The LaSalle County Historical Society
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The LaSalle County Historical Society
The 2023 Canal Boat Captain's Award Honorees - Part 7
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. For the past week, we’ve been taking a special look at the seven 2023 Honorees who were recognized at our Boat Captain’s Luncheon in April of this year. For our final installment of this special week-long series, we salute our friends at the LaSalle County Historical Society.
The LaSalle County Historical Society is 116 years old and has done a great job of staying relevant in an ever-changing world. In the last 10 years, they have expanded their footprint in Utica on both sides of the canal, by adding five buildings to their campus. In the 1960s, they acquired their first building, which was a warehouse along the canal that opened in 1848, the same year the canal opened. Edmund Thornton was a catalyst for that first building.
Their more recent acquisitions include a one room school house and a blacksmith shop, both of which they use in their education of 4th graders throughout LaSalle County. Most recently, they purchased the Utica Lumber Shed and a grain storage facility. These buildings are along Route 171, which is the main road from I-80 to Starved Rock State Park and sees an astonishing amount of traffic. This visibility has attracted more visitors and allowed them to help sustain their operations, with the addition of a canal market. It has also doubled their exhibit space, which is climate controlled, with added space for meetings and events.
They have carried on their iconic events, such as the Burgoo Festival, which began in 1969, and they’ve added new, popular events, such as Will Bill Hickok Days. They have added exhibits with national significance, such as the Radium Dial Girls, and are also working to digitize their collections, so they can be shared far and wide.
We salute the leadership and hard work of the LaSalle County Historical Society in securing the important stories of our collective history for generations to come.
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. We hope you’ve enjoyed this exclusive look at this year’s Boat Captain’s Award Honorees, who have contributed to the success of the I&M Canal National Heritage Area, and have furthered the principles on which CCA was founded. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, pass it along to your family and friends, leave us a like or a comment, and we’ll see you again very soon.