62 Business View Magazine - October 2016
The Kaskaskia Regional Port District
Moving up and shipping out
The Kaskaskia Regional Port District, based in Red
Bud, Illinois, was created in 1965, by the Illinois Gen-
eral Assembly in order to promote industrial, com-
mercial, transportation, and economic activities on
the Kaskaskia River and thereby add to the economic
vitality of Monroe, Randolph, and St. Clair Counties.
Today, the Kaskaskia Regional Port District ranks as
the 72nd largest port in the country and its 8th largest
inland port.
The Port District’s creation came after many years
of effort by individuals and groups, most notably, the
Peabody Coal Company, that wanted to see use the
lower portion of the river used for commerce. “There
was a non-profit set-up that lobbied the state to cre-
ate a port, and it also lobbied the federal government
to create a lock and dam,” says Ed Weilbacher, the
Port District’s General Manager. In 1996, the U.S. Con-
gress provided federal funds for making the lower 36
miles of the 325 mile-long Kaskaskia more navigable
and for the construction of the Jerry F. Costello Lock
and Dam where the river meets the Mississippi, just
