Lockport transforms to show its strength
Before-and-after pictures of vacant downtown storefronts transformed into thriving businesses show why southwest suburban Lockport deserved to win the national 2021 Strongest Town competition.
Brightly painted venues that highlight historic charm have filled formerly empty spaces along State Street. The revitalization should inspire other towns and cities across America that are experiencing decline and decay.
“It was really cool to see before and after photos they submitted to see the transformation that has happened just within the last five or six years,” said John Pattison, a Strong Towns content manager who organized this year’s sixth annual contest.
Lockport, population 25,307, beat 15 other larger and betterknown finalists that included Bentonville, Arkansas, population 49,467, birthplace of Walmart; Bismark, population 72,777, capital of North Dakota; and Norfolk, Virginia, population 244,601, home to a massive naval base.
Talk about punching above your weight class. Communities squared off in a bracket that resembled the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament. Organizers declared Lockport the winner April 9.
“Any one of these 16 cities would make a great Strongest Town,” Pattison said. “But round after round, Lockport distinguished itself again and again.”
Civil engineer, urban planner and author Charles Marohn founded Strong Towns in 2008 and is president of the organization, which is based in Brainerd, Minnesota. The group advocates for fiscal responsibility and smart planning for infrastructure and opposes suburban sprawl.
“The recognition confirms that we’re aligning with principles that we feel are important and can help to guide us as we continue to make decisions and improvements in the future,” said Lance Thies, Lockport’s director of community and economic development.
Marohn hosted an hourlong video chat April 5 with Lockport Mayor Steve Streit and Robyn Tannehill, mayor of Oxford, Mississippi, the other finalist.
“We’re an old canal town,” Streit said in the webcast. “It’s always been an interesting place of ingenuity and hard work.”
Lockport incorporated in 1853 and was headquarters of the Illinois and Michigan Canal,
which opened in 1848. The 96-mile channel connected the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds and generated commerce that led to Chicago unseating St. Louis as capital of the American Midwest.
Towns in the contest scored points for recreational amenities, such as Lockport’s trails for walking or bicycling along the I&M Canal. Streit and Marohn discussed how thousands of acres of forest preserves in Homer, Lemont and Palos townships help separate Lockport from Chicago’s Loop.
“Your place does not feel like a suburb of a major city,” Marohn said.
Chicago’s population before the I&M Canal opened was about 4,000 in 1840, according to “Encyclopedia of Chicago.”
“We like to brag that we made Chicago what it is, because Chicago was just an onion swamp before the canal was built,” Streit said. “Once the canal started, it actually put Chicago on the map.”
Marohn asked mayors how their towns were helping residents and businesses cope with adversity during the pandemic. Streit talked about Lockport Shield, a program in which volunteers deliver groceries, do yard work and other tasks for shut-ins.
Streit talked about the balance between downtown destinations and natural recreational amenities that draw visitors and commercial and industrial operations that create jobs. He discussed plans for the 500-acre vacant former site of a Texaco refinery that opened in 1911 and closed in 1981.
“Our city went through the typical American tale,” Streit said. “Eight years ago, we saw our downtown had great bones but it was abandoned.”
The revitalization began when the city acquired a fire damaged former hotel and then sold the property to a developer for $10, Streit said.
“You take a lot of heat for that,” he said of criticism from taxpayers who disagreed with the giveaway. “But that was the start of a revolution downtown.”
Now, State Street bustles with vehicular and foot traffic to such venues as Embers Bar & Grill, Lock & Mule by Tangled Roots Brewing Company and Stagecoach Saloon that complement such popular destinations as The Public Landing and Tallgrass restaurants.
A recently completed downtown infrastructure project may have proved to be the muscle that carried Lockport across the finish line. The Illinois Department of Transportation wanted to widen State Street, which is Illinois Route 171, to add a turn lane for traffic crossing a high bridge over canals and the Des Plaines River.
“IDOT wanted to remove all our parking for wider lanes,” Streit said. That would have killed efforts to fill empty downtown storefronts. “We’d be done.”
Instead, city officials worked with state transportation authorities on an alternate plan. Lockport narrowed sidewalks along State Street to preserve parking, and IDOT got enough space to add turn lanes, Streit said.
“We took advantage of the fact they ripped everything up to take care of beautification by adding trees and planters,” Streit said.
Ornamental bicycle racks were added for cyclists who wanted to enjoy a glass of beer or wine after biking on a path along the canal. Murals resembling historic advertisements adorn sides of downtown buildings.
Lockport has an energy and synergy of multiple people and organizations pulling in the same direction and making positive improvements happen.
More than 33,000 votes were cast in this year’s contest, organizers said. The Strong Towns organization has about 3,000 members who are municipal officials, professionals and others engaged in community improvements. Their weighted votes counted for half the scores, and the 30,000 public votes counted for the other half, Pattison said.
“Lockport was consistently winning the popular vote and our member vote,” Pattison said. “In the last round they won 54% to 46% in both popular and member vote.”
Pattison said Lockport will be an example for other communities across the nation.
“We started the contest six years ago in part to highlight the towns and cities that are doing the work of becoming stronger and more financially resilient,” he said. “We’re not looking for the perfect town or city, we’re looking for the town or city that best exemplifies the process of becoming stronger.”
Pattison referred me to a paragraph he wrote in a story announcing Lockport’s victory.
“Lockport, a canal town, is justifiably proud of its history,” he wrote. “Yet following along with the city throughout this contest, it’s become clear to Strong Towns staffers and readers: Lockport is building a future it can be proud of too.”