Joliet, IL: Union Depot Murals

General information about the Joliet Union Depot is here. These notes are about the murals that are around and in the depot.

Along the New Street pedestrian path on the south side of the former Rock Island RR embankment in Joliet, IL are a couple of murals.

The above sign to the left of the first mural is defaced with paint. Fortunately, I was still able to read it:

This mural depicts various aspects of the Joliet area's Native American heritage. Prominently featuring a map of the Great Sauk (or Sak) Trail, which many tribes used to traverse Will County, it also shows a Potawatomi child, examples of how Indians drew sustenance from the land for food and shelter, and a mother and infant in forced flight from Illinois. The painting is rendered largely in earth tones---browns, greens, and ochres---to underscore Native American's crucial relationship with the land.

Since the 1600's, many different Indian nations had made the Upper Illinois River region their home; first and foremost were the Illinois. After the Illinois departed from the area because of intertribal warfare and the general westward spread of European settlers, several other Algonquin-speaking peoples extensively utilized what is now Will County; most prominent were the Potawatomi and the associated Ottawa and Ojibwa. The Potawatomi, formerly of the Upper Great Lakes, was the last and largest tribe to inhabit the region. Many of these semi-sedentary Indians lived in villages on lands adjacent to Hickory Creek near the Sauk Trail, primarily in what are now the Joliet and New Lenox Townships. Here they hunted, fished, farmed, gathered berries, and fashioned flints from the nearby hills.

The Saulk Trail was a major Midwestern Indian route, traversing the Illinois Basin. Perhaps originally made by wild game like buffalo, the trail was blazed by the Sauk on journeys from the village of Saukenuk (near Tock Island on the Mississippi River ) to Fort Malden at Amherstburg, Ontario (near Detroit), where they received annual payments from the British Government. Today U.S. 30 follows much of the original trail.

I took an overall picture to provide context for the first mural's location. The second one is further to the west (left).

I posted the above in Marty Bernard's share of his posting.

Dennis DeBruler commented on the Facebook share
I went to the far west end of the platform to record the view that is available of the bridge. I see that I inadvertently caught some of the murals along Washington Street.
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Marty Bernard posted Duane Hall's photo

Dennis DeBruler commented on the Facebook share
I didn't realize that I got only half of the inside mural until I saw Duane's photo.
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Dennis DeBruler commented on the Facebook share
A remarkable feat of synthesis and design, this mural by renowned Chicago artist, Alejandro Romero, takes viewers on a journey through the history of Joliet. Displaying Romeri's penchant for bright lush color, dynamic composition, and layering images, the mural weaves together--by way of the Des Plaines River--architectural landmarks and figures who have shaped the cultural heritage of the region, as well as the workers, unions, and industries that have contributed to Joliet's reputation as a city built from the foundations of stone and steel.
References to Joliet's cultural accomplishments include the portrayal of Ted Lega directing Joliet Township High School Band in the Rialto Square Theater. A portrait of Ms. Limacher and the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theater, as well as musicians and instruments, reflects the city's rich cultural heritage and nationally award-winning bands and orchestras. The river--along with steel lift bridges, barges, and pleasure boats--plays a vital role in the composition, flowing from one end of the mural to the other. Images of steel mills, steelworkers, other industrial workers, and Caterpillar earth-moving equipment represent Joliet's industrial heritage. Steam and passenger trains represent transportation.
The mural includes an image of the first Lunar Module designed by John Houbolt in 1961. (Houbolt Road is named after the scientist who attended Joliet Junior College, the oldest junior college in the Country.) 'Visions of Joliet' launched the restoration of Union Station, which was brought back to its original luster in 1993.
Lead artist: Alejandro Romero. Mural sponsored by the City of Joliet, Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery, Illinois Arts Council of the Joliet Area, R. R. Donnelly & Sons Co., Roosevelt Paper Co., American Federation of Teachers Local 604, Caterpillar, Inc., Herald-News, Leach Homes, Lyons Lumber, The Spanish Center, Wickander Printing Corp., Will-Grundy Counties Building Trades Council. Plaque sponsored by the Joliet/Will County Center for Economic Development Foundation. Copyright Friends of Community Public Art 1991.