at 701 in 1980; 502 people lived here in 2020.Older than the countryEstablished in 1722, 54 years before the Declaration of Independence.On the map since 19154 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1993. Watch Prairie du Rocher change.Old housesHalf of Prairie du Rocher’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · People over time

Prairie du Rocher, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 701

Peaked at 701 in 1980; 502 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Prairie du Rocher’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Prairie du Rocher, 1722 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1722
    FoundingPrairie du Rocher is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1821Post officeThe Prairie du Rocher post office opens
  5. 1848Born hereHenry C. Hansbrough is born here
  6. 1854In the archiveMeyers Universum Band 16 06
  7. 20th century
  8. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1933In the archiveFort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State Park
  10. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 701
On the map

Prairie du Rocher on the map, 1915 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Prairie du Rocher. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Prairie du Rocher on the 1915 USGS mapPrairie du Rocher on the 1940 USGS mapPrairie du Rocher on the 1970 USGS mapPrairie du Rocher on the 1993 USGS map1915Renault sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Prairie du Rocher.

The story

How Prairie du Rocher came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Prairie du Rocher.

Read it all →

Prairie du Rocher is one of the oldest communities in the 21st-century United States that was founded as a French settlement. About four miles to the west, closer to the Mississippi River, is Fort de Chartres, site of a French military fortification and colonial headquarters established in 1720. Some buildings were reconstructed after falling into ruin, and the complex is now a state park and historical site. The fort and the town were a center of government and commerce when France claimed a vast territory in North America, New France or La Louisiane, which stretched from present-day Louisiana and the Illinois Country to Canada.

The village was founded in 1722 by French colonists, mostly migrants from Canada.

ChaptersNew FranceBritish ruleAmerican Revolution1993 floodsRecent history

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Prairie du Rocher, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
Meyers Universum Band 16 061854Meyers Universum Band 16 06
1930s5 items
Fort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State Park1933Fort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State ParkFort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State Park1933Fort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State ParkFort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State Park1933Fort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State ParkFort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State Park1933Fort de Chartres, Fort de Chartres State ParkHABS ILL,79-PRARO,1- (sheet 0 of 4) - French (Creole) House, Market Street1933HABS ILL,79-PRARO,1- (sheet 0 of 4) - French (Creole)…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Meyers Universum Band 16 06
Retake this viewMeyers Universum Band 16 06, 1854

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Prairie du Rocher’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Prairie du Rocher

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Creole House
Creole House
Buildings
Creole HouseBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Prairie du Rocher’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMeyers Universum Band 16 06: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Prairie du Rocher’s history

What year was Prairie du Rocher founded?

In 1722, according to Wikidata. Prairie du Rocher’s post office opened in 1821, and the census of 1880 counted 228 people here.

What is on the National Register in Prairie du Rocher?

One place: the Creole House (listed 1973).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.