Kankakee River Runs East to West Here ~ Momence, Illinois
First known as "Lower Crossing", Momence was named after a local Potawatomi, Isadore Moness. Momence was first platted by Dr. Hiram Todd in 1846. It is located on the Kankakee River. In July, 1893, a crew paid for by an appropriation from the neighboring State of Indiana cut a shallow channel not quite a meter deep through a limestone ledge running just east of Momence, which had for millennia partially blocked and restricted the flow of the Kankakee River, making up to that point the Grand Kankakee Marsh, then the nation’s largest inland wetland, possible. The increased river flow, while doing little for the citizens of Illinois, drained thousands of acres of Indiana wetlands, permitting them to be profitably farmed, while destroying most of the Marsh.
Kankakee River Runs East to West Here ~ Momence, Illinois
First known as "Lower Crossing", Momence was named after a local Potawatomi, Isadore Moness. Momence was first platted by Dr. Hiram Todd in 1846. It is located on the Kankakee River. In July, 1893, a crew paid for by an appropriation from the neighboring State of Indiana cut a shallow channel not quite a meter deep through a limestone ledge running just east of Momence, which had for millennia partially blocked and restricted the flow of the Kankakee River, making up to that point the Grand Kankakee Marsh, then the nation’s largest inland wetland, possible. The increased river flow, while doing little for the citizens of Illinois, drained thousands of acres of Indiana wetlands, permitting them to be profitably farmed, while destroying most of the Marsh.