Lockport, IL — A historic landmark along the Illinois & Michigan Canal is receiving national recognition and new funding to expand how local history is told.
The Gaylord Building Historic Site announced it has been awarded a Fiscal Year 2026 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The funding will support Illinois Waterways: Immersive Heritage, a major new long-term exhibition focused on the waterways that shaped Illinois and the broader United States.
According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the grant recognizes projects that advance public access to the arts while fostering inclusive and innovative storytelling. The Gaylord Building’s new exhibition will combine public history, immersive technology, and artistic interpretation to reexamine the Illinois & Michigan Canal and its connected rivers as living systems tied to commerce, migration, labor, and environmental change.
The exhibition is being developed as a modular installation featuring projection-mapped visuals, ambient soundscapes, interactive maps, rotating micro-exhibits, and a companion digital platform. Organizers say the goal is to help visitors experience waterways not as static historical features, but as forces that continue to influence daily life across the region.
Inclusive storytelling is a central focus of the project. The exhibition will highlight historically underrepresented voices, including Indigenous communities, immigrant laborers, African Americans who migrated north after the Civil War, and women whose labor supported economic growth. Educators, students, Illinois artists, tribal representatives, environmental advocates, and community members are expected to contribute research, oral histories, and creative content.
“As a site rooted in place and passage, the Gaylord Building has always told stories that move,” said Executive Director Pam Owens. “This support allows us to honor the deep history of our waterways while embracing new tools that invite dialogue and discovery.”
Planned as a long-term installation in the Gaylord Building’s primary gallery, Illinois Waterways: Immersive Heritage will continue to evolve through community input and new scholarship, aligning with the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary in 2026.
