"Downstate" Illinois
Historic sites. Images and descriptions of historic places around the state, created by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. [ccr]
http://www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/sites.htm
Mr. Lincoln and Lincoln, Illinois. This is an excellent collection of essays and photos covering the history of the town named after the great president. Compiled by Leigh Henson, the site covers a great variety of historical subjects, including railroads and Route 66. [ccr]
http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/index.html
Nineteenth Century Mississippi River Scenes. Fifty-three well described and documented photos taken by Henry Bosse between 1883 and 1892. This site was created by Ronald Deiss of the Rock Island District of the U. S. Corps of Engineers. [ccr]
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Bosse/Bosse.htm
Big River Virtual Tour. Vignettes on segments of the Upper Mississippi, including some photos of the river, from Big River Magazine. Prepared in anticipation of the 2004 Grand Excursion. [ccr]
http://www.big-river.com/grandexcursion.html
Grand Excursion of 1854. The story of the building of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad and the Grand Excursion that celebrated its completion, with a few maps and photos. [shameless self-promotion - ccr]
http://www.augustana.edu/academics/geography/department/GrandExcursion2/
First Railroad Bridge to Crosss the Mississippi. A pictorial history, with maps, of this 1856 bridge and the three bridges that subsequently replaced it. Inlcluded is the current Government Bridge between Rock Island and Davenport, which was built in 1896. Created by Curtis C. Roseman and hosted by River Action, Inc. [ccr]
http://www.riveraction.org/nuke73/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35
Hennepin Canal. Opened in 1907, this shortcut between the Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers, was at least fifty years obsolete. This site provides a brief history of the canal and nice descriptions of its current status as a State Parkway. Includes a great map of the feeder canal. [ccr]
http://pages.ripco.net/~jwn/hennepin.html#history
Route 6. A map-based tour of the longest U. S. transcontinental highway, put together by three geographers and supported by Augustana College. Includes a history of the route and scores of photos of scenes along the route from Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, to Long Beach, California. In Illinois it parallels the Illinois and Michigan Canal from Joliet to LaSalle, the Hennepin Canal from Princeton to Moline, and the old route of the Rock Island Railroad from Joliet to Moline. [ccr]
http://www.augustana.edu/academics/geography/department/route6/index.html
Starved Rock. A brief characterization of the geology, human history, and workings of the Illinois river near this famous site, created by students from Northern Illinois University. Includes a map of the area. [ccr]
http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/429_info/429trips/starvedrock/IndexSR.html
Historic views of Moline and Rock Island. A map-free collection of historic photos and postcards, from Special Collections at the Augustana College Library. Also includes Davenport, Iowa. Select from among the Quad Cities Views. [ccr]
http://www.augustana.edu/library/special/index.html
Historic Moline Tour. Now called the "Farm Implement Capital of the World," and a century ago called "The Lowell of the West," Moline has a rich history as a manufacturing town. This tour includes a collection of historic images and descriptions indexed by topic and via a clickable "virtual map." Elsewhere on the site are images and descriptions of Moline buildings that have been given preservation awards. Created by the Moline Preservation Society and Neil Dahlstrom. [ccr]
http://www.molinepreservation.org/tour/index.html
Historic Post Cards of Rock Island. This "Postcards from Home" series, sponsored by the Rock Island Preservation Society, includes numerous historic images. The site is exceptional because of the carefully researched and written text that accompanies each of the postcard images, completed primarily by Diane Oestreich. [ccr]
http://www.rockislandpreservation.org/postcards/postcards.html
Rock Island, the island. A comprehensive review of the history, geology, landuse, and other aspects of this island in the middle of the Mississippi River, with photos and maps. Home to the Rock Island Arsenal and the Rock Island District of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, this has been a military place since Fort Armstrong was first established on the island in 1816. Created by Joe Nobiling. [ccr]
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/rockislandhistory/Index.htm
Navigation Improvements On The Rock Island Rapids. A nice history of this 19th century navigation gauntlet on the Upper Mississippi River. Several images, including the 1837 Robert E. Lee map of the rapids, are included. Created by the Rock Island District of the Corps of Engineers, which drew on the reserch of Roald Tweet. [ccr]
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Brochures/HistoryNavImprovementsRockRapids.asp
1993 Mississippi River flood. This field trip investigates the effects of the 1993 flood on river communities in Illinois and Missouri, mainly through photos and maps. Illinois places visited include Rock Island, Niota, Meyer, and the Sny Island Levee Drainage District. Created by the Geological and Mining Engineering Sciences Department at Michigan Tech University.
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/department/classes/ge404/flood/
Bald Knob Cross. Two brief Web sites tell the story of this Southern Illinois visual icon near Alto Pass. The first, created by the Union County Chamber of Commerce, includes a map of the area and a timeline. The second, created by Joe and Isaac Angert, includes a view from Bald Knob with the Mississippi River in the distance. [ccr]
http://www.shawneeheartland.com/baldknob.html
http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/baldknob/bald.html
Cairo Pictures. Several excellent historical images of this southern-most Illinois town, including aerial views and panoramic maps. Created by IllinoisHistory.com. [ccr]
http://www.illinoishistory.com/cairoscenes.html
The confluence. Appropriate to the bottom of this list is the bottom of Illinois, the lowest elevation point and southern-most point in the state, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi. Although this site is a portal, it does provide the viewer with a nice sense of this special place through a few links to images, beginning with an 1803 Lewis and Clark map. Created by SouthernmostIllinoisHistory.net. [ccr]
http://www.southernmostillinoishistory.net/confluence.htm
Digital Atlases, Searchable Digital Archives, and Other Sites Useful for Exploring Places:
Upper Misissippi Valley Digital Image Archive: Search for images from the 19th and early 20th Century in Moline, Rock Island, Galesburg and East Moline, among other places in northwestern Illinois and Eastern Iowa. This is a cooperative venture among several institutions in the region. [ccr]
http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/
