soldiers; only 63 returned. The Lemont Civil War Memorial Committee was formed to build a memorial to honor Lemont's Civil War veterans. The monument was dedicated in 2008 in Legion Park at the east end of Main Street, opposite the Metra Station. Of the 293 soldiers sent to fight in the war, only 243 names of the enlisted soldiers are known. Among them is Cpl. John Warden, the only Lemont resident ever awarded the Medal of Honor. By 1854, railroads transported goods faster than water, and the I&M became obsolete as Lemont evolved into a railroad community; the village was incorporated on June 9, 1873. Increasingly, the canal was used to carry wastes away from Chicago. In 1900, the larger Sanitary and Ship Canal went into operation, carrying both wastes and larger, more modern barges. All use of the I&M Canal ended in 1933, with the opening of the canal's modern successor - the Illinois Waterway. By about 1920, the quarries declined as styles changed and builders began to use Bedford limestone from Indiana and less expensive materials like concrete. During World War II, the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago moved into Red Gate Woods to carry out Enrico Fermi's work on nuclear reactors for the Manhattan Project. After the war, Argonne National Laboratory was designated as the first national laboratory in the United States on July 1, 1946. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor as the nation's first National Heritage Corridor. The status recognizes the historic importance of this region and the waterway that connected Lake Michigan and the Illinois River. Today, it is a cultural park between Chicago and LaSalle/Peru, representing an ongoing partnership between the public and private sectors created to achieve a successful mixture of preservation, public use and industrial activity. Sacred architecture is a strong suit of Lemont, whose skyline is dominated by two landmark religious edifices: the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago and SS. Cyril and Methodius church in the Polish Cathedral style. Both are situated on the sides of hills, giving an even more dramatic backdrop to their monumental architecture. Tornadoes On June 13, 1976, at 5:18 PM, a killer tornado struck Lemont and took three lives. 23 were injured, 87 homes were destroyed and 82 more were damaged. Damage to the high school alone was estimated at $500,000 (). Many