MWRD: North Branch Pumping Station

1907: (Satellite, per annonymous comment below)

1930: (3D Satellite, current pumping station)

(Update: more photos of construction of intercepting sewers are in South Side Interceptors.)

Jozef Bernatak posted

I've seen this view multiple times. A Flickr photo shows another side that has some nice architectural touches.

Reversing the flow of the Chicago River kept the sewage that drains into the North Branch out of the lake, but it did not keep the sewage that drained into the lake out of the lake. So the sanitary district built intercepting sewers along the lake front from 1900-07 to carry the sewage to this pumping station which dumped it into the North Branch. (The Chicago River An illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways, 2nd Edition, 2006, David M. Solzman, p.75)

After the North Side Water Reclamation Plant was built, I assume it pumps the lake side sewage into an interceptor sewer that feeds the WRP.

Birds-Eye View

Chicago Patterns has some interior, as well as exterior, photos of the station. I wonder if the plant has diesel-alternator gensets because the most likely time we loose power around here is when the plant would be pumping storm water as well as sewage. Those big electric motors would use a lot of electricity. Of the six motors I see, only the lower-right one is spinning. There are more motors along the left that are out-of-frame. John Van Norman has a Flickr Album of exterior shots.

(Update: photos of the construction of the sewers have been moved to Interceptor Sewer Construction.)

MWRD posted
A view of the newly constructed North Branch Pumping Station in Chicago on April 26, 1930, looking west with Francisco Avenue in the foreground.
MaryEllen Schneider Back in 1999 I saw Kathleen Turner and Jason Alexander when they were filming a movie scene inside the building. Sadly, a terrible movie—so bad I only watched the scenes shot in the neighborhood. Lol

Evidently another name for this station is the Lawrence Avenue Pumping Station because I can't believe another station would look exactly like the North Branch Pumping Station.

ChicagoRiver: Water Quality Milestones
Canoers enjoy the waters near the Lawrence Avenue Pumping Station (2005).

MWRD posted
The nearly complete North Branch Pumping Station on the North Branch of the Chicago River near Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, viewed to the northeast from across the river on October 26, 1929.
MWRD posted

MWRD posted two photos with the comment: "Two views from the roof of Lawrence Hall at 4833 N. Francisco Ave. in Chicago showing the MWRD's North Branch Pumping Station construction site on April 9, 1928. The station was completed in 1929 and went into service in 1930. It is still in operation and pumps wastewater and stormwater to the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant to be cleaned."

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MWRD posted

MWRD posted
Excavation for the connection to the Lawrence Avenue conduit during construction of the North Branch Pumping Station at 4860 N. Francisco in Chicago on April 20, 1928. 

MWRD posted on Apr 21, 2022
Construction of the North Branch Pumping Station on May 25, 1928.

 

MWRD posted
 Construction of the North Branch Pumping Station in Chicago, viewed to the east on August 8, 1928. 

MWRD posted on Apr 11, 2022
A view to the south showing construction of the North Branch Pumping Station on Francisco Avenue at Lawrence Avenue in Chicago on September 4, 1928

MWRD posted
Excavation during construction of the North Branch Pumping Station in Chicago, viewed to the east on September 15, 1928. Located on the North Branch of the Chicago River at Lawrence Ave, the station was completed in 1929 and went into service in 1930.
MWRD posted

MWRD posted
Construction of the North Branch Pumping Station in Chicago, viewed to the east on August 8, 1928. Located on the North Branch of the Chicago River at Lawrence Avenue, the station was completed in 1929 and went into service in 1930.
Dennis DeBruler: I didn't know that walking draglines started so small.

MWRD posted
A view to the southeast showing construction of the MWRD's North Branch Pumping Station on the North Branch of the Chicago River near Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, on May 25, 1928. 

 

MWRD posted on Oct 11, 2022
Construction of the North Branch Pumping Station on October 26, 1928, viewed looking northwest from the roof of Lawrence Hall at 4833 N. Francisco Avenue in Chicago.
MWRD posted

 

MWRD posted
Miners working in a tunnel under the North Shore Channel connecting to the North Side Intercepting Sewer near the North Branch Pumping Station in Chicago on October 26, 1929. 

MWRD posted
Interior view of the North Branch Pumping Station showing the pump room while pipe painting work was underway on May 15, 1930.

MWRD posted
The interior of the North Branch Pumping Station on December 5, 1930.
MWRD posted
MWRD posted