 Key Events Affecting the Illinois | |
| 1779 | Jean Baptiste Point du Sable establishes a trading post in present-day
Chicago. (9) |
| 1828 | Opening of the river to steamboats (led to white settlers moving in
and development). (31) |
| 1836 | Construction of the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) canal begins. |
| 1837 | John Deere develops the self-scouring plow. (56) |
| 1837 | Chicago receives a City charter. (9) |
| 1838 | Northern Cross Railroad construction begins between Meredosia and Springfield;
line is completed in 1842. |
| 1848 | I&M canal is completed connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi
River via a 97-mile waterway from Chicago River near Lake Michigan to the Illinois River at Peru, IL. (56) |
| 1848 | Cyrus McCormick opens a plant in Chicago to manufacture wheat reapers. |
| 1865 | Chicago Union Stock Yards opens. |
| 1867 | George Pullman begins manufacturing railroad sleeping cars in Chicago.
|
| 1870s | The state builds two locks, one at Henry and one at Cooper’s Creek,
increasing the depth of the river, and clears wooded areas along the banks.
(57) |
| 1871 | The I&M canal is deepened to allow Chicago’s sewage to flow
into the Illinois River. (56) |
| 1877 | Stephen Forbes founds the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History.
|
| 1890s | In the 1890s the Army Corps of Engineers (USCOE) builds two more locks and dams,
at La Grange and Kampsville. (57) |
| 1892 | Canal construction (Sanitary and Ship Canal) to reverse Chicago River flow begins to reduce Lake Michigan pollution, to carry Chicago city sewage downstream in the Illinois River, and to improve shipping using barges. |
| 1894 | The Biological Experiment Station of the University of Illinois is established
on the Illinois River at Havana. |
| 1899 | The federal Rivers &Harbors Act is passed. |
| 1900 | The Sanitary and Ship Canal is completed. (56) |
| 1900 | Pollution from municipal wastewater treatment plants and industry appears.
(56) |
| 1909- 1922 |
Formation of drainage and levee districts and draining of wetlands and
floodplains. (56) |
| 1911 | Formation of the Rivers & Lakes Commission. |
| 1922 | Improvements were seen with the construction of Chicago sewage treatments
plants. (56) |
| 1930 | Completion of the lock and dam system led to increased commercial traffic.
(31) |
| 1933 | Completion of the Illinois Waterway and replacement of old locks and
dams with new and larger facilities. (57) |
| 1933 | Illinois & Michigan Canal closes to river traffic. (9) |
| 1948 | Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act) |
| 1951 | Illinois & Mississippi (Hennepin) Canal closes to river traffic. (9) |
| 1972 | Chicago Union Stock Yards closes. (9) |
| 1972 | Amendments to the FWPCA expanded the scope and established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
and USCOE Sec. 404 permitting program. |
| 1977 | FWPCA became known as the Clean Water Act |
| 1987 | Water Quality Act of 1987 began considering NPS pollution |
