Kankakee River State Park is an Illinois state park on 4000acre primarily in Kankakee and Will Counties, Illinois, United States. Originally, of land was donated by Ethel Sturges Dummer for the creation of the state park in 1938. Another was donated by Commonwealth Edison in 1956, which again donated more land in 1989. The islands of Smith, Hoffman, Langham, and Willow are all located inside the park on the Kankakee River.HistoryBefore the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans occupied the Kankakee River valley in the area that is now the state park. This region was historically occupied by Illini and Miami Indians in the 1670s and 1680s. By 1685 the Miami were sufficiently numerous that the Kankakee River was called the River of the Miami. Kickapoo and Mascouten also frequented the river valley in the 18th century. By the 1770s, the Council of Three Fires—the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi nations—dominated the area. The most extensive village was "Rock Village" or "Little Rock Village" inside the present-day park near the mouth of Rock Creek. In 1830 it was the site of the last great Indian Council. After 1832, the Potawatomi ceded all of their land along the Kankakee and Illinois rivers to the United States. Most Potawatomi left the area by the end of the decade, except for Chief Shaw-waw-nas-see, whose grave is commemorated by a boulder along the nature trail at Rock Creek.
