Fort Orleans

Fort Orleans was a French military outpost built in 1723 in Missouri with wooden walls and positioned strategically near the junction with the Grand River. The archaeological site today reveals structural remains and artifacts that show how colonial buildings were constructed and how people lived there.

Etienne Vénard De Bourgmont founded the fort in 1723 as the first European settlement in the Missouri Valley, making it the westernmost French position in North America. The location was eventually abandoned but its founding marks an important moment in early European exploration of the continent.

The fort served as a meeting place where French settlers and local tribes gathered for trade and negotiations that shaped daily life at the site. These interactions created a mixed culture visible in the ways colonists and indigenous peoples coexisted in this shared space.

The site is an archaeological dig location so visible remains are limited and require some imagination to picture the original structure. A visit is greatly enhanced by informative signs or local guides that explain what once stood above and below the ground.

The fort was home to the first Catholic chapel in the Missouri Valley, built under the direction of Abbé Mercier. This chapel reveals the religious role of the place and how French faith became rooted in this distant frontier region.

GPS coordinates: 39.27480,-93.26120

Latest update: December 10, 2025 20:05