Illinois and Michigan Canal Locks and Towpath | |
 a scene at Seneca, Illinois | |
   | |
| Nearest city | Joliet, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°34′11″N 88°4′11″W / 41.56972°N 88.06972°W |
| Area | 1,130 acres (4.6 km2)[1] |
| Built | 1848 |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000332 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[2] |
| Designated NHL | January 29, 1964[3] |
The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran 96 miles (154 km) from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. The canal crossed the Chicago Portage, and helped establish Chicago as the transportation hub of the United States, before the railroad era. It was opened in 1848. Its function was partially replaced by the wider and deeper Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and it ceased transportation operations with the completion of the Illinois Waterway in 1933.
Illinois and Michigan Canal Locks and Towpath, a collection of eight engineering structures and segments of the canal between Lockport and LaSalle-Peru, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[1][3][4]
Portions of the canal have been filled in.[1] Much of the former canal, near the Heritage Corridor transit line, has been preserved as part of the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor.
- ^ a b c Blanche Schroer; Grant Peterson; S. Sydney Bradford (September 14, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Illinois and Michigan Canal" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) and Accompanying 27 photos, undated. (2.47 MB) - ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ a b "Illinois and Michigan Canal Locks and Towpath". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
- ^ "Illinois & Michigan Canal". Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2013.