Thursday, July 30, 2015

BRC's Hawthorne Yard

pdf copy from 1915 Smoke Abatement Report, p. 352
Between 26th and 31st Streets, Belt Railway of Chicago had a freight yard. As the yard's name implies (Hawthorne), an important customer of this yard was probably the Manufacturers' Junction Railway that serviced the nearby Western Electric Hawthorne Works. The map indicates that there also was an American Brake Shoe Foundry served by this yard. Given that both of these industries are now retail stores or vacant land, it is no surprise that the yard is now gone.

This was a relatively cheap yard because it was not elevated and no roads crossed it.

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  1. Sammy D IIIJuly 25, 2022 at 10:22 PM

    The name "Hawthorne" was used for a quarry before the Township of Cicero, which it was in, was incorporated in 1857. I believe that "Hawthorne" has only been a neighborhood since then. (history of Western Electric: https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2022/04/western-electric-plant-hawthorne-works-cicero-illinois.html )( Cicero history: https://thetownofcicero.com/about-cicero-illinois/ )

    The quarry was from 30st on the North, Belt Railway on the East, the Illinois Central (now CN) on the South, and Cicero Ave. (aka Hyman St. and 48th Ave.) on the West. (Pit and Quarry, a Prime Example: https://editions.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=687612&article_id=3840526&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5 )(It also shows up on Sanborn fire insurance maps but I don't know about copyright)

    The IC/CN also has a "Hawthorne" yard along the south side of the quarry. ( https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/03/hawthorne-junction-cnic-vs-brc.html )

    The Diamond-T truck factory was on the east side of the yard, at 26th and Kilbourn. (It shows up on Sanborn fire insurance maps but I don't know about copyright).

    In 1903 the quarry was owned by Dolese and Shepard, who incorporated the Chicago and Illinois Western RR. ( https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/04/chicago-and-illinois-western.html ). You can see it's engine house in the southwest corner of the Smoke Abatement Report map above. The quarry was closed in 1915, used as a garbage dump (lawsuit describing dump operations: https://cite.case.law/ill-app/298/290/ ), then a drive-in theater ( http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/4529 ), and is now a (possibly toxic?) wasteland (Maps Digest, A Visit to Hawthorne Quarry: 2020_Winter_Web.pdf ). The company Dolese and Shepard sold out to Vulcan in 1967.

    The BRC's Hawthorne Yard was also right between the CB&Q (now BNSF) and the I.C. (now CN).

    So the BRC's Hawthorne yard is named after a hole in the ground?

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