{"nrhp_refnum":"97001332","name":"Apple River Fort Site","other_names":["11jd298"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"0.25 mi. ESE of jct. of Mrytle and Illinois Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elizabeth","county":"Jo Daviess County","state":"IL","lat":42.31811050600004,"lon":-90.21439727099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Agriculture","Historic - Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Archaeological site of Apple River Fort, a settlers' stockade built in May 1832 during the Black Hawk War on a knoll near a spring beside the Kellogg Trail, just east of the village of Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, Illinois.","why_significant":"The site is tied to the 1832 Black Hawk War, when Black Hawk's band attacked the fort on June 24, 1832. Excavation showed the actual size and layout of the stockade and produced over 2,100 artifacts showing settler life in a lead-mining community from the late 1820s to the mid 1840s. Unexcavated deposits remain for future research.","narrative":"Apple River Fort Site in Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, marks the ground where lead-mining settlers raised a hasty log stockade in May 1832 as Black Hawk's band moved through the region. The fort stood on a knoll near a spring along the Kellogg Trail, and Black Hawk with about 150 warriors attacked it on June 24, 1832, fighting for about 45 minutes before withdrawing. The fort was dismantled in the late 1840s, and its logs went into a barn. The land was later used mainly as pasture, so subsurface remains survived. Archaeological work in 1995 located the stockade trench, about 48 by 68 feet, along with cellars, pits and more than 2,100 artifacts including ceramics, lead shot and household goods. These finds corrected the sketchy written accounts and illuminate settler daily life from the late 1820s to the mid 1840s. Much of the evidence remains unexcavated, and a reconstructed fort stands nearby, outside the listed area.","period_of_significance":"Late 1820s-mid 1840s (Criterion D); 1832 (Criterion A)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","D"],"status_note":"The original fort site is preserved undisturbed and covered with grass, with a reconstructed fort built nearby to the southeast and outside the nominated area. Interpretive center plans were under way.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.748884-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/8930/28893088/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/97001332.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001332/834ba48b13-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001332/834ba48b13-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Il_Apple_River_Fort2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Il_Apple_River_Fort2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893088","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_River_Fort","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4781224"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/jo-daviess-county/apple-river-fort-site-97001332/"}