The Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, also just called the Hennepin Canal, is an abandoned waterway in northwest Illinois, between the Mississippi River at Rock Island and the Illinois River near Hennepin. The entire canal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Opened in 1907, the canal was soon abandoned because of railroad competition. It was resurrected in the late 20th century as a recreational waterway. Its former name was the Illinois and Mississippi Canal. The main canal length is 75.2 miles (121.0 km), and its feeder canal is 29.3 miles (47.2 km) long. The state park spans five counties (Rock Island, Bureau, Henry, Lee and Whiteside) and is 104.5 miles (168.2 km) long.
Read more about Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park: History, Geography, History of The Canal
Famous quotes containing the words canal, state and/or park:
“My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“To the cry of “follow Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land,” Civil War veterans flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers, tenant farmers, and European immigrants.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)