User:Mendaliv/Joliet Iron and Steel Works

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Joliet Steel Works
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Mendaliv/Joliet Iron and Steel Works (Illinois)
Mendaliv/Joliet Iron and Steel Works
Location: Joliet, Illinois
Nearest city: Chicago
Coordinates: 41°32′21.46″N 88°4′31.66″W / 41.5392944, -88.0754611Coordinates: 41°32′21.46″N 88°4′31.66″W / 41.5392944, -88.0754611
Added to NRHP: 1991-02-28
NRHP Reference#: 91000088
Governing body: USX Realty, Upper Illinois Valley Association[1]

The Joliet Iron and Steel Works, also called the Joliet Iron Works and the Joliet Steel Works, was once the second largest steel mill in the United States,[2] and was initially run from 1869 to 1936.[3][4]

Though the mill was reopened, it eventually became unprofitable and all operations were ceased by the early 1980s.[5]

In the 1990s, the Forest Preserve District of Will County set up a historic site at the ruins of the ironworks, complete with a mile-long hiking path and signs describing the significance of the ruins.[6]

Contents

[edit] History

The works were originally owned and operated by the Joliet Steel Company, which was acquired by the Illinois Steel Company shortly after its formation in 1889. In turn, Illinois Steel was acquired by Federal Steel, which went on to be central in the formation of U.S. Steel.[7][8][9]

The rolling mill portion of the works struck its first blow in March 1873.[10]

[edit] The site

The works had a dam on the Des Plaines River for power and four blast furnaces capable of producing up to 2,000 tons of pig iron daily.[11]

[edit] Labor

The workers at the Joliet works were involved in the Steel Strike of 1919.[12]

Around 1926 the steel works employed approximately 4000 workers.[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Collaton, Elizabeth; Charles Bartsch (September 1996). "Industrial Site Reuse and Urban Redevelopment- An Overview". Cityscape 2 (3): 54-55. 
  2. ^ Schultz, Mark (2004-03-15). "Awakening the Historical Imagination", in Nancy Workman and Therese Jones: Dimensions of Curiosity: Liberal Learning in the 21st Century. University Press of America, 39. ISBN 0761827609. 
  3. ^ National Park Service (1995). National Register of Historic Places 1966 to 1994. John Wiley & Sons, 201. ISBN 0471144037. 
  4. ^ Warren, Kenneth (2001). Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901-2001. University of Pittsburgh Press, 266. 
  5. ^ Warren, 332.
  6. ^ Joliet Iron Works Historic Site. Forest Preserve District of Will County. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  7. ^ Pacyga, Dominic (2003-11-01). Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago: Workers on the South Side, 1880-1922. University of Chicago Press, 30. ISBN 0226644243. 
  8. ^ Robinson, Maurice (June 1915). "The Distribution of Securities in the Formation of the United States Steel Corporation". Political Science Quarterly 30 (2): 283. The Academy of Political Science. ISSN 00323195. 
  9. ^ Warren, 53.
  10. ^ Misa, Thomas (1998-09-08). A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America, 1865-1925. Johns Hopkins University Press, 22. ISBN 0801860520. 
  11. ^ Ridgley, Douglas (May 1921). The Geography of Illinois. The University of Chicago Press, 279. 
  12. ^ Brody, David (1987-07-01). Labor in Crisis: The Steel strike of 1919. University of Illinois Press, 112. ISBN 0252013735. 
  13. ^ Close, Charles (January 1926). "Safety in the Steel Industry". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 123. SAGE Publications.