MWRD: Enclosed Electrical Switchyard

(Satellite, the building is long gone. The powerhouse now sells the electricity to the grid.)

Because the MWRD built a powerhouse in Lockport, IL, it helped pioneer the transmission and distribution of electrical power. What is now done in an open switchyard, they did in a building.

MWRD posted
The Sanitary District’s (now MWRD) electrical power station at 31st and Western along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Chicago on August 15, 1925, viewed from the Western Ave Bridge. The area is now home to the Richard J. Daley Park boat launch. 

MWRD posted two photos with the comment: "Interior and exterior views of the Sanitary District's (now MWRD) electrical power station at 31st and Western near the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Chicago on November 2, 1917."

1

2

MWRD posted
A maintenance truck and crew outside of the MWRD electrical power terminal station at Western and 31st in Chicago on June 19, 1922.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Dennis DeBruler shared a MWRD posting
Historical photo of the week: The 8-track rail bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Western Ave is seen opened for passage of tanks bound for Dickinson Seed Company on February 27, 1917.
[Note the power lines on the left that terminated at this building, which would have been to the left of the photographer.]

MWRD posted
Repairs to the deck of the Western Avenue Bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Chicago, looking west, on June 10, 1924.
Dennis DeBruler: This photo helps establish the location of the now gone MWRD power station that is in the left background.