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Shawneetown, Illinois (missing)
IL ,
USA
Latitude & Longitude:
37° 42' 31.560012",
-88° 10' 9.239988"
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Illinois State
Historical Marker
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Ancient mounds rise above the low ground of Gallatin County in several places to testify to a prehistoric life here. The northern section of Shawneetown rests on ancient buriel mounds. For a short time in the mid-eighteenth century the Shawnee Indians had a village here. The first settler arrived about 1800 and others soon followed. The federal Government laid out Shawneetown in 1810, before the surrounding area was surveyed. The town grew as the trading post and the shipping point for salt from the United States Salines near Equality and as a majot point of entry for emigrants from the east. In 1814 the United States Land Office for South-eastern Illinois opened at Shawneetown. Two state memorials - in Shawneetown - the first bank in the territory (1816) and the imposing state bank building (1839), mark the community's early prominence as the financial center of Illinois. According to legend several Chicagoans applied for a loan in 1830 to improve their village but were turned away because Chicago was too far from Shawneetown to ever amount to anything. The Ohio River which contributed to the early importance of the town was always a threat to its existence. In 1937 the angry yellow waters rushed over the levees and rose in the town until they lapped the second floor of the State Bank building. It was then that most of the residents moved northwest to the hills and rebuilt Shawneetown, although some still clung to the original site.
Last updated: 2/14/2015 15:17:00 |
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Shawneetown, Illinois (missing) Illinois Map
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