Acme Steel, Chicago Coke Plant
eBay is a service everyone knows as an online marketplace where people sell new and used goods. This much is true. I have used the site for 20 years in both roles and still look at the site almost everyday. What most people do not understand is that eBay is an excellent way to research […]
Just a couple days after my Thanksgiving feast, I headed down to the plant for my first visit in over a month. This one was mandatory and I had planned it for the better part of a year. In late November 2001, the plant began it’s shutdown under the thought of a feasible but quickly […]
It’s been a long time since I had a serious mission to accomplish at the plant. The past 5-6 visits were brief and mostly just to hang out. Nothing wrong with that, but I have longed for last winter when the sense of urgency was palpable at 6am as I lay in bed on my […]
What you see above is the very first of many hundreds of texts Doug Podgorny and I have exchanged in the past 9 months. I was standing on Baltimore Ave, about to embark for a very chilly ride to the plant. We had just exchanged phone numbers via email the day before and he alluded […]
I look back on when I first started my research, and later began to build this website….if you told me then I’d make a couple friends as a result, I wouldn’t believe you. Former plant instrumentation supervisor and general good guy Steve Buckner sent me the above text out of the blue and I could […]
I spend a lot of time on ebay looking for Acme/Interlake artifacts and I have come across some interesting historical items, a few of which I even purchased. I came across an Acme Steel patch which was clearly used and authentic a while back and before I even considered what to do with it, I […]
Almost since the first time I visited the plant, I badly wanted to come and visit in the evening. A big part of that would be to have a beer(s), as I do my best to avoid day drinking. This would almost require staying the night somewhere in the area however due to the distance, […]
At times it can be difficult to unearth new information about a business that folded 20 years ago. A little extra effort goes a long way and something may turn up. Or sometimes, you just get lucky. I ran across a video simply titled ‘Acme Steel’ on YouTube recently and could hardly believe my eyes. […]
I’m not sure exactly when I first purchased shish-kabob meat from Baltimore foods, but this video is from sometime in 2018 and I have it marked as my third trip. I guess that makes sense because I can find photos of labels from 2016 and 2017. Quite a collection I have here! I don’t know […]
Many cold winter mornings at Acme, early on Saturdays, as I’d be deep in documents, hands blackened with coal/coke dust and then…..a peculiar sound. Instinctively, I’d hold my breath, then creep to the window and peer out, like a scared animal ready to defend itself. Only to find – a bus. CTA bus #71 terminates […]