Acme Steel, Chicago Coke Plant
Last weekend’s search yielded this excellent 30 year old text. The constitution and by-laws aren’t worthy of much time but what follows is historically important, to be sure. But before we get to that – what is the WSBFACPA? Section II of their constitution states: “The purpose of this association is to promote good fellowship […]
I initially covered finding this massive text back on site visit #15. This is a draft written by an outside vendor and clearly Acme was not happy with the results. I shared a crop previously – the inside front cover is filled with notes about the difficult correspondence with the vendor, here they are in […]
My first plan of attack was to head back into the BP office and continue to dig through the frozen landfill I have been neglecting for months. I found a big plastic bin as well which I brought back to the main office. I had been wanting to try to offload junk from the asst. […]
One thing that has always intrigued me is the history of plant, related to the various mergers and spinoffs that have changed the name of the coke plant since it opened in the early 1900s. The oldest documents I have found that show ‘Interlake’ as a name are from the mid 50s, I have a […]
Always go back for just one more look – advice (that I give myself, and now you) which continues to serve me well at Acme. While kind of walking through the gate house in a bored stupor I noticed that a door (which of course was torn from it’s hinges, like every other one in […]
A lot has gone on at 11236 S. Torrence between today and the time the plant closed, just shy of 20 years ago. Things went dark for a few years after everyone went home and the gates were locked up. The place hung in limbo for a time while some idealistic historians tried to hatch […]
Keeping the streak alive! So many consecutive Saturday’s this is a serious part time job!. Turns out the pay and benefits are pretty bad but there are a hell of a lot of perks. I’m allowed to come hang out whenever I want, I basically have the keys to the place. There are more documents […]
After locating a training tape in the main office last weekend, a brief bit of internet research led me to the owner of the voice I intently listened to through my speakers. Jerry was glad to have a discussion about his memories of the coke plant via Zoom. I used the transcript of the audio […]
The first in a continuing series (Click the ‘Tales From Topside’ category heading above to see the rest). Doug Podgorny was area manager ovens up until the very end. With 25 years between the coke plant and mill, he watched things start to unravel but had to stick around to see it through. Never before […]
The second in a continuing series (Click the ‘Tales From Topside’ category heading above to see the rest). Doug Podgorny was area manager ovens up until the very end. With 25 years between the coke plant and mill, he watched things start to unravel but had to stick around to see it through. Never before […]