In Marseilles, Illinois near the Illinois River, there is an imposing eight story structure.  This was once the home of the National Biscuit Company.

National Biscuit Company.

National Biscuit Company

At one time over 500 workers were employed at this facility.
     In 1902, Howe and Davidson of New York City, moved their presses and equipment to this site on the Illinois River.  In that same year, National Biscuit purchased this site from the prior owners.  They operated Nabisco Brands paper mill and carton plant. In 1921, they constructed an eight story building. 
     There was a box and package warehouse.  There was also a folding carton assembly line.  Mechanical power was supplied by a canal from the River with a 15 foot drop.
     In 1984, the facility was sold to Federal Paper Board Company.  They discontinued the paper mill.  In 1991, Field Container acquired the plant.  It was closed in June of 2006.
     At one time there was talk of converting the eight story building to condominiums.  However, it appears that nothing came of this project.

Nabisco Biscuit Company in the distance.

    One of the largest interurban lines was the Chicago, Ottawa, and Peoria Line.  This ran along the Illinois Valley.   This was operational during the early 1900’s.  Eventually, the whole system closed in 1934. 

Chicago, Ottawa, and Peoria. Morris Station

Chicago, Ottawa, and Peoria. Mokena Station

Starved Rock Station

Chicago,Ottawa, and Peoria. Marseilles, Il.

Five Mile Bridge

     Five miles west of Morris, Illinois, there is a distinctive looking bridge over the Illinois Michigan Canal on Old Stage Coach Road.  This is a timber arch vehicular bridge.  This is the first of its kind in Illinois.  It is a replacement of the old Pratt Truss Bridge.  Although it looks old, it was actually constructed in 1995.  It’s length is 130.3 feet.  It’s width is 25.9 feet.  The length of its largest span is 126.6 feet.   
     The designer was Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates.  It was built by Belvidere Construction.  The bridge owner is Grundy County, Illinois and Erienna TWP.

Five Miles Bridge

     Constructed in 1867 by Abigail Atwater and N.C. Petty to
house the Grundy County Bank.

Grundy County National Bank

     This structure was built by Max Frank in 1882.  It is an example of Italinate commercial architecture.  It was purchased in 1905 by the Hynds Brothers.  They rented it as a post office.

Frank Brothers Clothing Store.

     The current courthouse is the third courthouse.  It was completed in 1913.  The court room on the second floor was restored in 2000.

Memorial in front of the Grundy County Courthouse.

Grundy County Courthouse

     Built by Lawrence Claypool in 1877.  Purchased by Sam Underwood in 1889.  He used it for a grocery store.  This later became Revolution Department Store. It was later purchased by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in1947.

Claypool Building

     Buffalo Rock State Park is located on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River.   It is off Dee Bennett Road between Ottawa and Utica, Illinois.
     A portion of the land was the site of strip mining for coal in the 1930’s.  As a result of this mining, the land was polluted, eroded and barren.  The President of the Ottawa Silica Company (owned the property) commissioned Michael Heizer in 1983 to create the Effigy Tumuli earthwork.  It was completed in 1985.  This consists of 5 mounds of land representing abstracted animal forms.  There is a snake, catfish, turtle, frog, and water strider. These are seen along a 1.5 mile path.  Mr. Heizer considered the  mounds reminiscent of Indian Burial Mounds common to the region.
     The individual mounds are huge: water strider 685 feet; frog 650 feet; catfish 770 feet; frog 340 feet; and snake 2,070 feet.  It is because of the size, erosion, and overgrowth of vegetation
that many of the shapes are not recognizable

Frog

Catfish

Catfish

Overview of the Illinois River

     One of the more interesting historical stories was the choice of Lockport as the canal headquarter city.    This was a choice made by William Gooding–chief engineer and the Canal Commissioners.   The village was felt to be a central location.  It was fairly close to Chicago–a rapidly developing metropolis.  Probably more important in the opinion of Mr. Gooding was the 40 foot drop between Lockport and Joliet.  He was a big supporter in the value of water power in the development of the canal area.  A hydraulic basin was planned and built to the west of the canal.  This region supported a large flour mill and a paper factory.
     The actual canal headquarter building was built in 1837.  The original building was one story.  It housed the engineer office; land office (land was sold from the federal grant).

Old photo Lock 1. Lockport

  Later there was the canal telegraph office and a branch of the Illinois Bank.
     A two story wing was added to the south side of the original building.  This served as housing for the canal manager and the toll collector.
     In later years, after the demise of the canal, this building served as the Will County Historical Society and the Will County Museum.

Old Canal Headquarter Building. Note the 2 story addiction

Old Canal Headquarter Building

     On the east bank of the Illinois Michigan Canal in Lockport,Il is a yellow limestone building
known as the Gaylord Building.  This was constructed in 1838.  Through the years this building had many owners and uses.

Gaylord Building

Gaylord Building

Early during the building of the Illinois Michigan Canal, there was no structure in the Lockport region to store the supplies used in the construction process. The Canal Commissioners decided to build a warehouse to meet this need. Not everyone approved of this project; these people considered this a waste of money. The commissioners prevailed. Acting Commissioner Jacob Frey supervised the project. He used two canal contractors–Erastus and William Newton in the project. Construction began in May of 1838 and completed in September of 1838. The building was made of locally quarried limestone. It was two stories and measured 90 X 32 feet. Total cost was $4,014.29.
From 1838 to 1848, the building served as a warehouse to store supplies used in canal construction. Supplies stored Included black powder, chains, cranes, picks, lumber, rope, and food provisions.
In 1848 after the completion of the Illinois Michigan Canal, the commissioners faced a dilemma. Since the warehouse was no longer needed, what was to be done with it. A short-term solution was to rent the warehouse to the firm of Norton and Blackmore. This firm made needed repairs.
Finally in September of 1848, the firm of Townsend and Martin bought the warehouse for the price of $4,000. This business used the structure as grain storage facility. They modified the building with arched doorways, an addition along the canal, and grain elevators to the north of the building.
In the November of 1853, the partnership dissolved. Colonel Martin obtained full ownership of the warehouse. He expanded his business operations. He renovated the building. Late in 1859, he had a 3 story addition made to east side of the building.
Colonel Martin used the original warehouse for his grain building. The addition was used
as his office and a general store. His business did not fare well. He declared bankruptcy in 1878.
George Gaylord was successful Lockport businessman in the later one half of the 20th century. He ran a dry good and grain business on State Street. In 1878, he purchased the warehouse for $5640. He moved his businesses to this new location near the Illinois Michigan Canal. During his ownership, he made only minor changes to the structure. Gaylord’ s ownership of the building was brief. He died in 1883 of tuberculosis.
In 1886, John Norton purchased the warehouse from the Gaylord estate for $7,500.
He used it as a grain warehouse. With the ownership of the Gaylord and Norton buildings, the Norton family had a monopoly on the grain business in Lockport. However, in 1890, Norton and Company found itself in financial trouble and was forced to sell the 8th Street warehouse.
In 1890, the warehouse was purchased by Barrows Lock Company. To fit their needs, the new owners made several modifications to the structure. In 1897, they built an addition to the west side of the building. They also added several out buildings. In 1906, a two story brick addition was added to the top of the original warehouse building. The company operated a brass foundry, machine and carpentry shops, as well as offices and store rooms.
During the Depression, the Barrows Lock Company began to fail. In 1932, Yale and Townes Manufacturing Company acquired Barrrows and moved operations to Waukegan, Il.
The new owners rarely used the Lockport warehouse. It was sold in 1945.
The next owner was Will County Printing Company. This business was operated from 1945-1948. It was a specialty printing business.
In 1848, the building was sold to the Hyland Plumbing Supply Company. It operated at this location for four decades. Hyland modified the building to meet their needs.. It demolished many of the outbuildings. It demolished the addition along the canal. In the 1970–1980’s, the building feel in disrepair. Local residents became concerned about this development.
In 1983, Gaylord Donnelley (the grandson of George Gaylord and the retired chairman of R.R. Donnelly and Sons Publishing House) became interested in refurbishing the warehouse. He formed the Gaylord Lockport Company–a private development company. He selected
his niece Barbara to supervise the project. This company raised nearly 3 million dollars. This was used in the project. A team of archeologists, historians, architects, and tradesmen were assembled for this effort. The brick addition over the original warehouse was removed. Other late nineteen and twenty century additions were eliminated. The project took 4 years.
In 1996, Barbara Donnelley ( the widow of Gaylord) donated the Gaylord Building and an endowment to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Thus the oldest canal structure was saved.