Photo from The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated, J.C. Wild and L. F. Thomas. Reproduction of 1841 edition Joseph Garnier, St. Louis.
Illinoistown
When James Piggott established
his ferry service in 1795, the closest settlement on the
Illinois bank was south of the ferry in Cahokia. However
Piggott was soon transporting both people and goods to St.
Louis and the ferry landing was a natural place for commerce to
develop. Between 1805 and 1809 a wealthy French Canadian, Etienne
Pinsoneau purchased land behind the ferry landing and built a
two-story brick tavern. He called the area Jacksonville. In subsequent
years Pinsoneau sold some of the land and in 1815 Moses Scott
built a general store. The McNight-Brady
operation bought out
Pinsoneau at the same time it invested in Piggott's ferry. Brady
and McNight platted the land behind the Piggott ferry in 1818
and called it Illinoistown. A traveler in 1821 described the settlement
as one consisting of roughly twenty or thirty houses and one hundred
inhabitants.