Built To Last
Architecture And The I&M Canal
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Canal Stories, a series brought to you by the Canal Corridor Association to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Illinois & Michigan Canal and the communities that were shaped by its legacy. While the I&M Canal has no shortage of natural beauty, it also features its fair share of historic buildings and impressive displays of engineering prowess. Today, we’re putting the spotlight on some of the stunning, time-tested works of architectural wonder that can be found along the National Heritage Area, as written by our friend, Ronald Scott Vasile.
Whether your style leans more towards Greek Revival, Italianate, Romanesque Revival, or Queen Anne, you can certainly find a wide variety of architectural gems in the I&M Canal National Heritage Area. In fact, there are many nationally recognized architectural and engineering structures preserved in the communities surrounding the I&M Canal. Many canal towns also feature beautifully preserved downtowns, including Morris, Lockport, and Ottawa.
The I&M Canal brought new kinds of architecture to the area, including grain elevators, the "cathedrals of the prairie," as well as huge warehouses. The canal itself was a huge undertaking, with its limestone walls and wooden locks, yet it did not disrupt the landscape as much as the railroads and highways that would come later. The towns that grew up along the canal developed thriving commercial districts, which soon came to be surrounded by residential areas. Today, along the leafy streets of canal towns, many of these homes are still providing visitors with a look at our shared architectural legacy.
Although there is much industrial, utilitarian architecture along the canal, more ornate buildings can also be found. The Second Empire style of the massive HegelerCarus Mansion in LaSalle, designed in 1874, provided an elegant framework for the printing presses of the Open Court Publishing Company, which were housed in the two-story basement. The Italianate Reddick Mansion (1858) in Ottawa is a sumptuously appointed nineteenth-century home, sitting opposite the historic Washington Square—the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858.
Some of the most impressive structures in this area are built of native limestone. This stone was used to great advantage in buildings such as the L-shaped Joliet Public Library (1903), designed by noted Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham, and the Joliet Penitentiary, which opened in 1858. Many limestone churches are also prominent here. St. James of the Sag Church in Lemont dates back to 1833, with the present structure erected in 1853, which was later modified. Used not only for public buildings but residential and industrial structures as well, the distinctive limestone is also evident in many homes throughout the region, including the Fitzpatrick House in Lockport.
Area residents not only designed and constructed fine buildings, they also published manuals which showed the common folk how to build their own homes. In 1857, Ottawa native William E. Bell published a book called Carpentry Made Easy, detailing an ingenious method of building called the balloon frame. The method was developed in the 1830s by Chicagoan George Washington Snow. This simple method, utilizing standard size boards and machine cut nails, allowed even unskilled workers to build houses, quickly, cheaply, and easily. Balloon frame construction helped boost the incredible growth of the western U.S., where trees were scarce. Wood from the Midwest, cut into standard-size boards, was shipped by rail to the West, and most wooden buildings erected today still use a method of construction derived from this system.
That concludes today’s Canal Story. Thank you so much for joining us as we continue our journey through the history of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, pass it along to your family and friends, and we’ll see you again very soon.