1869 Chicago Avenue Pumping Station (C1)

(Update: Toronto has preserved a 1906 triple-expansion water pump. [GeekyGirlEngineer])

I have already written some notes about Chicago's first water pump station and its surge tower. As part of the 150th Anniversary celebration of this facility on Sept 14, 2019, tours were offered of the pump station. I took enough photos that a new post is warranted. But first, four pages from a brochure that they were handing out.

Brochure

Brochure

Brochure

Brochure

This steam-driven, triple-expansion pump engine was one of over 100 built by EP Allis, and the design was proved to be the most efficient in the world.

Screenshot,via live_videos  Or search for "Machines of Milwaukee" in nmih

I didn't bother to take exterior photos. There are plenty of photos on the web that are better than what I would have taken. But I did take plenty of interior photos.

I had to take photos through a glass wall. Fortunately, my camera's autofocus "sees through" glass pretty well. I started with photos from along the north wall. This is an overview at the maximum wide angle of my zoom lens, 18mm.

A closeup of Old Pouliot.

I moved a little further along the north wall for this view of Old Pouliot. We are looking at the "west room," which houses four pumps. Each pump can do 60 million gallons per day. There are two pumps in an east room that can do 40 mgd each.

Not being able to anticipate how the shots would turn out, I took them early and often.

I learned later that Old Pouliot was down for repairs. I wonder if the big hole in the middle is where something has been removed for repairs.

I then went down the east balcony of the west room. I asked the tour guide about the horsepower of the motors, but he didn't know.

This is when I learned that Old Pouliot was the second pump from the north end. Old Sallis was the first. They are named after the engineers that were working for the Water Department when this station was converted from steam to electric power in the 1930s.

A side view of Old Pouliot. Again, parts are probably missing from this pump.

I took this closeup after the tour guide pointed out that this is equipment that allows them get samples of the water that is leaving the pump. I'm sure they are also monitoringthe water pressure. The target pressure is 38-42 psi. The high rise buildings in town have auxiliary pumps to boost the water to the upper stories.

This view of Old Pouliot makes me appreciate that most of the photos did not get a glare off the glass.

The third pump, Old DePaul, is a more recognizable design of an electric motor driving a centrifugal pump. The intake is on the far side sucking water up from below the floor. This station used to get water from a two-mile tunnel under the lake to a crib in Lake Michigan. Now it gets water from the Jardine Water Purification Plant.

Old Kane is the fourth pump. Obviously, it is of the same design as Old DePaul. Note the brown cage in the corner on an intermediate balcony. We walked out of the building where you see the white handrails. But I was not able to take photos from there to get a closeup of the cage because the balcony did not have a glass wall there. Because these pumps are considered critical infrastructure of the city, we were allowed to take photos only behind the glass walls.

The number of pumps that are running depends on the current demand for water. Chicago has no storage tanks like the suburbs do. They have more pumps than they need so that they can take pumps out of service for repair. In fact, according to the tour guide, there is enough redundancy among the pumping stations that this one could fail without impacting the city's water supply.

The guide pointed out the overhead crane.

This photo makes me appreciate that the other photos were not backlit. There are enough decent photos that I'm not going to try to fix this one.

I have already mentioned the "brown cage." When we were next to it, my wife pointed out the "old thing." I explained that I think it is a worker basket that can be used with the overhead crane to access the equipment.

A couple of more shots before I leave the west balcony.

There was about five feet of glass along the south wall so that I could get a view from the southeast corner of the room.

Another photo that makes me appreciate how lucky I was with glass glare.

I went back to the west wall to get a photo of the Christmas tree. They regularly use the overhead crane throughout the year except during the Festival of Lights (December). During the festival, the crane is used to hold this tree of lights. If I remember correctly, it is held next to a north window.

The tour guide explicitly gave us permission to take a photo above the door of the two Chicago Municipal Devices. Normally the Y is right side up. But here it is reversed to symbolize the reversing of the river.

I asked if I could take a photo of this wood water main if I used an angle that kept the pumps out of the background. The guide said yes.

These are pictures they had framed in the west entrance.

A closeup of the lower-right corner of the above photo.

I was trying to get a photo of the rather elaborate painted moldings. I included the door for context. Obviously, I should have left the door, and its glass, out of the photo to avoid back lighting. The camera normally compensates well enough fpr back lighting that I haven't figured out what will fool it into underexposing a shot.

We then circled around to the public room where we initially gathered for the tour. By now the crowds had dissipated so that I was able to get a photo of "wall" where the guides started the tour.

A closeup of the upper-right corner.

A closeup of the lower-left corner. This WPP can process a billion gallons a day.

A closeup of the lower-right corner.

Solid blocks of rough-faced Joliet Limestone that were quarried locally in Illinois, in the towns of Joliet and and Athens, which is now Lemont, were used to construct the water tower. This material was is composed of calcium magnesium carbonate and was chosen for its strength and durability. And it is recognized for its creamy yellow buff color that patinas with time and with age into a warm buttery color. [MasonryMagazine]

I waited for the family to put their kid into their car seat and stow the stroller into their SUV. But then they just sat there. So I gave up waiting and framed the shot with the top of their SUV as the bottom. This shot makes you appreciate the older photos that did not have skyscrapers cluttering up the background.

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The tour guide said the Lookingglass Theatre Company uses the large room where the old steam pumps were. But I think the brochures that say this room had the old steam boilers is more accurate. I went into the room. It is big. I did not try to get a photo because I don't think it would have captured the size and because a lecture was in progress. A brochure explains that they change the interior of the room depending on the needs of the play being produced. For the lecture, it was set up in a movie theater style with sharply inclined seating and a shallow stage. The following shows an "in the square" style.

Lookingglass Theatre Company, May 2015

A dinner-theater style.

Lookingglass Theatre Company, Apr 2012

And yet another style.

Jaime hersh-white, May 2018

A performer is practicing up above while the staff prepares the room?

Erik Schroeder, Jul 2014

It is so wonderful that the city gave this BIG room to an organization that can make such good use of it.

Lookingglass Theatre Company, May 2015

(Facebooked)

David Levine posted four photos with the comment: "Not exactly vanished but I thought I'd post these anyway. Pictures I took of the Water Tower Pumping Station in March of 1984."

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