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The Gaylord Building, constructed in 1838 in the downtown historic district of Lockport, Illinois, and on the canalside there, played a pivotal role in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It is on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and is one of 29 Historic Sites of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is constructed of yellow limestone, a common construction material in north central Illinois. It has an Italianate three story addition added in 1859. After falling into disrepair, it was the focus of a concerted restoration and preservation effort that began in 1983, which was later noted as setting a model for such efforts. ==Background and construction== The Illinois and Michigan Canal, begun in 1836 and finished in 1848, and spanning 96 miles (154 km), was the last link in a waterway connecting the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico via the Port of New Orleans and the Atlantic Ocean via the Port of New York. Lockport, situated about 1/3 of the way from the starting point (the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River) and the end point (LaSalle, Illinois on the Illinois River), was a natural location for canal planning, staging and warehousing operations. The I&M canal headquarters were thus in Lockport.〔This (photo ) (and the next two in sequence) from the Lewis University site shows the old headquarters building, just uphill and across the tracks from the Gaylord Building〕 Little progress on canal construction was made during the first two years,due to difficulties in securing supplies and manpower, most of which had to be brought from the East Coast.〔 In the 1830s, this far west, most areas, even a few miles out from major settlements such as Chicago, were essentially wilderness, and Lockport had no warehouse large enough to house all the materials shipped in to foster canal construction, so the canal authorities decided to build one. There was some controversy at the time over the use of state funds to pay for it.〔(Gaylord Building History ): ''"Items stored in the warehouse included provisions, shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, lumber, ropes, iron and steel for making tools and machinery, chains, cordage, cranes, black powder and staple provisions for winter sustenance of the workmen."''〕 The choice of material used, given the frontier nature of the town, was surprising to some. However this area of Illinois has large deposits of yellow limestone, in some cases just below the surface. Some sources say the building uses some stone taken directly from the canal excavation. The building was constructed between May and September 1838 under the supervision of two brothers, Erastus and William Newton, who were contractors on the I&M Canal, at a cost of USD $4,014.29, a substantial sum at the time. Use of yellow limestone may have started a trend.〔This (image ) (from the Canal Corridor site) of downtown Lockport shows a lot of yellow limestone buildings, as does (this one ), taken looking across the Metra tracks from the building to downtown.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gaylord Building」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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