Kaskaskia, Illinois

Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, on the west side of the Mississippi River. The population of Kaskaskia was 21 in the 2020 United States census, making it the third-least populous incorporated community in Illinois behind Valley City (pop. 14) and Florence (pop. 17). A historically important town, it was a Catholic mission and settlement by the French in Illinois Country in the early 1700s. It was founded near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia River, but almost two centuries later that would prove its undoing. It grew to become the regional center and was briefly the first capital of Illinois in 1818, but was devastated by flooding in the mid and late 19th century, shifting the course of the Mississippi from its west to its east. Kaskaskia has an Illinois telephone area code (618) and a Missouri ZIP Code (63673). Its roads are maintained by Illinois Department of Transportation, and its few residents vote in Illinois elections. The town was evacuated in the Great Flood of 1993, which covered it with water more than 9 feet (2.7 m) deep.