Black Hawk among "Seven Wonders of Illinois"

ROCK ISLAND - Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island has been named one of the "Seven Wonders of Illinois" according to an announcement made this morning by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Bureau of Tourism.

 

            Black Hawk received the highest number of votes for sites in western Illinois.  The Bureau of Tourism launched the "Seven Wonders" campaign earlier this year by asking for nominations, which were pared down to 12 per region.  The public was then encouraged to vote from March 5 - 31 at www.enjoyillinois.com for their favorites in the Chicago, Chicagoland, Northern, Western, Central, Southwest, and Southern regions of the state.   

 

            "I commend the staff and volunteers who have made Black Hawk State Historic Site worthy of this designation," said Robert Coomer, director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the site.  "This honor couldn't have come at a better time, since the state is commemorating the 175^th anniversary of the Black Hawk War this year."

 

Black Hawk State Historic Site is known for the Hauberg Indian Museum housed in the historic, rough-hewn limestone Watch Tower Lodge; the Singing Bird Nature Center; and a 100-acre nature preserve featuring native plants and animals.

 

The Hauberg Museum depicts the daily lives of the Sauk and Mesquakie Indian nations.  Dioramas show the four seasons with a full-sized winter house, a replica of a summer long house, an authentic dugout canoe, and other objects relating to the Sauk and Mesquakie. A brand new exhibit describes the importance of the worldwide fur trade to the Native Americans.  

 

The Watch Tower Lodge, built between 1934 and 1942 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the State of Illinois, is a one-story limestone structure with rough-hewn timber construction.  The large main room has vaulted ceilings supported by cedar timbers and two floor-to-ceiling stone fireplaces.  Two Works Progress Administration murals have been restored by the state, and basement "nature rooms" are available for science activities with school groups.  Outside the lodge is a large statue of Black Hawk (1767-1838) created in 1892 by sculptor David Richards (1829-1897).  The Lodge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Singing Bird Nature Center, a smaller lodge building, is used for programs sponsored by the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation.

The site also includes a unique 100-acre "designated nature preserve," part of a 160-acre forest consisting of oak, hickory, numerous woodland flowers and bird species, including bald eagles.  The forest is very close to what it would have looked like when the Indians lived there, and is one of just three forests of its type on state land that exist in an unspoiled condition.  Four miles of hiking trails are in the natural areas, and another trail winds along the bluffs 150 feet above the Rock River, where visitors may view a geological scene created 350 million years ago.  The Dickson Cemetery contains about sixty graves dating from the early nineteenth century.  Recreational facilities include three day-use areas with picnic shelters constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and a one-acre prairie restoration.

Black Hawk hosts several special events and nature programs each year.  Programs are supported by the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation.  For more information on the site and programs visit: www.blackhawkpark.org

Black Hawk State Historic Site commemorates Native Americans of the area, particularly the Sauk and Mesquakie (Fox) Indians, who lived here from about 1750 to 1831.  At the nearby site of Saukenuk, an estimated 4,800 Sauk in 1826 comprised one of the largest Native American cities in North America and what may have been the largest city, either Native American or European American, in Illinois at the time.  In the late 1820s, however, Anglo-Americans began developing settlements and gradually forced the tribes across the Mississippi River.  In 1832, fifteen hundred Sauk and Mesquakie, led by the warrior Black Hawk, returned to plant crops, precipitating a fifteen-week conflict known as the Black Hawk War.  Their defeat marked the passing of Native Americans from Illinois.