Acme Steel, Chicago Coke PlantScratching the surface of the days and years gone by at Acme Steel’s Chicago Coke Plant.
Acme/Interlake was more than just a coke plant. This was an integrated steel maker. That refers to a corporation that consists of a coke plant – which feeds it’s blast furnaces to make iron. That iron is then sent to a mill where it is converted into steel via a basic oxygen furnace. However Acme […]
Employee #1, a larry-car operator on top of a coke oven, regularly cleared coal that became stuck in the distribution hoppers above the larry-car. This involved climbing up on top of the larry-car volumetric and “rodding” the upper bin chutes with a long pole until the coal would free. On the day of the accident, […]
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 […]
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. […]
The following article is taken from the Feburary 1965 edition of the Interlake Steel Corporation Reporter. This was volume 2, number 2 for this intracompany newsletter. The article is uncredited; the only by-line is on the last page of the newsletter, stating only “Published monthly by the Public Relations Department, Interlake Steel Corporation”. Director: H. […]
A couple months ago as part of my general scouring of the internet for info on the coke plant, I came across a historical society based in the far south suburbs that had some valuable information. The South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society (SSGHS) has a variety of newsletters from Acme and Interlake spanning almost […]
I recently got a hot tip that I was not the first owner of acmecoke.com (Thanks Steve!). This was big news – so I quickly checked archive.org – and there it was! Classic webdesign for 20 years ago and a real snapshot of the times. I couldn’t help myself but to set out and recreate […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]