Join us Thursday, November 30th 2017 at the Lock 16 Cafe for our Dinner Lecture: Trail Markers: Past & Present. Indigenous peoples, including Native Americans, have always been consummate travelers, whose trade and social networks crossed the continent. Few are…
DetailsJoin us Thursday, October 5th 2017 at the Lock 16 Cafe for our Dinner Lecture: Coal, Shale, and Ironstone: The Geology & Paleontology of Mazon Creek. Located in northeastern Illinois, Mazon Creek, is an incredible fossil array of associated Upper Carboniferous…
DetailsUnfortunately we have some bad news regarding one of our I&M Canal Boat mules, Joe. Joe has been diagnosed with EPM, a neurological disease that causes inflammation and spinal cord damage. There is a treatment available and while it will…
DetailsJoin us, Thursday September 14th 2017, at the Gaylord Building for our Dinner lecture series: The National Park Service: 100 Years
In August 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Area, America’s first National Heritage Area. This “new kind of national park” was the first explicit marriage of preservation, conservation, recreation, and economic…
DetailsJoin us Saturday August 26th OR Sunday August 27th for the Mazon Creek Fossil Tour! Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the environment, ecosystems, and climate of Northern Illinois as it was 300 million years ago by collecting…
DetailsWGN will be on the I&M Canal Boat on Monday August 7th at 11:00am! WGN will do a feature on the I&M Canal Boat, The Volunteer, and the history of the I&M Canal National Heritage Area! We would like to thank…
DetailsJoin us on Thursday July 27th for Junior Ranger day in the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Area! Park Ranger Bill Smith will be at the Lock 16 Visitor Center, 754 First Street LaSalle, IL, this summer to answer…
DetailsThe very first canal celebration turned into a riot. The groundbreaking for the construction of the I&M Canal took place at Bridgeport (then a separate town from Chicago) on the 4th of July in 1836. A great deal has been…
DetailsTeaching kids history is so important! History connects children to community values and provides models for good and responsible citizenship! Thank you to our sponsors who have helped send students to the I&M Canal Boat to learn about the history and…
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