Our Pick
Posted on @rawstates
Lemont's downtown, built out of the rock the canal diggers hit
1850
Lemont, Illinois
Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Digging the Illinois and Michigan Canal exposed a fine dolomite limestone close to the surface here, and from the 1850s the quarries and the newly opened canal set off a boom. Fourteen blocks of the result are still standing, one part and two part commercial blocks, gable front and false front buildings put up between 1850 and 1950, along with the village hall and post office. Railroads and later the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal kept it growing.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: approximate area
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