RI park selected a 'wonder' of Illinois

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By Times staff | Monday, April 30, 2007 11:36 AM CDT | () comments

TODAY: (Updated 10:10 a.m.) Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island has been voted one of the “Seven Wonders of Illinois” in a promotion sponsored by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism.

Selection “should be a big boost to tourism, protection, funding, appreciation and use of Black Hawk,” said Bob Motz, a member of a Black Hawk support group who pushed a campaign to vote for the park.

A news conference will be held in Watchtower Lodge at the park this afternoon.

The Illinois tourism bureau launched its “Seven Wonders” online voting contest in February, dividing the state into seven regions and inviting people to nominate their favorite attractions. After receiving 3,700 nominations, bureau personnel picked 12 sites for each region and invited people to vote for their favorite.

The John Deere Pavilion and Collectors Center in downtown Moline and the Rock Island Arsenal were among the 12 from the western region of the state, but they were eliminated. Final voting for western Illinois came down to Black Hawk and the Wildlife Prairie State Park in Peoria.

Black Hawk is a 208-acre park of steeply rolling woodlands off Blackhawk Road, roughly between 14th and 24th streets, which is known for its spring wildflowers.

The park is an important part of the Quad-City area’s heritage because it is a largely intact deciduous forest in the middle of the city. The north half is so pristine that it has been designated a state nature preserve.

In addition to natural history, there is a strong human element. The area was important to American Indians and was the site of a Victorian-era amusement park. There also is geological history to be found in the cliffs along the Rock River.

Although it is impossible to know exactly how many people visit the park, about 140,8000 people signed the guest register book in the park’s Hauberg Indian Museum during 2006.

REST OF THE LIST

Here are the other six Wonder winners by region

• Northern — Starved Rock State Park, Utica

• Chicago — Wrigley Field

• Chicagoland — Baha’i House of Worship, Wilmette

• Central — Allerton Park and Retreat Center, Monticello

• Southern — Rend Lake, Benton

• Southwest — Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway after a 33-mile strip of river through Alton, Grafton, Hartford and Elsah