Digging into the past at Joliet Iron Works

Hi friends,

Dig this — International Archaeology Day is celebrated in October, on Oct. 18! That means all over the world people are talking about archaeologists (ar-kee-ol-uh-jists) and what they do.

Workers at the steel mill that once operated at Joliet Iron Works Historic Site.

Who are they? Archaeologists are scientists. They are also historians. Archaeologists learn about people who lived a long time ago and the things they did and made. Sometimes archaeologists must dig deep into the earth to find clues about these people. This might make you think of Ancient Egypt and mummies or maybe Indiana Jones in a jungle, but there is a less exotic place that archaeologists study right here in Will County: Joliet Iron Works Historic Site.

The Joliet Iron Works Historic Site is a little like the ruins in Rome, Italy. Parts of buildings are there, but you must use your imagination to see the rest.

An aerial view of the steel mill that once operated at Joliet Iron Works Historic Site.

Imagine a large, busy factory. There are large machines making noise and rails transporting goods. Men dressed in overalls and boots move materials back and forth, sweating in the sauna-like heat. Some carry brushes for cleaning. Others push wheelbarrows of what looks like rocks. Still others carry a sledgehammer to break apart metal. These workers are making iron and steel. 

To make these metals, you need materials found in the earth: limestone, iron ore, coal and coke (baked coal, not the soda pop). These natural elements were mixed in something called a blast furnace, which is like a 40-foot-tall soup pot. But someone needs to load the ingredients. Can you imagine collecting heavy rocks in a wheelbarrow and pushing it up four flights of stairs to the top of blast furnace? Whew! What a workout!  

Iron elements: limestone (top left), coal (top right), coke (bottom left) and iron ore. (Photo by Jenna Krukowski)

Once the limestone, iron ore, coal and coke were heated and mixed, the “soup pot” would be emptied. The molten iron would be transported to other parts of the factory to be further transformed into steel and shaped into things like nails, wire and train rails.

When this factory opened in the 1870s, these products were in high demand. Settlers were heading west and needed the nails for building, wire to fence farm animals and train rails so people could travel. 

The plant workers at the Joliet Iron Works site were just like those steel soup ingredients. Some were American citizens whose family had been living in this country for many generations. Other workers came from another country and did not speak one word of English. And many others fell somewhere in between. Each group worked together to do the jobs that kept the plant working.

(Side note: Many Joliet-area families have an ancestor who worked in the factory. Be an archaeologist yourself and dig through your family history!)

The factory at Joliet Iron Works Historic Site closed in 1930 and was left alone. For years, nature took over. Buildings crumbled. Dirt covered the factory floors. Grass grew over. Trees sprang up.

So how do we know so much about the buildings that were there? Archaeologists. When the Forest Preserve District of Will County acquired the property in the 1990s, archaeologists were hired to unearth the story behind the land.

They dug through old photographs, newspapers, payroll records and other documents in archives. Archaeologists also literally dug in the earth to find the crumbling architecture and other items left in the factory underneath layers of dirt.

As you explore, think about what clues about history lay beneath your feet at Joliet Iron Works, other preserves or even your neighborhood. Maybe you will be the next archaeologist to dig out those answers!

Your fellow history nerd,

Jenna K. 

Interpretive naturalist