I&M Canal National Heritage Area

I&M Canal National Heritage Area The Area encompasses 862 sq. miles, five counties, and 57 communities.

The Canal Corridor Association is designated by Congress as the local coordinating entity for the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Area, the America’s first national heritage area. The I&M Canal National Heritage Area was the first of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. The Canal Corridor Association is the local coordinating entity for the IMCNHA, but it is the Canal Alliance that works to achieve the vision, mission, and goals of the national heritage corridor.

Spice up September! 🍗 🥗The new Buffalo Chicken Salad at our Lock 16 Cafe and Visitor Center offers up tender chicken bit...
09/16/2026

Spice up September! 🍗 🥗

The new Buffalo Chicken Salad at our Lock 16 Cafe and Visitor Center offers up tender chicken bites with our house-made Buffalo sauce, fresh veggies and creamy blue cheese dressing. It's just one of any number of ways to enjoy a tasty breakfast or lunch at our cozy, downtown La Salle spot.

📍 754 First Street, LaSalle
🕗 Open Wednesday-Sunday, 8 am-3 pm

09/11/2026

Who was the Hegeler Carus Mansion named after? Watch and find out. 👀

Then go tour this 150-year old home.

And while you're there pick up a La Salle County History Passport—a guide to sights across the county—and get it stamped. Then visit the guidebook’s other sites (12 total), and collect stamps along the way. Once completed, send it in to be eligible for monthly drawings running through 2027.

The other locations are:
• I&M Canal Visitor Center
• I&M Canal Boat
• 1st Lincoln Douglas Debate Site (at Ottawa Visitors Center The Middle of Everywhere)
• Illinois Waterway Visitor Center
• LaSalle County Historical Society Museum
• Norsk Museum
• Ottawa Historical and Scouting Heritage Museum
• Reddick Mansion Association
• Seattle Sutton Marseilles Museum
• Seneca Area Heritage Museum (Seneca Historical Guild)
• Westclox Museum

🏛️ 1307 7th Street, La Salle
🔗 For passport info: https://iandmcanal.org/passport

🐎 Giddyup! This is your last chance to join the American Discovery Trail 250 Relay!Registration closes TOMORROW, Friday,...
09/11/2026

🐎 Giddyup! This is your last chance to join the American Discovery Trail 250 Relay!

Registration closes TOMORROW, Friday, September 11. Sign up now: https://bit.ly/IMADT250Relay

Celebrating America’s 250th birthday, the relay is carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence from California to Delaware along the American Discovery Trail. On October 9 and 10, it will travel through the I&M Canal National Heritage Area:

🥾 Friday, October 9: La Salle to Ottawa
🥾 Saturday, October 10: Ottawa to Joliet

Sign up to carry the baton on October 9—or help make the relay possible by volunteering at a rest station, cheering on participants or becoming a sponsor. All ages and abilities are welcome, but time is running out!

❓ Read the FAQs: https://bit.ly/IMRelayFAQ

Shown: A baton carrier near Baker, Nevada. Horses aren’t allowed on our trails, so we’ll have to stick to walking and biking!

Meet the middlemen of the 18th century.The voyageurs, French Canadian canoe operators who transported furs and trade goo...
09/09/2026

Meet the middlemen of the 18th century.

The voyageurs, French Canadian canoe operators who transported furs and trade goods through North America’s waterways, connected the Illinois Country to an international marketplace stretching from Indigenous communities across the interior to Montreal, London and beyond.

Traveling by birchbark canoe, they carried European-made goods—including iron kettles, wool blankets, pottery and firearms—into the region and transported valuable beaver pelts and other furs back toward distant markets.

These French traders often lived within Indigenous communities and formed familial, diplomatic and economic relationships with the Illinois, Potawatomi and other Native peoples. Together, they navigated a complex cultural world built through cooperation, negotiation and competing interests.

See this illustration and explore more stories that shaped our region in The History of the I&M Canal, an 18-panel exhibit at the I&M Canal Visitor Center.

📍 754 First Street, La Salle, IL
🕗 Open Wednesday–Sunday, 8 am-4 pm
🎟️ The exhibit is FREE. Donations are appreciated.

⏳ Time is running out to join the American Discovery Trail 250 Relay!Our registration closes Friday, September 11—so sig...
09/04/2026

⏳ Time is running out to join the American Discovery Trail 250 Relay!

Our registration closes Friday, September 11—so sign up today to be part of this historic event.

Celebrating America’s 250th birthday, the relay is carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence from California to Delaware along the American Discovery Trail.

The relay will travel through the I&M Canal National Heritage Area along the I&M Canal Trail:

🥾 Friday, October 9: La Salle to Ottawa
🥾 Saturday, October 10: Ottawa to Joliet

We are coordinating baton carriers for the October 9 route, along with volunteers, rest stations, sponsors and cheerleaders throughout both days.

All ages and abilities are welcome. Whether you carry the baton for a distance, participate in a simple baton handoff, volunteer at a rest station or cheer on the relay, there’s a way for you to be part of the experience.

👉 SIGN UP: https://bit.ly/IMADT250Relay
👉 Learn more: https://bit.ly/IMRelayFAQ

Shown: The relay in Virginia City, NV.

Today marks a major milestone: 30 years ago, Ana Koval—who today is our President & CEO—joined the Canal Corridor Associ...
09/03/2026

Today marks a major milestone: 30 years ago, Ana Koval—who today is our President & CEO—joined the Canal Corridor Association!

When Ana started in 1996, she joined a team that was planning a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the opening of the I&M Canal. That celebration included an exhibit and “Prairie Passage,” a book featuring photographs by Edward Ranney and text by Emily J. Harris.

This photo was taken 10 years later at an event celebrating the success of the book. It’s a fitting reminder of the countless projects, partnerships, milestones and memories that have filled Ana’s three decades with the Canal Corridor Association.

Today, Ana continues to lead our work to preserve and share the stories of the I&M Canal and strengthen the communities throughout the National Heritage Area.

Please join us in congratulating Ana on 30 remarkable years—and wishing her many more milestones ahead!

Shown from left to right: Emily J. Harris, Jerry Adelmann, Ed Ranney, Bernard Mixon as Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, and Ana Koval.

The Norsk Museum has just the right touch of Hutch. 🚘 🚨Born in Chicago to a family of Norwegian descent, David Soul (ak...
09/02/2026

The Norsk Museum has just the right touch of Hutch. 🚘 🚨

Born in Chicago to a family of Norwegian descent, David Soul (aka Detective Kenneth Richard "Hutch" Hutchinson of Starsky & Hutch), whose birthday was last week, has a tribute in this regional museum.

Located in Norway, IL (the nation’s first permanent Norwegian settlement) and in a former Norwegian Lutheran Church (the oldest in the U.S.), the Norsk Museum is all things Norwegian–from the history of pioneer life to Vikings to first settler Cleng Peerson to, well, Hutch.

What’s your favorite find in the museum?

While you're there, pick up a La Salle County History Passport–a guide to sights in the county–and get it stamped. Then visit the the guidebook's other sites (12 total), and get it stamped at those. When completed, send the book in, and you'll be eligible to win our monthly drawings running through 2027.

The other participating locations are:
• I&M Canal Visitor Center
• I&M Canal Boat
• 1st Lincoln Douglas Debate Site (at Ottawa Illinois Visitors Center)
• Hegeler Carus Mansion
• Illinois Waterway Visitor Center
• LaSalle County Historical Society Museum
• Ottawa Historical and Scouting Heritage Museum
• Reddick Mansion Association
• Seneca Area Heritage Museum (Seneca Historical Guild)
• Seattle Sutton Marseilles Museum
• Westclox Museum

Once you have at least 10 stamps, send your passports to:
Canal Corridor Association
Attn: Passports,
754 First St., LaSalle, IL 61301

Passports can be sent in now through 2027 (must be postmarked by 12.31.27).

210 years ago this week, a treaty helped pave the way for the future I&M Canal—but at a profound cost to the Native peop...
08/27/2026

210 years ago this week, a treaty helped pave the way for the future I&M Canal—but at a profound cost to the Native peoples of the region.

On August 24, 1816, the United States signed the “Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Limits…” with the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi having determined that the best way to build a "friendship" with the tribes in the region was to set boundaries.

In this case, literal boundaries.

The U.S. negotiated a treaty in which fourteen tribal leaders collectively gave up the rights to one of the most important pieces of land in the entire Midwest. This land (marked "78" on the map) would in 1848 become the site of the I&M Canal, which connected the Illinois River and Lake Michigan and was the final piece needed for an inland water route that ran from the East Coast to the Gulf of Mexico.

To understand the full impact of this and other interrelated treaties and how they changed the face of the U.S. to the benefit of Anglo settlers and the lasting detriment of Native American tribes, check out our Substack article at link in bio or by going here: https://bit.ly/IMBoundaries

08/24/2026

In his own words: Hear what President Reagan said when he signed the bill establishing the nation’s first National Heritage Area.

On August 24, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor—the first in the United States.

It introduced a new approach to preserving nationally significant places—one built on partnerships, communities and the idea that preservation and economic development could go hand in hand.

42 years later, that model still guides our efforts.

Courtesy of the Reagan Library

Alliance of National Heritage Areas

TODAY'S THE DAY! ✒️📖Join us at 1 pm at the I&M Canal Visitor Center for a special afternoon with acclaimed artist, illus...
08/23/2026

TODAY'S THE DAY! ✒️📖

Join us at 1 pm at the I&M Canal Visitor Center for a special afternoon with acclaimed artist, illustrator and author Tom Willcockson.

Get a behind-the-scenes perspective on our new History of the I&M Canal exhibit as Tom reveals the research and creative process behind its 18 original illustrated panels. He’ll also share stories from writing and illustrating Passage to Chicago, answer your questions and sign books following the program.

Have a copy of Passage to Chicago? Bring it along! Or purchase one at the Visitor Center and have Tom sign it today.

🕐 TODAY | 1 pm
📍 I&M Canal Visitor Center | 754 First Street, La Salle
🎟️ FREE • All ages welcome • Donations appreciated

See you this afternoon!

🔗 https://iandmcanal.org/events/tomwillcockson

Address

754 1st Street
La Salle, IL
61301

Telephone

+18152201848

Website

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