Canal Chronicles

Canal Chronicles tells the story of the background, construction, and development of the Illinois & Michigan Canal (1836-1848) and the people who came before, during, and after to create the history of Northern Illinois and the Greater Chicago region. The I&M Canal was the critical link connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico so that goods could serve the needs of a burgeoning new country and exports could find their way to markets that provided money for growth. Join French explorers Marquette and Joliet, William Henry Harrison, Chief Blackhawk, Abraham Lincoln, and a host of Chicago history notables as an eye witness to an important chapter in the early history of the United States. Toil with the Irish laborers, or navvies, who cleared the land, dug the trench, and built the locks. Learn what this key phase in building the infrastructure of the United States teaches about nation-building today.