Lock 16 Center, La Salle

Louis XIV launched several canal projects in France which are the forerunners to canals such as the I&M Canal in Illinois. The most influential was the Canal du Midi, whose construction techniques were echoed by American Canals. The American Thomas Jefferson, politician, architect, and future president of the United States, came to study the Canal du Midi in 1789. As the United States Ambassador to France he envisaged the construction of a similar work to link the Potomac River to Lake Erie.

Speaker Charles J. Balesi, Ph. D, is the Conseiller Consulaire for French citizens living in the Midwest and Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’honneur. He is involved in the French Heritage Corridor and the Bourbonnais Grove Historical Society and has authored a book “The Time of the French in the Heart of North America.”

Join us for both the dinner & lecture for $29, or just the lecture for $7. Reservations are required. For more information or to reserve, please call (815) 223-1851.