History of Lemont

Lemont’s neighborhoods rise on the bluffs above its downtown and three waterways – the narrow I&M Canal, the wide Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the marshy Des Plaines River. Native Americans traveled the river by canoe on their trading trips between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan. The I&M Canal made this natural passageway navigable for commerce in 1848, and in 1900 the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal created a modern shipping channel that also carried away Chicago’s waste.

Lemont’s motto is “Village of Faith” and its church spires reflect the many ethnic groups who came here to quarry stone, dig the Sanitary and Ship Canal and work in other industries. The tradition continues just north of the waterways on the east side of Lemont Road, where the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago was built in 1986 by master sculptors and artisans from India.

Downtown Lemont

Digging the I&M Canal with pick and shovel became impossible near Lemont – dolomite limestone was too close to the surface. The workers risked their lives when they blasted through with black powder, and quarried with drills and chisels.

You can still see this yellow stone in Lemont’s canal walls, its downtown commercial buildings and neighborhood churches. Tons of stone were shipped by canal to Chicago – its famous Water Tower is a surviving example. Thousands of immigrants worked in Lemont’s quarries. Note the mural celebrating quarry workers on Stephen Street, which was originally painted for the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 and recently restored as part of Lemont’s downtown revitalization program.

In the 1890s, Lemont became home to many of the 7,000 workers who dug the Sanitary and Ship canal, designed to carry Chicago’s waste away from Lake Michigan. Many workers let off steam in Lemont’s “Smokey Row” along Stephen Street, a notorious red light district that catered to men working on the Sanitary & Ship Canal, as well as the I&M, quarries and railroad.

Park downtown on the street or adjacent to the I&M Canal to shop, dine, enjoy Lemont’s architecture or walk or bike its five-mile canal trail segment. Learn more about Lemont at the Historical Society, 306 Lemont Street, located in the Old Stone Church.