Lockport launches new web site
January 25, 2010
By Tony Graf
tgraf@stmedianetwork.com
LOCKPORT -- A new Web site, geared toward economic development, is marketing downtown Lockport. It creates a brand that emphasizes the city's power to make connections in transportation, commerce and history.
Visit www.lockportworks.com for a clean, well-designed presentation of Lockport's finest attributes. Read about the city's historic charm, its dining and recreation, its transportation corridors and its commercial opportunities.
The Web site -- part of a larger marketing effort -- was created by the city of Lockport and partners in the private sector. Steve Streit of oh!Design, a Lockport business, designed and maintains the site.
The Web site has been operational since the beginning of the year. Streit gave the city council a presentation at last week's meeting.
"We wanted to create a logo, an icon, a brand that was very specific and unique to Lockport," Streit said.
That brand is "The Power to Connect."
"One of the things that is so strong about Lockport is its power to connect: It's in a central location among a number of towns. Its transportation hubs are historic and unprecedented," Streit said.
New logo
The new Lockport marketing logo is featured prominently on the Web site's home page. It is a symbol of Lockport's power to connect.
The logo -- with concentric circles around the second "o" in "Lockport" -- is a reference to the downtown Lincoln Landing park. At the Landing, artist David Ostro's bronze sculpture shows Abraham Lincoln dipping his hands into the water of the I&M Canal.
The new logo's concentric circles are a reference to the ripple effect when a hand is placed in the water -- and the economic ripple effect that spread through the Midwest when the canal opened in Lockport.
The canal provided an inland connection between the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Hence "The Power to Connect."
History and beyond
"But the power of Lockport is more than just its past," the Web site says. "Lockport's location and newly created transportation links make the downtown one of the most desirable locations in Will County."
Thus the Web site provides information on available properties in Lockport, the Downtown Master Plan, the tax-increment financing program approved last year, Lockport's restaurants and recreation, the four downtown museums and the Lincoln Landing, Lockport demographics, and many more local features.
The larger marketing effort is the result of work by the city of Lockport, MainStreet Lockport, the Lockport Chamber of Commerce, the Lockport Township Park District and a number of businesses. The city has formed a Downtown Development Committee with a goal of implementing the Downtown Master Plan, approved in 2009.
Aside from oh!Design's work on the Web site, Streit credits the city, Chevron Corp., John Graves, Jerry Adelmann, Vince Martinez, Ray and Rosemary Winters and Nick Karounos.
"It's a really fabulous Web site," Mayor Dev Trivedi said Friday. "And we want city residents to visit this Web site, check it out, and see what they think. If they have any input, they are welcome to give it to the Downtown Development Committee, as we are moving forward in getting our master plan implemented."