Concrete Paving Before Ready Mix Trucks Were Developed (McCormick)

Before ready mix trucks were developed in the 1950s, a mobile mixer was run at the site. Contractors would typically lay a narrow gauge railroad along the work area to haul in the materials.

MWRD posted
View looking southwest at the partially completed, northernmost section of McCormick Blvd. in Evanston, Illinois, on August 17, 1925. The road in the foreground is Green Bay Road (known at the time as Rail Road Ave.). The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) in 1926.

MWRD posted
Construction of the northernmost section of McCormick Blvd. in #Evanston on August 17, 1925, viewed looking southwest from the intersection of Green Bay Road (known at the time as Rail Road Ave.) Construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) was completed in 1926, and it was named in honor of Robert R. McCormick, who was the Sanitary District's President before the construction of the North Shore Channel.

MWRD posted
Historical photo of the week: A Koehring paver and crew at work on a section of McCormick Blvd on July 15, 1925. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) in 1926. It was named in honor of Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick, who was the Sanitary District's President before the construction of the North Shore Channel (1907-1910).
Bruce DeMaeyer This machine, a Koehring Mixer was a mainstay of concrete paving of this era, but what is particularly interesting is the use of a temporary rail line to haul the building materials to the site. Wonder why they did not use trucks?

MWRD posted
A mixer and crew pouring a 10-foot concrete slab during the construction of McCormick Blvd. on August 6, 1925, at an unknown location. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) in 1926.

Doug Kaniuk shared
note railroad on the right
Dan Bartlett Are they mixing that concrete on site do you suppose? So maybe supplies in those cars? Don't look like they wold work well with concrete.
Dennis DeBruler They are mixing the concrete on site. Here is another view of the Koehring Mixer and a supply train.
https://www.facebook.com/MetropolitanWaterReclamationDistrict/posts/2468242139933659
Remember that the tires on a truck in 1925 were thin and the engine was small. Truck development did not make ready mix trucks viable until the post-WWII building boom.
Rick Aylsworth I'm thinking the cars hold a batch of materials in proper proportion, and get picked up and dumped into the mixer.
Daniel Herkes Yes, that's correct. I used to operate a batch mixer and the cement, sand and rock came prepacked. Sometimes you can't get a truck mounted mixer where you need it.

MWRD posted on Aug 24, 2022

MWRD posted
A mixer and crew pouring the center 20-foot strip for a base of asphalt paving during construction of McCormick Blvd. on August 6, 1925. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) in 1926. 

 

MWRD posted
A crew at work during construction of McCormick Boulevard on July 9, 1925. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Boulevard (originally McCormick Road) in 1926.

MWRD posted
A view to the northwest showing workers and paving equipment during construction of McCormick Boulevard between Howard Street and Oakton Street in Skokie, Illinois, on September 7, 1926. The MWRD (then named the Sanitary District) built the roadway between 1924 and 1926 and named it in honor of Robert Rutherford McCormick, who was the Sanitary District's President from 1905 to 1910.

MWRD posted
View looking southwest at the partially completed, northernmost section of McCormick Blvd. in Evanston on August 6, 1925. The road in the foreground is Green Bay Road (known at the time as Rail Road Avenue). The cars at middle left are on a portion of Grant Street that was eventually replaced by park space and is now the northeastern end of the Ladd Arboretum. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Blvd. (originally McCormick Road) in 1926. It was named in honor of Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick, who was the Sanitary District's (now MWRD's) President during construction of the North Shore Channel.
[Note that the track has yet to be removed.]

Before you can lay concrete, you have to grade the road.

MWRD posted
Excavation for the construction of McCormick Boulevard on May 9, 1925. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Boulevard (originally McCormick Road) in 1926.

 

MWRD posted
A mixer and crew pouring the center 20-foot strip for a base of asphalt paving during construction of McCormick Boulevard on August 6, 1925. The MWRD completed construction of McCormick Boulevard (originally named McCormick Road) in 1926.

A posting by Chuck Edmonson concerning the first "seedling" mile built for the Lincoln Highway in 1914 near IL-38 near Malta, IL contains some pictures of the concrete mixer technology of the day.

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Steve OConnor commented on the above posting
Road building was often done with temporary industrial railroads. The terrible condition of dirt roads during rain made truck traffic all but impossible. The solution was to lay tracks parallel to the road and run small industrial locomotives to shuttle concrete from a temporary concrete plant erected along the road.

Steve OConnor commented on the above posting
A train loading up at the temporary concrete plant along side the road bed. Ironic that these locomotives were building the very roads that one day would help put them out of business.

MWRD posted
Historical photo of the week: Mixing concrete for construction of the Lockport Powerhouse walls on October 25, 1905.

Concrete for building big intercepting sewers was also mixed on site.