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Visitors Guide to
Columbia, Illinois is located at the
northern tip of Monroe County in Southwestern Illinois only about 12 miles
from downtown St. Louis and three miles from the Mississippi River. The
settlement that became Columbia grew up around two frontier forts. Fort
Whiteside, named after a noted frontier family from North Carolina. The
Whiteside built a fort, called Whiteside’s Station along the
Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail to protect settlers from the local Native Americans.
In 1783, Captain James Piggott and 17 families built cabins and a blockhouse
just west of modern day Columbia. Piggott later became the founder of East
St. Louis.
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