This document provides a historical overview of the Minooka and Channahon areas from their earliest inhabitants to the early 20th century. It notes that the areas were originally home to Native American tribes like the Illiniwek, Potawatomi, and Mound Builders. French explorers first visited in 1673. White settlers arrived in the late 1820s and the villages of Minooka, Channahon, and Dresden were established. The coming of the railroad in 1852 and the Illinois & Michigan Canal in the 1840s boosted development and trade of local agriculture. Early buildings, churches, and infrastructure are described from the mid-19th century founding of the towns.

1. Historical Views
of the
Minooka
&
Channahon
Area

2. Native Americans
 Mound Builders
 Considered Prehistoric
 Briscoe Mounds, Pictured
 Located SE of Channahon
 Along the River
 Illiniwek – Illini
 Where here when explorers
came in 1673
 Potowatomi
 Last tribe in the area

3. French Explorers
 In 1673, Father Jacque
Marquette and Louis
Jolliet explored this area
and claimed it for
France!
 Traveled up the Illinois
River and suggest it
would be a good area for
a canal!

4. Fur Trappers & Traders
 Were up and down
and all along the
waterways – but left
no records!

5. White Settlers
 Late 1820’s
 Used Potowatomi
Language as place names

6. Potowatomi Language
 MINOOKA
 Good Earth or Place of
Contentment
 CHANNAHON –
Where the waters meet

7. Minooka
 Minooka means place of
contentment, good Earth,
high point or place of the
maples in the Potowatomi
Language.
 Dolly Smith, the wife of
Leander Smith, spoke the
Potowatomi language and
named Minooka and many of
the streets in the older part of
town.

8. Channahon
 Means where the waters
meet. The Kankakee and
Des Plaines Rivers come
together near Channahon to
form the Illinois River.
 Channahon was once the site
of a large Potowatomi village.
Chief Bourbonnais raced
his ponies along what we
now know as Rt. 6!

9. Dresden
 In 1833, Salmon
Rutherford came to what
we now know as the
Dresden Bluffs and
established the village of
Dresden. This inn was a
stagecoach stop and was
the first inn in Grundy
County! Still standing at
Dollinger’s Family Farm!

10. A Painting of the View from Dresden
 Painted in 1842 by
Henry Ainslie
 The shallow
Illinois River is on
the left, the white
building is the
Dresden Inn.
 This view shows
how the Illinois
Prairie looked at
this time period.

11. Confluence of the Kankakee and
Des Plaines to form the
Illinois River
1907 1930

12. Channahon Township
 Joseph Shoemaker came
to Channahon Township
in 1831.
 Jessup, Peck, McCowan,
Eames, Tryon ,Fryer and
Knapp
 Dr Knapp built a 18’ x
20’ log house that
housed up to 8 people at
one time.

13. 1853 Road Survey

14. Channahon Village
 The Village of
Channahon was laid out
by Myrvin Benjamin in
1845.
 Until then the little
settlement was known as
DuPage.

15. Illinois & Michigan Canal
 The ground was broken
on July 4, 1836
 The Canal opened in
1848

16. How do you cross a river with a
canal?

17. Two Locks
Lock 6 Lock 7

18. John McCowan Home c1873

22. Happy Anniversary

23. Minooka
 The Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific Railroad
put tracks through this
area in 1852.

24. Rock Island Depot
 1907
 Stood by the tracks east
of Wabena Ave.
 3 sets of tracks

25. Minooka Grain
 The Trains provided a
way for the area farmers
to get their produce to
market.

26. Looking North From
Wapella Before 1929
In 1929 the Rail road decided
to lower the grade of the tracks
in Minooka. Until then the
tracks were level with
Mondamin and Wapella Sts.
Minooka was and is the highest
point in Illinois on this line of
tracks. The trains had trouble
making the grade into town.
Early railroad workers called
the town Summit.
The Village Board fought
against the lowering, wanting a
viaduct instead so there would
not be a dangerous intersection
at Mondamin and Wabena!

27. St. Mary’s Church
 Built in 1865
 Located behind St.
 Mary’s Cemetery on
 the west side of the
 Railroad tracks.
 Burned down in 1903

28. St. Mary’s Church c1905

29. United Methodist Church
 Built in 1866

30. 1917 Destroyed by Tornado

31. Minooka Methodist Church
c1975

32. Looking West on Mondamin
 c1907

33. Looking North on Wabena
 c1907

34. Looking East on Mondamin
 c1910

35. Minooka Hotel
 C1906
 Built in late 1860’s
 On the corner of
Wabena and Wapella
 Torn down in early
1960’s

36. Toboggan Slide
 1880’s & 1890’s
 Built by A. K.
Knapp on
Osceola St.