Bill Webb (BW Thoughts) sent this gorgeous historical mural from Ottawa, Illinois, U.S.A.
As I have often had to do, Bill shot the mural in segments. Here are the segments from left to right.
Bill wrote:
“If you ride the I&M canal out from Chicago to the end, about 80 miles in you come to Ottawa ( named after the Indian word for trade )”
“it is at the conflux of three rivers, and the canal goes through there( built in 1848 ), but as far back as the 1600’s the French traders settled here and traded furs with the Indian tribes of the region.”
“The rivers were marshy and prone to flooding, so when the canal was built, little towns began to sprout up along the route, and goods and people began to flow West. In many ways this town is still a sleepy place that mirrors small town America at its best.”
Bill (BW Fiction), thank you for the pics of this wonderful mural, and the thoughts to go with it!
Pics taken May 31, 2014
Graffiti Lux Art & More 
The ball in the picture looks like supernatural modern !
Cheers,
Michel 🙂
“lol” Love your take! 🙂
I thought it was a giant marble, like from the old fashioned game of marbles.
Cheers
Resa
I think it is a marble, from a local glass-works now long gone. Thanks for including my contribution, Doing this is an important part of capturing a piece of our history – you’re a bit of a pioneer yourself Resa!
Nice one Bill! I think it’s awesome that Resa is inspiring others to take more notice of amazing outdoor art.
we follow the visionary 🙂
it doesnt look like grafiti.. its done amazingly
It’s a mural. It’s outdoor art.
I love all outdoor/street art whether it is graffiti art, mural art and now we have graffiti murals.
As time passes, more and more amazing artists are painting in the streets, for free and on commissions.
I’m so glad you seem to enjoy it all! 🙂
Kool , Mural art, heard for the 1st time . and yes i do enjoy it, ur blog is different and u post amazing things
🙂 😎 🙂
Great post, Resa… Thanks Bill.. 😉
The little boy (I think) seems to be playing ‘marbles’.. Too cute. I also thought it was a giant glass marble behind him. It’s all so incredibly artistic, and historical, too.
I love Bill’s remark. Indeed, Resa, you are something of an historian yourself.. 😀
Bill did a great job! I’m very proud to have this mural on my site! 🙂