New Fort Massac on the horizon with $2.8 million IDNR grant

METROPOLIS — Chris McGinness wants to put the fort back in Fort Massac State Park.

McGinness, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ site superintendent at the park, hopes to have a new fort in place by next year’s Fort Massac Encampment. The IDNR recently announced a $2.8 million grant to rebuild the fort and a new shower building at Illinois’ oldest state park.

Parts of the previous fort are still standing. The stockades and gates from the previous fort had to be razed a few years ago. The new structure will be the third incarnation of the 1802 fort commissioned by the United States government.

Five forts have stood on the hill overlooking the Ohio River. The first was built by the French in 1757. The second structure, built in 1760, was dubbed Fort Massiac by the French. The outline of that fort remains north and west of the 1802 structure.

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