Getting in the "Spirit" of things

While on a recent trip over to Peru I had  a chance to visit Star Union Spirits, a new distillery opening up in the historic Westclox building.  The co-owner, Bob Windy, gave me and a few of my friends a tour of the facility as well as a detailed explanation of the inner workings of the place.

What began as a hobby a few years ago has turned into a full fledged business for Bob and I was fascinated by the various steps involved in making distilled spirits. The distiller explained the brewing process to us and we even got to sample some of the finished product at the end of the tour.  As a fascinating side note, the distillery is housed in what used to be the bowling alley for Westclox, with the bar in their tasting room constructed from wood that had previously been one of the bowling lanes. A trio of old pins sat on the end as a subtle reminder.

So if you're ever over that way be sure to stop by and maybe You can take a tour as well. They plan on building a stage soon and have live bands on the weekend. Sounds like a great place to party!

Tempus Fugit-The Westclox museum

Westclox began it's life as the The Western Clock manufacturing company and was based in Peru, IL. There had been a couple previous tries to get a clock company started but those ventures went bankrupt fairly quickly and so it was that on the 3rd attempt in 1888 the company finally got production up and running and it stayed in business from then on.  The company was granted a patent in 1908 for the "Big Ben" and by 1909 the clocks were being sold on the open market, with the time piece having the distinction of being the first alarm clock to be advertised in a national publication,, the Saturday Evening Post.

Business boomed for years with the company becoming one of the biggest producers of inexpensive pocket watches meant for the ordinary man who couldn't afford a more expensive custom made piece. In 1931 Westclox, which trademarked it's name in 1910, merged with the Seth Thomas company with both companies forming the General Time Corporation. Business kept booming and in 1938 they produced the first travel alarm clock which only added to their success. Then came World War two.

Westclox ceased civilian production of timepieces during the war and from 1942-45 concentrated on military contracts, producing aviation instruments and compasses for the U.S. army and was a major supplier of military fuses for the shells and bombs required for warfare.  Once the war was over Westclox swung right back into civilian production and business boomed again, with thousands of returning GI's wanting a watch of their own and now being able to afford it.

But all good things come to an end and so it was that in 1980 after nearly a 
Century of production the Westclox factory closed it's doors and passed into History.  Though the factory no longer hums with the roar of machinery producing clocks by the thousands there IS still a bit of Westclox still in the building in the form of the Westclox Museum.

The museum is open Monday,Wednesday and Friday from 9-3 and Saturday from 10-2.  Curators Ruth and Don Spayer will be more than happy to show you around the place which is filled to bursting with artifacts from the company's heyday and beyond. You'll see early clocks, later clocks & novelty clocks. And you'll see watches, watches and More watches.  They have a large collection of Tick Talk, the company's newsletter as well as photo's and memorabilia. Westclox had its own baseball team, it's own bowling alley and sponsored Huge dinners and events for their employees.  There's no admission to tour the museum though donations are gratefully accepted.  So if you have some time (No pun intended) take a drive over and tour a little museum that tells about a company that played a Big part in Illinois history.

Visiting the I & M canal

As Douglas MacArthur famously said as he waded ashore during the invasion of the Philippines in October of 1944..."I have Returned"

After a Lonnng period of bad health and crummy weather I am back to posting again. Just as the spring encourages the flowers to bloom and the grass to grow I am back on the road to continue my Adventures 'Off the Beaten Path'. I thank the many people who have kept asking me when I was going to start posting regularly again.

We in Illinois are blessed to have numerous free attractions all within a couple hours driving time from home and one of these is the Illinois & Michigan canal.  Opening in 1848 to great fanfare and spanning 96 miles,  the canal connected small towns and businesses to Chicago and was responsible in part for making Chicago one of The major hubs in the early days of the United States. Before the canal was built farmers had no way of taking their crops to markets outside the immediate area but with the completion of the canal suddenly their goods could be transported up to the Great Lakes and from there spread across the country.

The construction was done in part by Irish immigrants who had previously worked on the Erie canal and was considered dangerous work with numerous workers dying from accidents and disease. No records exist to say just how many died as the Irish were considered second class citizens at the time and little attention was paid to their passing.

Once completed the canal had a total of 17 locks and 4 aqueducts that compensated for the 140 foot difference between the Illinois river and Lake Michigan. During its heyday the barges laden with tons of cargo were pulled by teams of mules along the towpath towards Chicago & towns were laid out at regular intervals that were estimated to be the distance the mules could walk without tiring.

At first the boats carried both passengers and cargo but with the creation of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad in 1853 it was easier and faster for travelers to ride the rails to the big city.  Still, the canal stayed active for nearly a hundred years before finally ceasing operations in 1933 and in 1984 was designated the first National Heritage Corridor by the U.S. congress Today it is a 62 mile long park that is popular with fishermen, hikers, bicyclists and tourists and in LaSalle there is a recreation longboat that allows people to experience what it was like to travel the canal 'back in the day' The "Volunteer" is 76 feet long and can carry up to 70 passengers at a time with guides in period clothing talking about the waterway and giving guests an hour to travel back in time.