Illinois Important Dates
1699 French priests founded a mission at Cahokia, the oldest permanent white settlement in Illinois. Kaskaskia was founded by the French in 1703.
1763 France ceded the Illinois country to Great Britain after the French and Indian War.
1778 Illinois became a county of Virginia after Americans captured Kaskaskia, the British seat of government. Virginia relinquished its claim in 1784.
1787 Congress made Illinois part of the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Territory was divided in 1800, when Illinois became a part of Indiana Territory.
1809 The Illinois Territory was formed when the Indiana Territory was divided.
1818 Illinois became a state, after the Wisconsin region was transferred to the Michigan Territory.
1832 The last serious Indian threat to white settlement ended when Sauk and Fox warriors were driven from the state during the Black Hawk War.
1838 - 1856 Improvements in transportation hastened immigration to the northern counties. The National Road reached Vandalia in 1838. The Illinois-Michigan Canal opened in 1848. The Illinois Central Railroad was completed in 1856.
1839 - 1846 Mormons from Missouri and Ohio built the city of Nauvoo before their westward exodus.
1861 - 1865 About 250,000 Illinois men served in the Union armed forces during the Civil War.
1871 Fire destroyed much of Chicago and its public records.
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