The Hofmann Dam

The Hofmann Dam. . Developed over 150 years ago, the site of the Hofmann dam has contributed to the development of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Before Chicago was incorporated, a small village named Lyons developed just 12 miles west. Home of Portage Creek, a section of the Chicago Portage route, the town of Lyons influenced the growth of the Chicago region. The Hofmann dam site was a natural dam known as the Riverside Ford, but 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. The site is now part of the Riverside Historic District., Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of Olmsted, Vaux and Co., designed the suburban community of Riverside for developer Emory Childs of the Riverside Improvement Company. Mr. Olmsted had a specific interest in the curved dam; he addressed its function and design in his Preliminary Report upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside, Near Chicago, 1868. Olmsted named Millbridge Road after the Riverside Milling Company complex., In 1907 brewer George Hofmann, Jr., acquired the dam and surrounding property. Shortly after purchasing the site Hofmann began improving the dam and developing the adjacent grounds to create an amusement complex called Niagara Park. Hofmann hired the H.W. Sauber Construction Company to build a tower inspired by one at Dellwood Park in Lockport, Illinois. Hofmann replaced the earlier mill dam with a horseshoe-shaped dam of concrete., Niagara Park included the dam, the Hofmann tower, paths, and boat slips, all on the south bank of the river west of the tower; the park offered visitors clam bakes, boat rides, picnicking and outdoor entertainment. Business at Niagara Park was very successful until Prohibition and pollution kept customers from visiting. In fact, the Hofmann dam has created an intermittent sanitation problem since about 1908 by constricting the river's flow and catching sewage and sediment., In 1928 a by-pass was added on the north bank of the river to clear pollution from behind the dam. In 1936 the Works Progress Administration improved portions of the site by strengthening retaining walls along the Des Plaines River and lowering the crest of dam. Concerns regarding sanitation and pollution persisted in 1950, when the State of Illinois replaced George Hofmann's curved dam with a straight dam a short distance downstream. The Hofmann Tower was not affected and the Village of Lyons named it a Village Landmark in 1972. In 1978 the Hofmann Tower was listed on both the State Register of Historic Places and in the National Register of Historic Places. , Pollution and the degradation of aquatic habitat in the Des Plaines River prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to propose removal of the 1950 dam as part of an aquatic ecosystem restoration project in 2003. After consultation with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the National Park Service, and the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation, it was determined that dam removal would have an adverse effect on historic properties; therefore the Corps of Engineers conducted Level II HAER documentation of the Hofmann dam site. The HABS/HAER information is preserved in the Historic American Engineering Record at the United States Library of Congress.