In the Heart of Illinois's Heritage

So my parents and I took a little road trip on the last Saturday of that August month to check out a neat city in north central Illinois called Ottawa, in LaSalle County, just over 80 miles from Chicago.

My family has usually done one vacation every year in the summer, going a distance of hundreds of miles away from home.  But recently, the idea of taking a short road trip, that is, two hours, give or take, to explore the smaller cities in Illinois away from Chicagoland started to appeal to me.  Last summer, my parents and I visited Pontiac, which I had first been to at the tail end of the storm chase trip back in May 2011.  I enjoyed the opportunity to go on a mini-vacation like this, so I thought it would be nice to do it again.  And that's how we ended up in Ottawa this day.

We departed Oak Park in the midst of a heavy rainstorm, and didn't get out of it until reaching DuPage County.  The cloud forms continued to prove picturesque as we headed on I-55.  It got pretty clear by the time we reached LaSalle County.

After driving along I-80, cut through mostly farm fields, we reached the exit for Illinois Route 71, and headed southwestward for about a mile or so before reaching a commercial area.  Then we headed south into the historic downtown area.

We first went to the visitors' center, which had a great wealth of resources, not only on Ottawa, but other Illinois tourism information.  The center was on the grounds of the Reddick Mansion (see picture directly below), the home of a prominent Ottawa citizen, and we went there next for a tour.  (We later found out the visitors' center used to be the smokehouse.)

William Reddick came to Ottawa in the 19th Century, right around the time the Illinois and Michigan Canal was being built.  He built the large Italiante style house that he lived for many years.  The house was right across the street from Washington Park, which served as the site for the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate on August 21, 1858, and Mr. Reddick was instrumental in getting the debate held in Ottawa.  The tour guide told us that these details about Mr. Reddick, the large house and getting the debate in Ottawa, indicated his big-time aspirations, such as becoming Governor.

The house had furnishings original to the period, though some were not original to the house, like a piece of furniture that Abraham Lincoln had once sat on (see picture directly below).  Being in the Italianate style, the house has long hallways running the length from the front to the back, with three rooms on each side.  However, this arrangement of the rooms was altered when the house was re-fitted to become the Ottawa Public Library, as Mr. Reddick stipulated in his will.  As we went on the tour, it felt very deja vu owing to my recent visit to the Dawes House.  The Reddick Mansion was a fine looking place, and touring it helped solidify my interest in historic homes.

At the conclusion of our tour, I noticed a room off to the side of the entry area that was apparently a gift shop.  And I found a really cool item there, and you will see a picture of me with it at the end of this post.

For lunch, upon the recommendation of the person in the visitors' center, we went to Odee's, which was downtown Ottawa's local spin on Subway and Jimmy John's.  It was a pretty good lunch.

After we finished, we walked south along LaSalle Street to the the riverside.  Ottawa is where the Fox River empties into the Illinois River, which adds to the scenic views there.  We ambled along the short riverwalk along the Fox River by its mouth, to the spot right under the bridge for Illinois 71/23 over the Illinois River.

Then, we walked back north along Columbus Street. We passed by the site of a home where Abraham Lincoln stayed when he came to town for the debate. At the time it was the mayor's home. After that, it was all way to the I&M Canal. The canal channel is now dry, and a bike path runs through it.   Right by Columbus Street, there is a toll house from the canal's heyday.

Then it was time to look at some of the murals. Like Pontiac, IL, there are a number of murals in scattered about Ottawa, most of them in the downtown area. They depict famous people from Ottawa, the development of communication technology, life in the 1950's, the famous debate, and then some.  (Two murals are in the two pictures directly below.  On the top is General W.H.L. Wallace, who served in the American Civil War.  Right below it shows the Illinois River.)

We then looked around in Washington Park for a few minutes (see picture directly above).  In the middle of this park is a statue of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, both on a pedestal in the middle of a fountain.  Subsequently, we took some time to drive around all parts of Ottawa, even those areas across both rivers, looking at historic homes. 

Among them were the John Hassock Home (see directly above), which served as a refuge for fugitive slaves during the Underground Railroad days.  We also passed by the site of Fort Johnson, where Abraham Lincoln brought his company of soldiers during the Blackhawk War back in 1832, when it was called Fort Ottawa.  Only a plaque remains there.  Both of these sites were south of the Illinois River, where the land slopes upward, so there were some very scenic views of Ottawa from this higher ground (see picture directly below).

We also drove by the railroad depot, where Mr. Lincoln disembarked a train when he came to town for the debate.  Another really interesting feature we saw was the I&M Canal aqueduct, which carried the canal across the Fox River.

And that was a wrap on our visit to Ottawa, for from the eastern part of the city, it was back onto I-80, and then on home.  I have to say, we stumbled upon another nice city in Illinois beyond Chicagoland.  Certainly you can't really beat any place that has an Abraham Lincoln connection.  And it also is connected to the canal corridor that helped fuel Illinois's growth in commerce.  The sites in Ottawa really speak to the heritage of Illinois.  The canal, the Lincoln sites, the rivers, and the other historic sites speak to what Illinois was all about in its early days: the transportaiton corridors and sites where famous people walked in momentous times, which made Illinois the great state it is.

(Here's me in Washington Park.  Photo credit to my Dad.  Can you see the stovepipe hat I have on?)
(All other photos were taken by me.)