When Steel Turns to Gold

By Bruce Hodgdon

To this day, Joliet, Illinois, is known as “The City of Steel and Stone,” a slogan that dates from the 19th century. In the 1830s, rich deposits of dolomotic limestone gave rise to a prosperous quarrying operation that employed hundreds of workers.

Joliet limestone was used extensively in construction throughout the area, including the famed Water Tower, which survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In the years following the Civil War, local businessmen constructed an iron-making facility that would become the bedrock of the Joliet economy for the next 60 years.

Eventually the Joliet Iron Works became part of the U.S. Steel Corporation. The plant focused on manufacturing iron rails for the railroad industry. With western expansion demanding an endless supply of rails, this business choice led to a prosperity that would see the plant expand to a 24-hour-a-day operation. At its peak in the year 1900, the plant employed more than 2,000 workers and had an annual payroll in excess of $2 million.

During the Great Depression, the plant was closed, and everything that could be recycled, including its four blast furnaces, was sent to other U.S. Steel facilities. All that remained were the foundations of the iron works.

A Public Memorial

For half a century, the site lay all but forgotten, obscured by weeds and off the beaten track on the northern fringe of the Joliet downtown region. Early in the 1990s, CorLands, an open-space organization, began negotiations with U. S. Steel, which miraculously still owned the property. CorLands worked out an agreement to acquire the 52-acre site if the Forest Preserve District of Will County would develop it as a public memorial to the men who had built the City of Steel and Stone.

Prior to taking ownership, the Forest Preserve District required that the property be analyzed for any toxic remnants. Only one “hot spot” was discovered, on the extreme southern edge of the property where the present parking lot is located. Soils showing heavy metals contamination were removed before any other work was done.

Because interpreting this industrial site lay far outside the district’s normal mission of preserving quality open space, expert guidance was needed. The district contracted with Dr. Jack Bergstresser, then an industrial archeologist with the University of Alabama. Bergstresser spent three summers on site, identifying the ruins and how they functioned in the iron-making process. He issued a detailed report, complete with graphics, that would enable the district to develop and interpret the site.

Funding was another concern. The project would cost $1.5 million — a major expense. District staff applied for and won an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant that would pay for 80 percent of the project. A 2.7-mile asphalt trail that runs through the Iron Works Site and connects Joliet to the City of Lockport was built with the grant money.
District staff designed the site for self-guided tours. A 1.5-mile walkway now winds through the preserve, and 17 wayside exhibits have been placed alongside the structure foundations.

From the start, the district wanted the Iron Works to represent more than the mortar and stone of the factory — the human story was every bit as important. Thousands of immigrants worked at the site, earning meager pay for demanding physical work and long workdays.

Therefore, the motif that was selected for the wayside exhibits would explain not only how the work done at each structure contributed to the iron-making process, but also the demands on the men who worked that particular job. After all, the Joliet Iron Works represented a microcosm of the great immigration movement that was transforming America in the 19th century.

On August 1, 1998, the Forest Preserve District hosted a grand opening of the site, attended by about 1,000 people. Special guided tours are offered on an ongoing basis.

Bruce Hodgdon is media liaison for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, Illinois.

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