Chicago Incinerators

People used to burn their own trash. I remember, as a kid in the 1950s, taking the trash out to a far corner of our backyard where we had a cylinder made from glorified metal fencing material. I would pour the trash into the cylinder and light it with a match. But Fort Wayne, as well as Chicago, made a rule that people can't burn their trash, and later, leaves in the Fall, because of air pollution. So the cities needed to collect and dispose of trash. By 1959, Chicago was getting all of its swamps, clay pits and quarries filled with trash. ("According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, many Chicago buildings and streets stand on as much as 12 feet of 19th century trash.") And it was building "mountains" up to 17 stories high. [Baer] So to reduce the volume of material going to landfills, the city built incinerators. Fly ash is 1/10 the volume of trash.

Rod Sellers posted
Where am I?

Rod Sellers commented on his post
Answer: Calumet Incinerator at 103rd and Doty. When it was built it was supposed to be the beginning of the end of landfills. Didn't work out that way. Attached photo is from the Daily Calumet March 6, 1959.
[The city has repurposed that land as an auto pound.]

Daniel Bovino posted

The Calumet Incinerator with its distinctive bouquet that would periodically permeate our neighborhood, 103rd and Doty Avenue. Different aromas, to me, were based on the wind. I learned directions based on smell... Wind from the Northeast: Jays Potato Chips, East: The incinerator, Southeast: Sherwin Williams, South: Torino Bakery West: not much..

Photo by the late Dr. Gene Ossello.

[There are lots of interesting comments about this plant producing one of several "industrial smells" in the neighborhood. It sounds like the champion stinker was Sherwin Williams "that belched tons of toluene sulphonic acid vapor."]

In addition to the Calumet Incinerator, the city had the Medill, Southwest and Northwest Incinerators. I have yet to find where the Southwest and Medill incinerators were. The Northwest Incinerator became operational in 1971, just as the other ones were being shut down because of pollution. [GarbageWars, pp133-134]

Baer, 1971-1996, the building was torn down in 2015.

This is now a transfer station. They left the smokestacks when it was torn down.

Street View, May 2024

When built in 1971, the Northwest Incinerator was the largest in North America. It could burn 400,000 tons of garbage a year. "When it opened, during the long tenure of Mayor Richard J. Daley, incineration of solid waste was believed to be an environmentally sound alternative to landfills, and the pollution-mitigating technology of the facility was state of the art for the time. But according to witness reports, the smoke from its chimneys often smelled extremely foul.... According to DePaul soil scientist James Montgomery, who visited the site in 1993, a visible layer of soot coated the ground and windows around the incinerator." Lead contamination was one of the pollution problems that they could not solve. It was emitting 17 pounds of lead per hour. [CityBureau]

Actually, the lead emissions were 5-17 pounds per hour. It sold steam to Brachs Candy factory. The fly ash, which is 10% of the original volume, was deposited in Stearns Quarry.  [AreaChicagoArchive]

There is an incinerator plant in Robins, IL, but when I researched it, it was closed.

Aban/Penn/GR&I and Marantette (Railroad St.) Bridges over St. Joseph River at Mendon, MI

GR&I: (no Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Road: (Archived Bridge Hunter: Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

GR&I = Grand Rapids & Indiana

Marantette Road Bridge

2020 photo by Rick McOmber via BridgeHunter
139' (42m)

HistoricBridges_road
"This bridge is an excellent and beautiful example of a pin-connected truss bridge in Michigan. It is noted for its fairly long span length of 139 feet. It also is largely unaltered from its original design and materials. The only thing missing is the builder plaques. The bridge retains a traditional design wooden deck and rests on random rubble type stone abutments. It has been closed to traffic for many years."

After reading about the "random rubble type stone abutments," I better understood why Rick took this photo.

2020 photo by Rick McOmber via BridgeHunter

Aban/Penn/GR&I Railroad Bridge

I can't remember another time when Historic Bridges documented a bridge that Bridge Hunter did not document.

HistoricBridges_GR&I

Both Bridges

Jennifer Woodman posted 15 photos with the comment:

Mendon, MI: The Marantette Bridge and Mendon Railroad Bridge

Two abandoned spans sit side by side on the St. Joseph River here. The Marantette Bridge is a 139-foot steel Pratt through-truss built around 1900 by Ohio's Massillon Bridge Company. It's been closed since 1984 and earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Just west, an abandoned steel deck plate girder bridge carries the ghost of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad over the river. The GR&I was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, then Penn Central, then Conrail before the branch was abandoned. No National Register of Historic Places honor for this beauty though.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

1930 CSX/B&O Curtis Creek Swing Bridge in Baltimore, MD

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2025

2017 photo by Mike Singer via BridgeHunter
967' (295m) long bridge with a 345' (105m) swing span. The 6 steel-girder spans are 100' (30.5m) each.

Michael Cheek posted

The CSX Marley Neck Swing Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland viewed while I was out kayaking.

This bridge, completed in 1930, carries CSX (formerly B&O Railroad) freight train traffic over Marley Creek and serves the industrial and chemical plants along the Baltimore Harbor.—  feeling good at Marley Creek.

This map explains why Michael thought the bridge was over Marley Creek instead of Curtis Creek.

1949/54 Curtis Bay Quad @ 24,000

1885,2011 Stone Arch Road Bridge over Nineveh Creek near Camp Atterbury, IN

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The name "Stone Arch" is because it carries Stone Arch Road, not because it is made with stone arches.

It is made with wrought iron. [BridgeHunter]

Street View, Jun 2019

It is obviously pin connected.

Street View, Jun 2019

HistoricBridges
81' (24.7m)
"This bridge is a beautiful example of the Massillon Bridge Company's work. The bridge is noted for its attractive and unusual portal bracing, composed of plate with flower-shaped cutouts. The bridge was restored in 2011, with no substantial loss to the bridge excellent historic integrity."

The "flowers" that HistoricBridges mentions.

Street View, Jun 2019

2010 photo by Anthony Dillon via BridgeHunter

3:06 video @ 2:30
The Stone Arch Road Bridge, Nineveh, Indiana

2:58 video @ 1:09
Stone Arch Road Bridge, Johnson County Indiana

Historic Bridges calls this the namesake bridge for the road.

Street View, Jul 2025

2:22 video @ 0:28
The Atterbury Stone Arch Bridge, Nineveh, Indiana

1953 100mw Detroit Dam on North Santiam River near Detroit, OR

(Satellite)

USACE
"Detroit Dam is located on the North Santiam River 48 miles upstream the confluence with the Willamette River and 13 miles upstream of Mill City, Oregon. Detroit Dam is a 450 ft [137m] tall, 1,450 ft [442m] long concrete gravity dam, comprised of 32 monoliths, with a gated spillway with six spillway gates, four regulating outlets, and a powerhouse. Detroit Dam is owned, operated, and maintained by the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Construction of the dam began in 1949 and was completed in 1953. Detroit Dam is part of a system of 13 multi-purpose dams in the Willamette Valley with the primary purpose of flood risk management and secondary purposes of hydropower, recreation, irrigation, municipal and industrial water supply, fish and wildlife, and water quality. Collectively, this system of dams is referred to as the Willamette Valley Project."

OregonEncyclopedia, 1990 Photo Bob Heims, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The 200 residents of Detroit, OR, were moved. And a new OR-22 was built through the canyon.

OregonEncyclopedia, 1 of several construction photos on this webpage.

Hydropower Reform Coalition Flickr

Detroit Dam Powerhouse, OR

Detroit Dam Powerhouse located on the North Santiam River, and Army Corps of Engineers Project. Number of units = 2; Nameplate capacity = 100 MW; Overload capacity = 115 MW; Hydraulic capacity = 5,340 cfs. Photo by Thomas O'Keefe.

Don Rod Chambers posted
In the 1950's, Portland District, US Army Corps of Engineers employed Gustanvus Michelson to create wonderful renderings of Portland District projects.  His work would show up in the contract drawings used for construction.  Some of the finest table work ever!

Aban/Southern Wood Trestle over Buffalo Creek near I-85 near Blacksburg, SC

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The Interstate bridge on the left was replaced when I-85 was widened even though the industrial spur to the rock quarry just north of this trestle is no longer used. See "Carolina Coastal Railway/NS/Southern Bridge to Nowhere over I-85 near Blacksburg, SC" for more information about that bridge and the quarry.

2015 photo by Royce and Bobette Haley via BridgeHunter

2015 photo by Royce and Bobette Haley via BridgeHunter

Dave Kuntz Drone Photos posted four photos with the comment: "Beside the brand new but never used "Trestle to Nowhere" in Blacksburg SC is a far older conventional wooden trestle with rails still on top.  This likely is the first time that the two bridges from vastly different eras have ever been ever photographed together."

Emily Gibbs VanDyk: Its the 9ld Norfolk Southern and they plan on rebuilding it.

Jeff Conner: So, the state and feds spent many many millions on a rail compatible bridge for a service that doesn't exist, and there are no plans to open this line, ever?

Dave Kuntz Drone Photos: This is the article about it and apparently no reopen plans https://www.gaffneyledger.com/articles/the-trestle-to-nowhere/

1

2

3

4

?,1921,1982 Hoxie Bridge and 1977 Granger Dam on San Gabriel River near Circleville, TX

Original Hoxie Location: (Satellite)

Current Hoxie Location: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Granger Dam: (Satellite)

The original construction date is not known. It was rebuilt in 1921 after it was damaged by a flood. In 1982, it was moved to its current location by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

HistoricBridges
The bridge is 215' (65.5m) long with a main span of 150' (45.7m).

2021 photo by Jon Fleenor via BridgeHunter

Michael Beczak posted six photos with the comment: "Hoxie Bridge and Granger Lake. Creepy spot."

1

2

3

4

5

6

The dam was completed in 1977, and it is 16,320' (5km) long. [tshaonline]

usace

WaterDataForTexas

This shows the Granger Lake's storage area and the original river channel.

1988/89 Granger and Granger Lake Quads @ 24,000

This shows the road that used the Hoxie Bridge. Quite a bit of Lake Granger's storage area was already a flood plain.

1964 Granger and 1963 Friendship Quads @ 24,000