{"nrhp_refnum":"71000293","name":"Fort Massac Site","other_names":["Fort Massiac"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"SE of Metropolis on the Ohio River","address_restricted":false,"city":"Metropolis","county":"Massac County","state":"IL","lat":37.14657538350005,"lon":-88.70894610308135,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-07-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Military","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Archaeological site of three successive forts (French Fort Ascension, Fort Massiac, and American Fort Massac) on a rise above the Ohio River in Fort Massac State Park, near Metropolis, Massac County, Illinois, occupied between 1757 and 1814.","why_significant":"The site holds the remains of French and American frontier forts that guarded the lower Ohio River. The American Fort Massac (1794-1814) is judged the most important, serving as a customs port of entry, post office, military headquarters and staging area. Settlements around it grew into Metropolis.","narrative":"Overlooking the Ohio River from a bluff about fifty feet above the water, this site in Fort Massac State Park near Metropolis, Illinois, contains the remains of three forts built in succession. The French erected Fort Ascension in 1757 to protect supply routes, then rebuilt it in 1760 as Fort Massiac. In 1794 the United States fortified the ruins with four blockhouses, a ditch and a stockade, naming it Fort Massac. The American post, occupied until 1814, served as a port of entry and customs collection point, hosted a post office, and was the staging area for volunteers in the War of 1812. George Rogers Clark landed nearby in 1778, and figures such as Zebulon Pike, James Wilkinson and Aaron Burr are tied to its history. Settlers drawn to the fort founded the community that became Metropolis. Archaeological work began in 1939, and a ground outline now marks the French fort.","period_of_significance":"1756-1815","architect_builder":"Fort Ascension built by the French under Captain Charles Philippe Aubry (1757); American fort built under Captain Thomas Doyle (1794); site excavated by Paul Maynard (1939)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Ruins, altered; state park open to the public, with a ground outline of the French fort, reconstructed ditch, flagpoles and a George Rogers Clark statue.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.628262-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/8936/28893610/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/71000293.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000293/a9702e9626-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000293/a9702e9626-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Massac_IL_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Massac_IL_2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893610","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Massac","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3077937"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/massac-county/fort-massac-site-71000293/"}