RR Donnelley & Sons Printing

The Lakeside Press building has its own posting. Donnelley may have left Chicago, but they have not left Illinois.

Satellite

I know of a RR Donnelley plant that still exists in Dwight, IL, because I passed it when I took IL-47 to Champagne instead of I-57 because my twin daughters were learning to drive. (I drove on I-55 and got off at Dwight so that they could drive IL-47 to I-74 where I drove again.) Not only is the plant a more modern one-story plant, it has rail service and the trucks don't have to deal with Chicago traffic jams on the Interstates.

Google finds three plants in St. Charles: Kirk, Wallace, and Stern. Google is now labeling the plant in Aurora as Kellogg.  A streetview confirms that Kellogg uses it. But they still have a sign on the Eola side, so is it now a shared facility? It looks like the office in Elgin uses just the first floor. Donnelley shut down a plant in Hillside, IL in 2009. (DMN)

I could not find a history page on their web site, but I did learn their sales was $11.6 billion in 2014 and that they have 65,000 employees worldwide. Fortunately, a Google Search did find a timeline. It is a shame that they don't have a History link to this timeline on their About page. From this timeline I learned that they moved to the Calumet Plant in 1929 and that the plant was granted national historic landmark status in 1983.

Timeline6, 1967

In 1967 they open a "greeen field" operation in Mattoon, IL:

Satellite

Timeline6, 1970

In 1970 they opened a new production facility in Glasgow, KY.

The Elgin, IL plant linked above was their new "photo-composition center" opened in 1974.

They must like Kentucky because in 1985 they opened a production facility in Danville, KY.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I wondered about rail access when the Calumet Ave. Plant was still a production facility. There must have been some industrial spurs between the building and IC's electrical service tracks. The McCormick Place Busway probably reuses some of this industrial spur land.

Update: while driving south on I-55, I noticed an "RR Donnelley" sign on a building and Google labels it a distribution center. Since they used to print the Sears Catalog and Yellow Pages, they developed the logistics to distribute items across the country. They now distribute stuff for other companies as well.

On my way home from a field trip down the Fox River, I took Ferry Road back home. When I first moved to the area in the 1970s, this area used to be a quarry. It has been filled in and an exit on I-88 has been added to make an office park. I noticed an RR Donnelley sign on a building in the northeast quadrant of Winfield and Ferry Road. They label that a "Corporate Campus." They now have three buildings along I-88. In Downers Grove they have a "Business Management Consultant" office. It looks like just another big house. I have already described the one on Eola Road above as the "Kellogg" building.