12/13/2013

Saint Mary, Missouri

Saint Mary, Missouri

Saint Mary was established in 1839 on the banks of the Mississippi river. The town grew as a regionally important river port until a flood in 1881 caused the main channel of the Mississippi river to shift 4 miles east. Kaskaskia, Illinois which had been a major French colonial town and capitol of the Illinois Territory was essentially destroyed during this flood. The townsite of Kaskaskia is about 5 miles northeast of Saint Mary and has a few restored historic buildings. Saint Mary managed to survive the loss of it's river port and continued slowly growing through the first half of the 20th century. In 1951 a leather goods factory opened in town that employed as many as 750 people. That factory closed in the early 1980s and no traces of it remain. Today Saint Mary is a very small, sleepy town and there are very few indications of it's history to be seen. The road to Kaskaskia which passes through a part of Illinois now isolated from the rest of the state by the Mississippi crosses the former Mississippi river channel.

 

Saint Mary, Missouri

Former Mississippi river channel, Saint Mary, Missouri

Saint Mary, Missouri From the Former Mississippi river channel

Former Mississippi river channel, Saint Mary, Missouri

 

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