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In This Issue
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Canal Corridor Association is a membership organization that preserves history, protects nature and open space, and creates destinations where people can learn and have fun in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, from Lake Michigan in Chicago to the Illinois River in LaSalle/Peru. It enhances, raises awareness of and expands the parks, trails, landscape and historic sites that make the I&M Canal region a special place. CCA manages the Gaylord Building, a National Trust Historic Site, in Lockport, Illinois. One of the oldest industrial buildings in the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor, the Gaylord Building is a model of adaptive reuse, featuring the Public Landing restaurant, canal exhibits and more. |
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CCA President's Note Dear CCA Friends: The New Year marks the beginning of CCA’s 25th anniversary. And we’re launching the celebration with the Canal Boat Captain’s Award Luncheon on Wednesday February 21st in Chicago. I hope you’ll join us as we honor Judith Stockdale, who helped spur creation of the I&M Canal National Heritage Corridor. Without Judith, there might never have been a Canal Corridor Association. So our silver anniversary is a fitting time to recognize her. The luncheon is an opportunity to recognize all that we’ve collectively accomplished in the heritage corridor over the last 25 years and look forward to the next 25 years. Come and be part of the celebration – pat yourself and your friends on the back. It’s also a great event for introducing someone new to the heritage corridor and CCA. So come one, come all! Watch for your invitation, which will be in the mail next week. See you there,
Ana B. Koval President & CEO Canal Fact Here's the beef. Exports from the Midwest increased dramatically after the canal opened. "Chicago" beef was especially popular in London and Liverpool.
Buy Your Annual Boat Captain's Luncheon Raffle Tickets Now!
Call Pat at 815-588-1100 to purchase tickets now. Each ticket is $10 or 7 tickets for $50. The drawing will be held at the luncheon but you do not need to be present to win.
Run/Bike/Walk Event Organizers Wanted
Anyone interested in helping develop such an event is encouraged to join us at a planning meeting on Tuesday January 30th at 7:30 PM at the Channahon Park District Arrowhead Community Center (24856 West Eames Street, Channahon just off Route 6). Your help would be greatly appreciated! GAYLORD BUILDING HISTORIC SITE EVENTS Dinner & A Lecture Series Continues January 11th with "The Old Ball Game" Will County was once home to two of the first official baseball teams in Illinois. In August of 1851, the Lockport Sleepers hosted the Joliet Hunkidoris in the earliest recorded baseball game in the state. As the center of life along the Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1851, Lockport was a logical place to play what became America’s national pastime. On Thursday, January 11, 2007, baseball authority David Oberg will explore this and other early baseball games that are the origins of today’s vintage base ball, which attempts to recreate the historic games for contemporary audiences. His anecdotal presentation of “The Old Ball Game: How Vintage Teams are Reviving the American Game” examines the phenomenal growth of vintage base ball as a living history activity at museums and historic sites throughout the nation, and how teams like the new Lockport Sleepers are bringing local history to new audiences. David Oberg is the Executive Director of the Geneva History Center, and previously served as Educator of the Midway Historic Village in Rockford, Illinois. While at Rockford he formed the Midway Village Marauders, one of the preeminent vintage base ball teams in the Midwest. Mr. Oberg continues to serve as an umpire and player at vintage games. The program is part of the Dinner & A Lecture education series, which is held monthly at the Gaylord Building Historic Site, 200 W. 8th Street, Lockport, Illinois. The event is catered by the Public Landing Restaurant. Festivities begin at 6:00 pm with a cash-bar reception followed by dinner at 6:45 pm, and the lecture at 7:45 pm. January guests choose from a menu of Porcini Mushroom Stuffed Ravioli served in a special vodka cream sauce; or Pot Roast of Beef with mashed potatoes, gravy, and jardinière of root vegetables. The dessert is bread pudding. Upcoming Dinners & A Lecture Programs On February 8, 2007, Professor Michael Sawdey will present Indians, Africans, Americans, which looks at the relationship between American Indians and African-Americans, including those of the I & M Canal region. The menu for that evening includes an entrée choice of either Pork Chops with apple cider glaze, garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable du jour; or Spinach and Three-Cheese Lasagna. Cherry cobbler ala mode will be served for dessert. On March 8, 2007, Alice Eastman, Superintendent of Natural Resources for the Bolingbrook Park District will explore the contributions of female naturalists in Natural Women, Pioneers in the Outdoors. For dinner, attendees have an entrée choice of Corn Beef & Cabbage with boiled potatoes, carrots and onions; or Grilled Boneless Chicken with BBQ butter sauce, wild rice blend and seasonal vegetable. Apple pie ala mode will be served for dessert. A single session program fee, which includes dinner, is $26 for members of the Canal Corridor Association (CCA) and $32 for non-members. Discounts are available for all three winter Dinner & A Lecture programs in January, February and March. The multi-session package is $70 for CCA members and $90 for non-members. Reservations are required for each session. For additional information and reservations, please call 815.588.1100.
Acts of History Premiers at the Gaylord Building Before the Internet and before television, it was the golden age of radio. From 1933 to 1944 no politician mastered the radio like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whom the people knew simply as FDR. Families across the nation invited the President into their homes through their radios. FDR came to them thirty times and had “fireside chats” about subjects of national importance that affected even people along the old Illinois & Michigan Canal, which closed in 1933 with the opening of the “new” Illinois Waterway system. On Sunday, January 14, 2007, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. the public is invited to the Gaylord Building Historic Site meet the 32nd President of the United States and relive those tumultuous years of the Great Depression and World War II with “A Fireside Chat with Franklin D. Roosevelt.” FDR is portrayed by professional actor Robert J. Lindsey. A Chicago actor who has created twenty “first-person” historical characters, his portrayals have been enjoyed by audiences in England, Israel and throughout the United States. Specially written programs have been performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and for the 1996 Democratic National Convention. One audience member, who had met the real FDR, commented, “I feel like I truly met the President again.” R.J. Lindsey’s professional credits also include the television films Will and She Stood Alone, as well as stage performances as Elwood in Harvey, Escalus in Measure for Measure, Shrike in Miss Lonelyhearts, Murray in A Thousand Clowns, Freddy in Noises Off and Rev. Parris in The Crucible. A Fireside Chat with Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first of the new educational series Acts of History. The quarterly series brings professional quality portrayals of historical characters with national and international notoriety. The presentations are held at the Gaylord Building Historic Site, 200 W. 8th Street, Lockport, Illinois. Admission is $6 for members of the Canal Corridor Association, and $8 for non-members. Seating is limited, so reservations are recommended. For additional information and reservations, please call 815.588.1100.
Vintage Ballists Wanted! Do you enjoy sports or history or the theater? If you said “yes” to at least one, we need you for the Lockport Sleepers Vintage Base Ball Club! The Sleepers are the Gaylord Building’s new living history program, which interprets life and leisure along the Illinois & Michigan Canal in the 1850s. Interpreters wear “old fashion uniforms,” cheer and jeer with period words and phrases, use reproduced equipment and supplies, and play by pre-Civil War rules. In August of 1851, the original Sleepers hosted the Joliet Hunkidoris in the earliest documented game of “organized” baseball in Illinois. In 2007, the recreated Sleepers will host vintage teams from throughout northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. Most other vintage teams are also organized by historic site or museums. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Lockport Sleepers should contact Mark Harmon at the earliest opportunity by calling 815.588.1100 or emailing mharmon@canalcor.org.
New Exhibits at the Gaylord Building CCA is pleased to announce two new temporary exhibitions at the Gaylord Building Historic Site. Both exhibits are courtesy of corridor and statewide organizations. On January 16, 2007, Worth: The Friendly Village With Small Town Charm will open for viewing. Developed by the Worth Historical Society, it is the first corridor community focused display, which is in keeping with the historic site’s role as the primary visitor’s center for the I & M Canal National Heritage Corridor. The exhibit is open free to the public during regular gallery hours and will close on May 27, 2007 Generations of Change: African-Americans in Illinois will be unveiled on January 20, 2007. It illuminates the statewide and national contributions by African-Americans. The display is courtesy of the Illinois Association of Museums. It is available free for viewing during regular gallery hours until April 1, 2007.
Programs and Events Suggestions
We welcome suggestions for possible educational programs or family events. Do you know of a possible speaker and topic for one of the existing program series (Dinner & A Lecture, Acts of History and First Hand History)? Do you have any recommendations for a new educational program for children, families or adults? Please contact us at 815.588.1100 between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm weekdays.
Volunteers Answer: Caring, enthusiastic, generous, intelligent, talented, energetic, friendly, helpful, dedicated, and vital. Question: What are ten adjectives that describe a volunteer? If you have one or more of these adjectives, please call us at 815.588.1100 between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. |
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Upcoming Events
Here is a sampling of events happening in the corridor. For a more complete listing of events, click here to visit the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitor Bureau's website. Don't see your event listed here? Please send it to enews@canalcor.org. Jan. 12 Jan. 13 - 14 Jan. 14 Jan. 19 Jan. 20 & 21 Jan. 26 Jan. 27
Jan. 27 & 28
Jan. 27 & 28 Native American Eagle Dancer @ 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM
High power scopes available for indoor and
outdoor eagle viewing as the Bald Eagles soar down from their
roost trees to feed on the fish in the waters below the dam
Audubon members on hand to answer questions
Jan. 28 Feb. 2, 3, 9, & 10, at
7:30 PM Feb. 2 Feb. 3 & 4 Feb. 3 – 4 Feb. 10
Feb
11 Feb. 11 4 PM “Chicago’s
Marble Palace Becomes the Richard H. Driehaus Museum: The Samuel
M. Nickerson Mansion” by Dr. M. Kirby Talley, Jr., Director of
the Richard H. Driehaus Museum 815/224-6543 Feb.14 - Feb. 15
Feb. 16 – 18, Feb. 16 Feb.17 Feb. 17-18 Movie at the Mansion (TBA) - Hegeler Carus Mansion, LaSalle 815/224-6543
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Help
the ongoing projects of CCA and have a chance to win a great
prize by purchasing raffle tickets. Tickets are on sale
now! Prizes include: 
As
part of CCA’s 25th anniversary celebration and to
kick off our role as the management entity of the Corridor,
we are exploring the creation of some type of run/bike/walk
event for the summer of 2007. The goals of the event are
two fold. The first is to highlight the wonderful towpath
trail and the rich history of the Corridor. The second aim
is to bring in much needed funds to support the ongoing
programs of the CCA and contribute to the necessary matching
requirement for the promised federal dollars.