Welcome to Illinois

Welcome to Illinois. . In 1673 the areas of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers were explored by Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette. Their voyages resulted in French claims on the area until 1763 when, by the Treaty of Paris, France ceded the land to Great Britain. During the Revolution the Illinois Territory was won for the Commonwealth of Virginia by George Rogers Clark and his army. In 1784 it became part of the Northwest Territory and on December 3, 1818 Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state., U.S. Route 136 enters Illinois at Hamilton, north of Warsaw, the site of Fort Edwards erected during the War of 18 12 to counter British influence at Rock Island. It proceeds east through Carthage where, in 1844, the jailed Mormon leader Joseph Smith was killed defending himself from an angry mob. The highway crosses the Illinois River at Havana and runs east passing north of Lincoln, Illinois, the site of the reconstructed Postville Court House where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. Route 136 passes south of Funks Grove named for Isaac Funk one of a group of farmers who raised large herds of cattle for shipment to eastern markets., Route 136 exits Illinois northeast of Danville, home of Joseph “Uncle Joe” Cannon the powerful speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Along its approximate 235 mile length Route 136 passes through eight of Illinois' 102 counties and three of its county seats.