Sunday, March 27, 2016

Meadow Gold Butter

(3D Satellite)

John David Larson posted


John's comment: "Near 16th Street Crossing as seen in the year 1999."

I've seen the "Meadow Gold Butter" sign in the background of several pictures of trains arriving or departing from Chicago depots. Now I have a better clue as to where that building was and is. It is in the upper-right corner of the satellite extract below. The conversion to condos must did extensive modifications to the building including the addition of several stories.
Satellite
From the shadow in a 1938 photo, I included the shadow to emphasis the height of the building. That is why it is visible in some many pictures taken in a land of tracks and freight houses.
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
The following comments are from John's posting. I gather the building was a cold storage warehouse for Meadow Gold's dairy products. Having it located on the south side where the fast passenger trains with express service came in and out of the city makes sense. That also explains why the building became obsolete and was converted to condos.
Todd Pearson Still smelled like butter according to one of the guys that checked it out after its conversion. Only took two years to thaw the whole place out.
Daniel Metzger While I was down the they had a fire in that building. I was told it was the cork insulation that caught fire.
Todd Pearson I could believe it. Best insulated building in Chicago till they converted it .

Paul Flaherty commented on the above posting
THREE NAME CHANGES HERE John Chuckman’s internet collection photo of Chicago’s Santa Fe RR facilities in 1967. We all know what happened to the Santa Fe. Standard Oil, per building sign, later became Amoco Oil and then BP. The Beatrice Meadow Gold Co. whose name is above the roundhouse went through more changes than a major railroad's merger history.
[The building is on the right behind the Sante Fe water tower.]
While looking for a better reference for the above photo, I found the following.
Chuckman's Collection, 1960s, AT 11:59 AM
[The signage confirms it was a cold storage building.]
The condo building is called the Dearborn Tower, 1530 South State Street. And it has the restaurant Tapas Valencia. A condo query generated a result with seven listings: 1 bedroom: 1 listing at $239,900, 2 bedrooms: 5 listings ranging from $435,000 to $599,900, 3 bedrooms: 1 listing at $900,000. The 3 bedroom unit also showed up on Redfin. That page offers 25 pictures. I'm copying some of the non-interior pictures and the description because this link is probably transient. Many of the "patio views" would have been a bunch of tracks as recently as the 1970s. It looks like the transformation of the South Loop from tracks to (expensive) housing is complete. That would explain why so many industries east and north of Goose Island are now being bulldozed to build condos.

Redfin
Panoramic skyline views day & night from EVERY floor-to-ceiling window of this spacious 3BD/3BTH loft. 2 deeded garage spaces INCLUDED in the price! Entertain with ease AND enjoy privacy in this open & airy floor plan. All bedrooms have FULL HEIGHT walls! High ceilings & hardwood floors throughout. Updated kitchen, living room w/ gas fireplace & custom built-ins. HUGE master suite has one of this home's THREE private outdoor spaces. Preferred north-facing side of Dearborn Tower overlooks Cotton Tail Park and Dearborn Park town homes. Ample storage incl. full laundry rm. Walk to schools, popular restaurants, and Mariano's. Come see! 



Update:
William A. Shaffer posted
Wabash PA-1 #1021-A (6.22.60)
(Photographer Unknown - Collection of William A. Shaffer)Stan Stanovich ...phenomenal photograph, #WilliamAShaffer!...not far north of the crossing of 16th and Clark, where C&WI tracks went underneath. The "Meadow Gold Butter" cold storage building attests to the location. The train is on approach to Dearborn Station. It's scenes like this which sometime make me wish I were born earlier, but then again, I'm old enough as it is!!!
Mark Hinsdale posted "then" and "now" pictures with the comment:
Then and Now at Chicago's 16th Street...
About 39 years apart, the massive Chicago Cold Storage Warehouse houses residents instead of butter, today.
1) ICG westbound transfer @ 16th St Chicago, June, 1977
2) CN westbound @ 16th St Chicago, January 21, 2016
1
2
Marty Bernard posted
AT&SF F3A 34C, became CF7 2631, with Train 2, The San Francisco Chief, taken from the Roosevelt Road Viaduct, Chicago, IL on December 26, 1967. A Roger Puta photo.
[The freight house on the left is the one Wabash built after their 1955 fire. They then leased it to Lifschultz.]
ROCK ISLAND ROLLING STOCK updated
Jim Merrick The Golden State.
J Pete Hedgpeth It's 1:00pm and No. 3...the Golden State is leaving LaSalle St. Station..That's the Rock Island Coach yard on the right. Looks like some TOFC flats on Coach yard 5 and some other passenger equipment on 6. The corner of the 12th St. yard office fits right in the lower right corner..I'm told everything is gone from what was the 12th St. Coach yard.
Bill Molony posted
Two Grand Trunk Western GP9's at 14th Street in Chicago with train #20, The Maple Leaf, in June of 1967.



A Paul Enenback Flickr photo of a westbound IC train pounding all four diamonds with the cold storage building in the background.

Arturo Gross posted his Flickr photo in Jan 2000 when the building had been stripped to it columns and beams during the remodeling.


1 comment:

  1. You can't see it in any of the photos of the butter house, but there was a door where you could spot cars inside the butter house. I recall old-timers at the CNW talking about spotting cars at the butter house. I personally don't ever remember doing that but I may have. 16th St.would run you the wrong main shoving the cars up to the siding that led into the house and I assume it was a hand-throw switch. I assume the conductor rode a caboose up to the butter house and left it on the WB main track then shoved the butter cars into the house.

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