Footprints Of The Past
A Brief History Of People In The I&M Canal National Heritage Area
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. Today, we’re highlighting the groups of people who have inhabited the I&M Canal National Heritage Area over time; those whose lives were intertwined with the rich history of this land. For this story, we turn once again to the writings of our friend, Ronald Scott Vasile.
People have lived in the National Heritage Area for at least 10,000 years. Although little is known about the first Native Americans who lived here, we do know that by 2,000 years ago, they had developed elaborate civilizations. By 1700, however, the rapid spread of large-scale pioneer settlements seriously jeopardized their cultures. Tribes forced from their homelands in the eastern part of the U.S. encroached on the territories of Midwestern tribes, resulting in wars and the disruption of tribal traditions. The Black Hawk War of 1832 ended in defeat for a mixed band of natives, and as a result, the federal government implemented its policy of removing all Native Americans from Illinois. The tribes were forced to sign the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 and give up their territories in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River.
Remnants of the tribes that once inhabited northern Illinois can be found in Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Indiana. Today, over 20,000 Native Americans live in Chicago alone, but most are not related to the tribes that once held sway here.
The French also had a hand in shaping our culture. French Canadian fur trappers and missionaries began to arrive in the Midwest in the late 1600s. Many Frenchmen intermarried with the Native Americans, and some adopted their customs. Two of the most famous Frenchmen in Illinois were Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette. In 1673, following the suggestion of Native Americans who had long known of the route, they traveled from the Illinois River to the Chicago River and on to Lake Michigan. Jolliet was the first, but by no means the last, to suggest that a canal be built to connect Lake Michigan and the waters that flowed to the Mississippi River.
The English were also a presence in northern Illinois. The Kinzies, early Chicago's "first family," were among the earliest English traders at Fort Dearborn. By 1850, the English were an important presence in LaSalle and Grundy Counties. Many were farmers, and by the 1860s, others had moved into mining.
Towns along the I&M Canal National Heritage Area tell the story of the many immigrant groups who came to live and work in the region. The people who came to Illinois in the early nineteenth century were either recent immigrants or migrants from the eastern part of the US. In either case, they constituted a special breed, willing to start fresh, take any job, and work hard in a largely undeveloped place. They shared the American dream of freedom and economic prosperity.
The Irish, German, and Scandinavians were among the earliest groups to make the bold choice of living on the prairie frontier. These groups all worked on the construction of the I&M Canal. They transplanted their culture as best they could, but many of the amenities that they had grown accustomed to were not available in the Midwest.
The Irish began arriving in northern Illinois in large numbers in 1836, to work on the I&M Canal. They continued to pour into the area during the Great Potato Famine, between 1845 and 1847, during which time the population of Ireland decreased by over two million people through death and emigration. After 1848, many Irish moved to the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, where they worked in meat-packing plants and brickyards. Other Irish spread throughout northern Illinois, often becoming farmers in canal towns.
From 1860-1920, hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived in the United States, mostly from southern and eastern Europe. Poles, Italians, Czechs, Greeks, Slovaks, Russians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, and Slovenians all flocked to the National Heritage Area, taking jobs in a variety of industries. The tradition of closely-knit ethnic neighborhoods still characterizes many communities in the National Heritage Area today.
African Americans have lived in northern Illinois since the earliest days of the fur trade. The earliest African American in the National Heritage Area was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the first known person to settle in what is now Chicago. In the early nineteenth century, portions of the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Area were stops on the Underground Railroad, including the American House Hotel in Joliet. The first African Americans to migrate to the region in large numbers arrived to work on the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal between 1892 and 1900, and migration from the south increased dramatically during the first half of the twentieth century.
Today, the Chicago-area and surrounding communities have become even more ethnically diverse. Immigrants from all over the world are attracted to the jobs and quality of life here. In recent years, Illinois has seen an influx of people from countries in Asia, including Korea, India, and Japan. In addition, immigration from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba have added to the rich ethnic mix of the canal region.
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, be sure to drop us a comment, leave a like, and pass it along to your family and friends. We’ll see you again very soon.