This stone building served as a warehouse on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which was completed in 1848. It was built one year later by James Clark of Utica. Before the railroads, the canal was the main commercial artery to Chicago, helping establish Chicago as an important grain market and contributing greatly to the growth of that city and the northern part of the Illinois River Valley. Clark had also constructed five sections of the canal. He operated a general store in the warehouse, which in 1877 alone shipped 210,000 bushels of corn and 22,000 bushels of oats. It is the only surviving warehouse on canal frontage.