Local coverage
Project conversations across Will County and the Joliet area.
Coverage depends on independent provider availability. Each page below explains useful housing and site context for that community.
Shorewood
Shorewood began as a fishing and resort community called 'Troy' on the Des Plaines River, anchored by an 1845 water-powered flour mill, and incorporated in 1957 partly to regulate riverside trailers...
Local planning notes →Crest Hill
First explored by Louis Joliet and Père Marquette in 1673, Crest Hill grew from a post-WWII building boom and incorporated in 1960 specifically to avoid annexation by Joliet...
Local planning notes →Rockdale
Settled by Slovenian and Lithuanian immigrants and incorporated in 1903, Rockdale saw the U.S. Navy build ships along the Des Plaines River there during the 1930s...
Local planning notes →Plainfield
The oldest community in Will County, Plainfield traces to the 1828 Walkers' Grove settlement and was the site of the region's defining storm-damage event -- the August 28, 1990 F5 tornado...
Local planning notes →Lockport
Platted in 1837 as the Illinois and Michigan Canal's headquarters town, Lockport takes its name from the canal locks needed to manage a roughly 40-foot elevation drop...
Local planning notes →New Lenox
First settled in the late 1820s near 'Gouger crossing' as VanHorne Point, New Lenox was renamed for its township after the 1852 arrival of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad...
Local planning notes →Channahon
Channahon's name means 'meeting of the waters' in Potawatomi, marking the point where the Des Plaines, Kankakee, and DuPage rivers converge to form the Illinois River...
Local planning notes →Minooka
Platted in 1852 by railroad surveyor Ransom Gardner at the highest point on the Chicago-to-Ottawa line, Minooka's name comes from a Potawatomi word for 'good land' or 'high place'...
Local planning notes →