There was a common theme at Monday’s ribbon-cutting for Monmouth’s revamped public square — gratitude.
Shane Larson with Hutchison Engineering said the project has been a long time coming — the vision dates back to a planning study a decade ago. The engineering firm helped the city chase competitive grants for years, and Larson said the project finally moved forward thanks to state lawmakers and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
“We are fortunate enough that the legislators passed a capital bill and as part of that capital bill, they gave the DCEO quite a bit of money to hand out for projects like that,” he said.
So Larson thanked Sal Garza of the DCEO, who was there for the celebration.
The city was awarded $3 million for its streetscape beautification project — about 75 percent of the total project cost. The pedestrian-friendly design includes new landscaping, sidewalks, planted medians, and asphalt.
But the project wasn’t just about beautifying the square, the blocks leading into it, and Market Alley, which is adjacent to the southeast quadrant. It was also about improving functionality — adding more parking and streamlining traffic around the square — all with a vision for bringing more people downtown and helping local businesses thrive.
Mayor Rod Davies said the city also spent $1.5 million to upgrade aging water mains.
“We did a lot of work rebuilding the underground before we fixed up above ground,” Davies said. “Today is about thanking all the people from Hutchison Engineering and Porter Brothers Construction. Without all their great employees and folks that were involved, this certainly would not have been possible.”
Davies also thanked community members for attending the ribbon-cutting and downtown business owners for their patience during more than a year of construction.
State Senator Mike Halpin told the crowd this kind of project doesn’t happen without buy-in and hard work from the people on the ground. He said he’s proud to work with state agencies like DCEO to bring tax dollars back to local communities like Monmouth.
“It’s a long process. It can be difficult. It can be competitive to get some of these grants,” Halpin said. “But it really matters to the people who live, work, and go to school here in the Monmouth community. And I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
The thank-yous kept rolling amid bursts of applause — for all the paperwork, the hard labor, and the city employees who helped make the project happen.
Looking out at the public square from the entrance to Market Alley, State Rep. Dan Swanson offered another note of appreciation.
“The good Lord blessed us by keeping the leaves on those trees until we had an opportunity to be here today,” Swanson said. “It is a beautiful setting to stand here today, looking at the trees, thinking about what this is going to be like next spring, next summer, next fall with all the different opportunities we're going to be able to have.”
All that’s left on the streetscape project at this point is some pavement striping. City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher calls the upgrades a generational project that will change the face of downtown for years to come.
The city has also received a grant to extend the design another block north and another block south of the square.
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