The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is tearing down the large, circa 1930’s Sludge Disposal Building (also known as “The Big House”) at their waste treatment plant in Stickney. Unfortunately, the site covers so much ground (“the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world“) and the building is so deep inside the complex that the only decent public view of the demolition work is from the Central Avenue viaduct a quarter of a mile away, which is where I shot the above (cropped, mediocre) photo. But if you want to get a closer look, you can just go online and watch the demolition live (more or less, the feed is slow) on the MWRD website. While I can only guess as to why the MWRD decided to make the webcam feed publicly viewable, or why they even set one up in the first place, I’m glad that they did it. The webcam page also has a short write-up on the history of the building. Worth reading, if only because whoever wrote the piece did so with a sense of humor.
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Somewhat related: A Fantasy Itinerary for a CLUImidwest Tour of Peripheral Chicago, where the Chicago-based blog Pruned asks “…from where does Chicago get its water and electricity. What happens to our shit?” The Stickney plant is mentioned, of course.
As you may have guessed from the lack of recent updates, I’m taking a break from adding content here. The site (I don’t like the word “blog”) is not quite abandoned–it’s more like an old factory building that you THINK is abandoned, but then you notice that there are still a few lights on, and a white pickup truck is parked out back. Something will happen here eventually (probably), though I’m not sure what, or when.
Thanks for stopping by, reading, commenting, linking to this site, etc…I really appreciate it. Have a great New Year.
This is the base of what used to be the enclosed water tower at Washburne Trade School. Towers and stairwells are the most difficult parts of old brick factory buildings to demolish, so they are often left standing until the rest of the structure around them is torn down. That’s what happened here, and as the Washburne water tower became more isolated from the rest of the complex (see the gallery below) it began to resemble a monument of some sort. I had naively hoped that it would be left standing, but as you can see that didn’t happen. Now 31st and Kedzie can finally be classified as an 11 acre Empty Lot.
Remember the metal letters above the door to the tower that spelled out “WASHBURNE TRADE SCHOOL”? Me too…I wonder what happened to those.
LINKS: The ForgottenChicago.com page on The Last Days of Washburne, and there are two years worth of blog posts about Washburne in the archives. Now I have to sort through thousands of photos dating back to 2004 and figure out what to do with them. Fun.
Near 51st and Hoyne stands the Fleischmann-Kurth Malting Company, which was once “one of the largest suppliers of malt for the American beer industry” according to some random factoid I found online. Actually, I should say “stood”, since demolition of the complex began late last year and is now nearly complete. All that is left are the impressive grain silos, and those were half gone last time I visited. Read the rest of this entry »
For those who enjoy looking at mid-century (1940’s-1970’s) photos of the Chicago cityscape…
ABOVE: From his “vast slide collection. For your pleasure”, over 400 found slides of Vintage Chicago Illinois, presented by Zeus of HollYWOod. BELOW: Over 200 images of Chicago from the late 1940’s onward by Joe + Jeanette Archie (via).
A lot of good stuff.
I think I’m becoming obsessed with these weird and depressing real estate signs.
In case you were wondering, this photo is over a week old. The “2-Flat-$15K Cash 1 Week Only” offer is proably probably over by now. Sorry.
(edit: Yea, my spelling sucks sometimes. Sorry about that.)
Maybe you have already seen these, but if not they’re worth a look: two bits of video from WTTW’s Chicago Tonight that deal with parts of the city’s underground infrastructure like the old freight tunnels and the Metropolitan Water Reclaimation District’s “Deep Tunnel” project. The segments, hosted by Geoffrey Baer, are short (about 8 minutes each) and don’t go into a lot of detail, but still…
part 1, from 8/12/09: http://video.wttw.com/video/1213974541
part 2, from 8/19/09: http://video.wttw.com/video/1220626736
Video links via Chuck Janda. Thanks, Chuck.
Confused about the national debate over health care reform?
I may have found a solution that will please both ends of the political spectrum.
In preparation for what is probably the inevitable demolition of the Michael Reese Hospital complex, the entire campus is now surrounded by a chain link fence. Anyone hoping to wander the grounds to get a last look at the place is now pretty much out of luck. Read the rest of this entry »
