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Letter
to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune
August
27, 2007
To : Editor
Chicago Tribune
From: Mark Bouman,
President
Calumet Heritage Partnership
On Thursday,
August 23, the Chicago Tribune presented the Acme Coke Plant
at 112th and Torrence as one of a half dozen places to visit
in the Chicago area with a signature book in hand ("Book
yourself an adventure"). You suggested bringing along
a copy of Charles Dickens's Hard Times, for its depiction
of the fictional "Coketown". You also said that
"preservationists hope to turn this into some manner
of museum celebrating the industrial heritage of the region."
Unfortunately your readers should be cautioned that a trip
in the near future to the Acme Coke Plant might yield only
a look at the ghost of coke plants past.
For the Calumet
Heritage Partnership (CHP) - the preservationists you mention
- it has been the best of times and the worst of times.
The group had entered a contract to purchase the structures
in order to preserve them from Salrecon, a scrap firm that
had previously acquired the Acme structures in a bankruptcy
sale after the plant shut down in 2001. But CHP was unable
to fulfill the entire contract payment, and the structures
reverted to Salrecon. Today the coke plant is being demolished.
In many ways,
however, CHP now can do a far far better thing. Because
it was able to keep the structures standing for two years
under the contract with Salrecon, it was able to salvage
from the site, as well as from the site of the demolished
Acme Blast Furnace, a priceless collection of historic artifacts,
blueprints, drawings, photographs, and approximately 125
linear feet of records, including daily log books dating
back to l932. CHP is also working to salvage signature pieces
of large equipment, such as the large and small bells from
the blast furnace. These items are being moved to the Pullman
State Historic Site (PSHS), with whom CHP has entered into
a partnership. The Acme Collection is on loan to PSHS, and
it can become part of a Calumet Industrial Heritage Museum
to be developed in the newly renovated North Tower of the
Pullman Factory. In addition, with support from the Illinois
State Library, CHP, PSHS, and the Southeast Chicago Historical
Museum are able to digitize materials they possess and make
them accessible to the public on-line.
To those who
might point to the falling coke plant structures and say
"bah! humbug" to museum prospects, it is important
to realize that the partnership between CHP, PSHS, and the
Southeast Chicago Historical Museum represents the only
local project currently dedicated to interpreting the history
of industry in the Illinois Calumet region. The intent of
the Project is to preserve the historic images, maps, plans,
and artifacts of the Illinois Calumet Region's factories,
structures, equipment, and workers in order to educate future
generations about the development of regional transportation
and the heavy industries of communities such as South Chicago,
South Deering, Riverdale, the East Side, Roseland, Pullman
and Hegewisch. The collection, preservation, documentation,
and interpretation of these materials form a priceless link
between our past, present and future.
To the Chicago
adventure traveler, then: do come to the far south side.
The encounter between nature, industry, and community was
- and is - played out here like few other places on earth.
CHP is part of the effort to tell the story of this area.
Visitors might also want to pack a copy of Great Expectations.
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Everyone
who lives, works, and/or plays in the Calumet region
can be a member of the Calumet Heritage Partnership.
Members are encouraged to attend the regular partnership
meetings and are entitled to vote on important regional
issues. Working together we can make a difference.
For
information contact the Calumet Heritage Partnership
at 773-646-0436, or email: info@calumetheritage.org
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