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If you're a fan of discovering new destinations where history is on display in public parks,

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on buildings, and even alongside waterways, you'll want to know about this next hidden gem.

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I discovered Ottawa in Illinois. A few years back filming for my PBS series "Travels with

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Darley" and I was recently able to return to take a deeper dive into the history of this city,

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where entrepreneurs offer local shopping and culinary surprises,

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and you can explore through water sports, cycling, and of course, on your own two feet.

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Now when I open the door, take a deep breath.

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The city of Ottawa in Illinois has a rich history relating to American Indians,

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fur traders, Irish immigrants, and in modern times offers a mix of food and brews and outdoor adventures.

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Many people venture to this part of La Salle County exploring Starved Rock State Park,

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and to recreate along the Illinois River and historic Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage

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corridor. We're diving in by getting active to learn about this area's history from expert locals

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by cycling and canoeing in and around the city.

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We're in Ottawa, Illinois, traveling by canoe and bicycle with locals to better understand this area

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of Illinois located 80 miles from Chicago. We're starting our adventures canoeing on the Illinois

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River with local schoolteacher Pat Feehan who grew up in the area. Though Pat is more of a boater than

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canoeer. He's agreed to travel by canoe with me today to get a true sense of the River's majesty.

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Pat, what was it like growing up here in Ottawa? Well the river is a huge part of growing up in this

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town. I learned how to swim at Bulls Island, which is right here on the river, and I can't tell you

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how many other kids probably did that too. The Illinois River is a tributary of the mighty Mississippi

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River connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. It's been an important highway throughout history,

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dating back to the time of Native Americans, and later with fur traders and explorers like

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Marquette, Joliett and La Salle who traveled the river in the 17th century, documenting their journeys.

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Marquette and La Salle came through and wrote back about the incredible wildlife, the buffalo,

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the amount of deer, and they called this the area between the two rocks, which would be Buffalo

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Rock and Star Rock. And when you realize that was 300 plus years ago, and then we're still here

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enjoying the beauty of the bald eagle, the deer, and just everything that's so beautiful around here,

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it really is a connection to history. Many area residents have strong connections to the Illinois

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River and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, a 96 mile canal that was completed in 1848, linking the

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Great Lakes to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. When the Irish potato famine was kicking off,

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this area became filled with Irish who were involved in the canal, which goes through Ottawa,

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and that becomes an important part of commerce and it becomes an important part of the history of

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the development of Illinois. And that's why to this day you still have so many Irish in these

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communities and that's why I'm here today. Acting as a water highway, the canal helps

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spur the growth of the city of Chicago, agriculture in northern Illinois, and the development and

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diversity of many towns and cities along its path, like Ottawa. Well, a lot of the Irish when they left

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Ireland because of the potato famine, they went down the river Shannon, which strikes an incredible

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resemblance with the land and the vegetation with the Illinois River, and it's kind of ironic that

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from the potato famine to digging the canal to being here today, it just seems like a full circle.

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Cross an ocean on two different countries, but a lot of similarities, huh?

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Just grand me last, you see that well. And I guess that's why to this day our boat is still known as

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the Shannon Immigrant. It was in the 1830s and the 1840s that Irish immigrants came to Ottawa to help

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build the canal. As the area developed with greater opportunities for jobs, more immigrants flocked

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to the region, working in a variety of industries, and opening small businesses and farms that

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depended on the canal to transport everything from pianos to buggies to farm equipment.

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To learn more about the next chapter in Ottawa's history, I'm heading into town to meet Denny

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Butte in Washington Square, a beautiful green space right in the middle of town with a rich history.

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Listened on the National Register of Historic Places, Washington Square was the site of the first

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Lincoln Douglas Sanitorial debate on August 21st, 1858. As Denny explains, it was very different from

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our political debates of today. Back then, Lincoln and Douglas were running for the to be

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Senator from Illinois, and at that stage, we did not vote for senators, the public didn't. They

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were appointed by the state legislature. We didn't vote for senators till 1913. In the way the debate

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worked back then was the first speaker spoke for an hour. Abraham Lincoln.

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He had a lot of time. Right. Douglas had an hour and a half, and then Lincoln had a half-hour rebuttal.

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And back then, with no PA systems, 14,000 people are so here in the park, they had to really shout

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to be heard, and they say Lincoln's voice was kind of high-pitched. We say in Ottawa, that's where

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Lincoln's voice was first heard, because there were stenographers here from all the major newspapers

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in the country taking down their speeches word for word, all printed in the national papers the next day.

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So that really brought Lincoln to national prominence. Based on this speech, he was asked to speak

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at the Cooper Union in New York, so he gave an anti-slavery speech there. And it all started right

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here in Ottawa. It all started right here in a little all out of one. Murals throughout town depicked

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everything from the day of the debate to Ottawa's earliest residence to a renowned glass factory,

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which provided glass to the Ford Motor Company in the early 20th century.

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To see more of the downtown, I'm speeding along with Ottawa's former mayor, Robert Eschbach,

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who grew up in Ottawa. This is a great mural that depicts a depression era scene. This was the only

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bank of four in the city that did not close during the depression. And every once in a while,

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the bank president would put money in the window to let people know that their funds were safe.

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Huh, I like that story. In addition to murals, there are lots of places to eat and drink

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in Ottawa. Bob has shown me a few of his favorite spots. Yeah, I think you'll enjoy this place,

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Jeremiah Joe's. I can smell it from here. It smells great. It's great. This is a place to start

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like the city's living room. Ever coffee shops should be. Absolutely. Coffee beans from central and

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South America, Africa, and Asia are roasted on site at Jeremiah Joe. Housed in an old department store,

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it's a gathering place for locals. The kind of place I like to visit on my travels.

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Bob next leads me to another sweet spot. Now when I open the door, take a deep breath.

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Everything is baked on-site at Ottawa Bakery. Started by a local baker who's also a mom who wanted

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to have her own business. We opt for a sticky bun and are not disappointed. After all of this sugar

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and caffeine, we need to ride. So we head across the Fox River to Ottawa's east side,

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a neighborhood where historic homes represent architectural styles, including Greek revival,

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Italianite craftsmen, and revival style houses from the early 20th century.

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This is really a great historic neighborhood. Beautiful old homes. These brick streets are well

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over a hundred years old. Oh wow. Yeah, the houses here are gorgeous. Yeah, the whole, the

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whole east side is listed on the national registers historic district. For more history, we're riding

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along the Illinois and Michigan Canal Toe Path, which today has around 60 miles of bike trails

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for locals and travelers. Over here you'll see a replica of a canal boat. They were fairly narrow

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because they had to fit through 14 sets of locks in the canal, but they could be a hundred feet long.

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This one is actually a prop for a movie only in the water two days. We're approaching here the last

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a tow collectors office on the canal built in the 1840s. The tow collectors also sort of like a judge

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when when boat owners had disputes and whatever they would he would settle on. Nice little snack.

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Another popular spot for bikers and Ottawa locals is located right alongside the Toe Path.

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The cheese shop is in by Marty Rulland, who grew up in Ottawa and whose family has been in the

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dairy business for generations. In fact, the cheese shop is housed in an old factory run by Marty's

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family from before World War II to the late 1980s. Relics of the past line the walls and ceiling.

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And if you have time, Marty will tell you a story or two best served up with some Midwestern cheese

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or something more exotic. Riding alongside the canal with someone like Bob and seeing remnants of

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the past has made me want to explore more of the I&M Canal's history. So I'm sitting down with Ann

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Koval, president of the Canal Corridor Association to learn more. The I&M Canal is over 175 years old.

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This year it's 175. What are some of the impacts that it had on the Midwestern economy?

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Well, we wouldn't have Chicago really without the canal. So before the canal, St. Louis was the

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premier Midwestern city once the canal came all the money moved to Chicago. And Chicago is still the

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premier financial capital of the Midwest. So I would say that's the greatest impact. And then it had

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lots of other cascading impacts like they changed the northern boundary of Illinois to go north.

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It was supposed to be along the line of Indiana. But they didn't want two states to put

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to have to work together to build the canal. And so my historian used to say to the kids in Chicago,

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"You'd all be cheeseheads if it wasn't for the canal." So there are lots of like impacts like that.

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But definitely like all of the industrial it all comes from the increased transportation

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that the canal brought. Paint me a picture if I were back in the later part of the 1800s

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traveling along the canal. What would I see? What are some things I might hear and experience?

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So the canal was 96 miles long. And so first of all it would be quiet compared to what we think of

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now because the boats were pulled by horses or mules. There's a towpath that the mules or horses

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are walking on a long tow line pulling the boats. So that's before steam power and all those things

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which is why it's so quiet. And it was just this small little waterway but it was so much easier

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to move people and especially have you goods when you compare it to dirt roads or muddy roads and

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stage coaches and things like that. So it was a huge improvement. How can people who are traveling

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to this area experience the I&M canal today? What are the different ways that they can recreate or enjoy?

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Right. Well so the biggest one is that we have a canal boat pulled by a mule and our mules name is

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Moe and so that really helps people understand what it would have been like in 1848. Moe the mule is

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pulling the barge. Yep he's big he's 1200 pounds but yeah so he's kind of the star of the show and it's

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it's really I think interesting because people don't think of animals as work animals like we had at

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the beginning of really since the beginning of America. Yeah how fun. What a great piece of history right here?

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It is it is and people are always surprised there aren't very many canal boats and that are operating

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actually in the whole country. And this is a heritage area that is also part of the National Park

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Service? Right so the Heritage Area Program is a program of the National Park Service. We were

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the first here in in 1984 and they're now 62 national heritage areas designated throughout the

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country. So in LaSalle County the the western terminus of the canal is in the city of La Salle

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and then as you go east you would go through Utica and Ottawa and Santa Cah. So all along that stretch

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there's access points all along there so you could stop at any one of the access points and get

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on the canal. Whether you say hi to Moe the mule by cycling or make a stop in a local bakery or

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to grab a cup of Joe you made a side to stay a while to dig a little deeper into this Midwestern city.

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Not far from Chicago but with deep roots in its past. Thanks for joining me for another Illinois

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episode of Travels with Darliey the Podcast. And if you like this episode search for the Illinois

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episodes of our PBS series and please subscribe for more podcast adventures.