A Tour of Ottawa

Trip Day:	184	Latitude:	41°20.65 ' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	0	Longitude:	088°50.47'W	Locks Total:	86
Total Miles:	3,616	Location:	Ottawa,  IL

What a great day spent biking the town of Ottawa; mid 1800s homes, historic buildings, lovely parks and the town  murals.  We tried to tour the pre-Civil War Reddick Mansion, but it was closed for tours on Tuesdays.

 

 Ottawa’s Old Town is a nostalgic reminder of the past with wonderful 19th century buildings such as the four-story, Romanesque Revival LaSalle County Courthouse built in 1883. 

 

 

 In the same year the Queen Anne-style row houses were constructed. These units housed offices and apartments for upper middle-class residents and are still beautiful today. 

We enjoyed seeing numerous churches built in the early 1800s.  In contrast, the 1939 Times Building, with its Art Moderne streamlined horizontal profile, glass blocks and stainless trim was a treat. 

 

 

 

 

 

The history of area is depicted by building murals throughout the town.  They capture the important events from the Indians hunting buffalo, the life of General William H. Wallace, the digging of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and, of course, the political history of   Abraham  Lincoln including the Lincoln-Douglas debates. 

 

A side story tells of a young French glassblower, Victor Peltier who opened a company in Ottawa in 1886.  One of his customers for his colored glass was Louis Comfort Tiffany. 

We rode our bikes across the bridge to find the Peter Toth Indian carving. Toth was a Hungarian immigrant fascinated with Native American culture who has carved his Whispering Giants in all 50 states. 

 

Looking up the Illinois River from atop the bridge - a different perspective!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dinner out tonight completed our great day in Ottawa!