Information on the Wilmington Area

By Chicago Children’s Photographer Marmalade Photography

Marianne Drenthe

When you travel to the historic and naturally lovely area of Wilmington, Illinois approximately 50 miles southwest of the interior of Chicago, you may want to do some exploring of the vast beauty and history of the area.

Recreational activites:

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie the first federally protected tallgrass prairie in the United States, is a 19,000 acre amazing work in progress already open to the public. This land was once part of the 40,000 acre Joliet Arsenal used by the U.S. Army since 1940. There exists a bit of history in the area’s prairie lands, in 1860, Edward Albert, the Prince of Wales, who was nineteen years old at the time, came to the Wilmington area for hunting game birds as the prairie land surrounding the area was well known for it’s vast populations of game birds prior to European settlement. This was a notable visit because Edward was the first member of the British royal family to ever visit North America. Amusingly enough, local lore has it that he was levied a fine for hunting on Sunday! Got to love that small town ambience.

Kankakee State Park

Des Plaines Fish and Wildlife Area

Historic Overview of Wilmington, Illinois

Just south of the Marmalade Photography Studio on the corner of Water Street and Route 53 (Baltimore Street) you will find the Eagle Hotel. The Eagle Hotel is the oldest hotel on Route 66. This old hotel is the oldest on all of Route 66, first catering to riverboat and stagecoach travelers when it was built in 1836.

Just down the street on Route 102 (Water Street), going south, on the right hand side, you will see an octagon shaped home. This home was known as the ‘round house’ and is a truly unique piece of architecture. According to the Wilmington, Illinois website, “the home has a square keystone extending from the roof to basement. The staircase winds around a hollow shaft.” Verbal reports, handed down over the years state that fugitives in the underground railroad system were housed in this hollow area of the home as this was a “station” on the underground railroad.

One of my favorite spots in this little town is the Wilmington Depot, located at the corner of Kankakee and Chicago Streets on the outskirts of the downtown area (going north on Water Street and turning into Chicago Street, you cannot miss this majestic beauty on the right hand side right before turning onto Kankakee from the Marmalade Photography Studio). This amazing structure is in dire need of renovation. Rumor has it that the train company who still owns it is allowing it to deteriorate to the point of no return, with no hopes in saving this grand beauty. There exist plans to tear it down once the Army Corps of Engineers deems the structure a threat to the live railroad tracks that it borders upon. It is truly a disgrace to our nation’s full and rich rail history if we allow this depot to go the way of a pile of bricks and mortar. This building was erected soon after the railroads passage of tracks (circa 1854). In 1865, the most notable event in this depots’ history is that the funeral train bearing the body of Abraham Lincoln stopped here on its’ way to Springfield, Illinois. I have been told that there have been several unsuccessful attempts made to try to save this grand beauty, let’s hope that by way of some miracle this lovely structure will be saved. I was told that the interior of the depot is gorgeous and you can very much feel the ambience of its’ former grandeur inside. Currently there is much crumbling brick and boarded up windows and doorways on the outside; be that as it may, you don’t have to allow your imagination wander too far to see that this is an amazing piece of history.

Kitschy Fun

Gemini Giant I remember the Gemini Giant back from when I used to travel Route 66 (we locals called it by its’ other alias, Route 53) south from the Joliet area towards Braidwood, Illinois to go blueberry picking at Tammen Treeberry Farm. In more recent years the Marmalade Family has gone to Tammen to fresh cut our pine tree for Christmas Holidays, the tree “hunt” is our immediate family holiday tradition.

Travelling east (taking a left onto Route 66/Route 53), you will find Wilmington, Illinois most, um, well traveled inhabitant…and likely the most famous resident of the Island City, the Gemini Giant, he “lives” outside of The Launching Pad Restaurant at 810 E. Baltimore (aka Rt 66, aka Rt 53). According the Legends of America website, the Gemini Giant is a large fiberglass “muffler man” of the 1960’s era. There were many of these colossal men that could be found all over America, holding all sorts of tools in their hands. Some held hot dogs, axes, mufflers, etc. In the case of Wilmington’s most famous inhabitant, it was a rocket ship, the remnant of our fascination, as a Nation, with travel to outer space. Many of the colossal men have met their demise in a myriad of ways but our most famous resident hangs on. The Launching Pad restaurant is your typical locally owned fast food fare type of place, a great place to stop by for ice cream or a dog with fries and a tall cold Coca Cola on a hot July day.

Historic Route 66 Links

Illinois and Michigan Canal located just miles outside the Wilmington area.

I hope that this guide proves valuable to you, especially if you are traveling from the Chicago area or suburbs such as Naperville, Downers Grove, New Lenox, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge, Winnetka, Glencoe, Evanston, Inverness, Barlett, St. Charles, La Grange, Batavia, Geneva, Oak Brook, Elmhurst, etc. areas.