Louis Joliet - Joliet, Illinois
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 41° 31.614 W 088° 04.976
16T E 409652 N 4597816
Joliet, Illinois is named after explorer Louis Joliet.
Waymark Code: WM2YJ8
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2008
Views: 157
Louis Joliet was born in French Canada in 1645. He was the third son of a Quebec wagon-maker and wheel-wright. When he was 20-21 years of age, he went searching after his older brother in the Iroquois Territory.
In 1673 with Jacques Marquette, after concluding their exploration of the Mississippi River, Louis Joliet came back to towards French Canada via the Illinois-Des Plaines River Valley.
On the original 1674 map of the area Louis Joliet named a prominent
mound "Mount Joliet" which some later mapmakers corrupted to Mt. Juliet.
When James B. Campbell laid out the original town in 1834 it was recorded as "Juliet" and remained so until 1845.
From 1834 through 1845 apparently nobody was really sure of the name of his or her hometown. Was it Juliet or Joliet? This confusion demanded an official solution. Local town leaders appealed to the Illinois legislature to have this unacceptable situation remedied. The name was officially changed to Joliet in 1845 and the town was incorporated with that name seven years later.
- "A Pictorial History" by Robert E. Sterling (1986)
The statue sculpted by Sigvald Asbjornsen and was erected in this location in 1903.