The Hofmann Dam

Developed more than 150 years ago, the Hofmann dam site contributed to the development of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Before Chicago was incorporated, Lyons developed 12 miles west as the home of Portage Creek, part of the Chicago Portage route, and influenced the growth of the region. The site began as a natural dam known as Riverside Ford, then was altered by construction of a man-made dam as early as the late 1820s. Historically, the dam provided power for the Riverside Milling Company, and the site is now part of the Riverside Historic District. Frederick Law Olmsted, working for Olmsted, Vaux & Co., designed the suburban community of Riverside for Emory Childs of the Riverside Improvement Company and took a particular interest in the curved dam, addressing its function and design in his 1868 Preliminary Report upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside, Near Chicago. Olmsted also named Millbridge Road after the Riverside Milling Company complex. In 1907, brewer George Hofmann, Jr., acquired the dam and surrounding property, improved the dam, and developed the adjacent grounds into an amusement complex called Niagara Park. He hired the H.W. Sauber Construction Company to build a tower inspired by one at Dellwood Park in Lockport, Illinois, and replaced the earlier mill dam with a horseshoe-shaped concrete dam. Niagara Park included the dam, the Hofmann tower, paths, and boat slips on the south bank of the river west of the tower, and offered clam bakes, boat rides, picnicking, and outdoor entertainment. The business prospered until Prohibition and pollution reduced attendance. Since about 1908, the dam intermittently created a sanitation problem by constricting the river's flow and catching sewage and sediment. In 1928, a by-pass was added on the north bank to clear pollution from behind the dam. In 1936, the Works Progress Administration strengthened retaining walls along the Des Plaines River and lowered the crest of the dam. Sanitation and pollution concerns persisted, and in 1950 the State of Illinois replaced George Hofmann's curved dam with a straight dam a short distance downstream. The Hofmann Tower was unaffected, became a Lyons Village Landmark in 1972, and was listed on the State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 2003, pollution and degraded aquatic habitat in the Des Plaines River led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to propose removing the 1950 dam as part of an aquatic ecosystem restoration project. After consultation with preservation agencies, the removal was found to have an adverse effect on historic properties, so the Corps conducted Level II HAER documentation of the site, and the HABS/HAER record was preserved in the Historic American Engineering Record at the United States Library of Congress.

Lyons, Illinois · United States