Cahokia, Illinois

Cahokia is a village now part of Cahokia Heights, Illinois, in St. Clair County, United States. It was founded as a colonial French mission in 1689. It is in Metro East, east of the Mississippi River in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Cahokia had a population of 12,096. On May 6, 2021, the village was incorporated into the new city of Cahokia Heights. The name refers to one of the clans of the historic Illiniwek confederacy, who met early French explorers to the region. Early European settlers named the nearby (and long-abandoned) Cahokia Mounds in present-day Madison County after the Illini clan. The UNESCO World Heritage Site and State Historic Park were developed by the Mississippian culture, active here from 900 to 1500 AD. A connection to the clan is possible but unknown. The area was part of an extensive urban complex, the largest of the far-flung Mississippian culture territory through the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. French Canadian colonists founded Cahokia village in 1696 as a Catholic mission. The historic Church of the Holy Family is the oldest continuously active Catholic parish in the United States, as well as the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains. Other significant colonial and Federal-period buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the Cahokia Courthouse (circa 1740, in the French Colonial style); and the Jarrot Mansion (circa 1810).