Ring in the Fourth of July with a 229-year-old tradition

KASKASKIA ISLAND, IL - When Americans ring in the Fourth of July this year, a celebration to mark another type of ringing will take place in a 304-year-old Illinois community west of the Mississippi River.

        The 38th annual Independence Day Celebration is planned for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 4 at the Kaskaskia Bell State Historic Site on Kaskaskia Island.  On that date in 1778 George Rogers Clark rang the bell after he and his troops occupied Kaskaskia without firing a shot during the Revolutionary War.  King Louis XV of France gave the bell to the church of Kaskaskia in 1741.

 

Brigadier General William L. Enyart, Assistant Adjutant General, Illinois Army National Guard will give the principal address.  Don Welge, President of Gilster Mary-Lee Corp. of Chester, Illinois will be master of ceremonies at the hour-long patriotic ceremony, which is free and open to the public.   Reverend Don Estes, Shawnee Hills Baptist Church of Jackson, Missouri will give the invocation.  Other remarks will be made by Military Veteran Danny James; Barb Brown, Circuit Clerk of Randolph County, Illinois; Emily Lyons, Curator, Randolph County Archives & Museum representing Kaskaskia Island residents; Kenneth Ragland, Commander of Chester V.F.W. Post 3553; Robert Lohman, Commander of Chester American Legion Post 487; Mayor Marty Bert of Chester, Illinois; Mayor Bob Miget of Perryville, Missouri; and Darrell Duensing of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. 

 

The Chester High School Band directed by Steve Colonel will perform patriotic music, Tammy Duensing will sing patriotic selections and Brian Roth will play taps. Since the Liberty Bell of the West cannot be rung, the 1874 church bells next door will be rung by the Andrew and Florence McDonald family children to signify that freedom is still alive for the American people.

        Area Boy and Girl Scouts, as well as French Marines from nearby Fort de Chartres State Historic Site commanded by Bill McKnight, will also participate in the ceremony. Visitors should bring lawn chairs, although some chairs will be provided under tents.

        The Chester V.F.W. and American Legion Posts, the City of Chester, the Kaskaskia Church Foundation, and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency are sponsoring the Independence Day Celebration.

        The historic Immaculate Conception Church located near the Kaskaskia Bell will be open during the event.  Refreshments and a four dollar grilled kabob/brat/hot dog plate lunch will be available before and after the program.

        Kaskaskia Bell State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (www.Illinois-History.gov), is located on a 14,000-acre island six miles above Chester, Illinois.  It was once physically connected to the State of Illinois, but a devastating flood in 1881 covered the village that was Illinois' first state capital and caused the Mississippi River to change course, thereby separating the island from the rest of the state.  A small brick building on Kaskaskia Island today houses the 650-pound bell that was cast in France as a gift to the French who first settled Illinois.  Exactly two years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, George Rogers Clark rang the "Liberty Bell of the West" to celebrate the capture of Kaskaskia, the westernmost military action of the Revolutionary War.  Twenty-five years later in 1803 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (brother of George Rogers Clark) visited here and added men and supplies for their Expedition of Discovery.

        To reach Kaskaskia Bell, take the river bridge from Chester, Illinois across the Mississippi River.  Take Missouri Highway 51 west to Highway H, then north to St. Mary, Missouri, and turn east onto the new bridge at the Kaskaskia Bell marker and follow the signs.