Joliet in Will County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

What's Cooking?

Photographed By Jason Voigt, September 30, 2020

1. What's Cooking? Marker

Inscription. How many workers does it take to make iron & steel? At its peak, about 3,000 workers transformed minerals into one of the world's strongest materials. These workers all had a hand in the industrial kitchen.

Recipe

Raw Materials
Iron ore, coke (pre-cooked coal), and limestone.

Process
Massive stoves heat air to more than 1500 F, pumping it into a towering blast furnace. Inside, iron ore, coke, and limestone melt together. The molten iron sinks to the bottom, ready for release.

Yield
The molten iron is poured into molds. Early furnaces turned out 50 tons of iron per day.

Erected by Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. A significant historical year for this entry is 1906.

Location. 41° 32.408′ N, 88° 4.755′ W. Marker is in Joliet, Illinois, in Will County. Marker can be reached from Columbia Street near Illinois Route 53. Marker is off the I&M Canal Passage Trail in Joliet Iron Works Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 31 Columbia St, Joliet IL 60432, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. High Risks & Hard Work (here, next to this marker); Men of Steel (within shouting distance of this marker); Language Barriers

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(within shouting distance of this marker); Forging a City of Steel (approx. 0.2 miles away); After the Whistle Blows (approx. ¼ mile away); George Kiser, Iron Works laborer (approx. ¼ mile away); Ruby Street Bridge (approx. 0.3 miles away); Route 66 Park (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Joliet.

Also see . . . Forest Preserve District of Will County. Website address for the Forest Preserve District, which is at the bottom of this marker, among several on this trail. (Submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois.)

Photographed By Jason Voigt, September 30, 2020

2. What's Cooking? Marker

Marker is next to the "High Risks & Hard Works" marker.

Credits. This page was last revised on October 17, 2020. It was originally submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois. This page has been viewed 127 times since then and 7 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on October 17, 2020, by Jason Voigt of Glen Carbon, Illinois.