ILLINOIS, USA — Open a gateway into the past. Shawneetown Bank is three hours, and almost two centuries, away from modern-day St. Louis. The little town was a bellwether for Illinois’s salt industry. A skeleton of its former grandeur, the old bank building has good bones.
Built decades before the Civil War, it stands as a testament to Southernmost Illinois’s booming commercial past. Shawneetown Bank was the second bank in town. The first bank, which was also the first in the state, is now home to the John Marshall House Museum and Bank.
They have had visitors from all over the world, and there is still the foundation of the original bank where it stood in the levy. Among pioneer furnishings and historic photos and memorabilia, you’ll also find an example of some rare currency.
Southernmost Illinois’s unique history expands beyond walls, and at Millstone Bluffs you can walk in the footprints of the past. You can walk up to remnants of stone forts built by prehistoric natives and walk through the plaza where Mississippian families played and worked centuries later.
You can also check out the Trigg Observation Tower. It is the last remaining fire-watch tower on the Shawnee National Forest, and they used to be dotted across Southern Illinois. The 40-foot tower is an observation tower for tourists to look across the countryside.