Have One

I never knew that all those elementary school balance bar exercises were for a very serious purpose: not falling to one’s death in the event they uncover lost Chicago history.

To the right is the spiral staircase. This building had a definite “floor problem”.

When the factory’s production line was up for auction, many parts were removed, crated and labeled with big painted numbers to ease their removal by buyers. Not everything sold, however, so not one dark corner of the factory seems without a pile of dislocated industrial junk.

The hoist room, before it was used for storage.

Fake Fact: The term ‘stovetop hat’ was coined by Island Station’s architect while trying to explain why he wanted to put the steel chimney on the station. ‘Live Here’ was part of the advertising when the building was host to artist lofts. They weren’t kidding.

The two exhaust vents coming out from the boilers en route to the stacks. Plywood marks where where catwalks were removed to extract equipment.

Blue plastic siding filters the summer sun, giving the otherwise reddish-brown interior a splash of color.

A typical hallway in the rocket assembly line.

The Daisy Rolling Mill has been heavily altered since it was built in the 1890s.