How the City of Steel and Stone gained its nickname

JOLIET – Upon immigrating in the early 1900s from Austria to the United States, John Pirc was lucky enough to find work through Joliet Iron and Steel.

In doing so, he became one of the thousands of first-generation immigrants from southern or eastern Europe who earned a living through Joliet’s booming steel industry – a bygone era seen today in the form of rock piles, twisted metal and concrete foundations.

The Joliet steel mill site, which eventually became the second largest in the U.S., served as a focal point of the city’s working class beginning in the 1870s until operations at that particular site ceased during the Great Depression. A second steel mill opened later just east of the railroad tracks.

While the smog and noise once found within the industrial yard back in its heydays are no longer, Joliet’s rich history as the “City of Steel and Stone” is preserved within the foundation of ruined buildings, thanks to efforts made in the 1990s by the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Situated on Columbia Street just east of Scott Street and Ruby Street Bridge lies the Joliet Iron Works Historic Site, developed in the 1990s by the county's forest preserve district.

The historic site pays tribute to Joliet’s steel industry and the roughly 2,000 individuals who worked around the clock to produce barbed wire and railroad spikes, among other things, to be shipped throughout the country.

Just east of the railroad tracks is where one of John Pirc’s three sons, Anthony, and his grandson, Raymond, worked decades later for U.S. Steel. The company in 1936 shut down the original plant where John Pirc worked, but continued its operations just across the tracks.

All of them worked through harsh conditions, said Lois Pirc, 76, of Plainfield, and widow to the late Raymond Pirc. Her husband and husband’s father both worked in the nail department, she said.

“It was a dirty job. It was such a dirty, hard job,” said Pirc, who toured the steel mill site over the Memorial Day weekend – when reservations tend to fill up quickly.

Lois Pirc was put on the district’s waiting list when she found the 30-person-max tour was booked. But once someone at the district heard she had relatives who worked at the original steel mill site, she was allowed to come along, she said.

Her family has a copper coin from U.S. Steel that commemorates 25 years of service for one of the Pirc men. Lois Pirc said her father-in-law, Anthony, gave it to her husband decades ago. She thinks the coin is for John Pirc, her husband’s grandfather, who worked in the industry the longest, she said.

Lois Pirc fondly remembers the Pirc men, who were all about their work, she said.

“That’s all they talked about at the dinner table,” she said.

American dream

Developing the historic site was far from easy, with few records about the site available at the time, said Bruce Hodgdon, who works in the district’s public affairs office.

“We knew nothing about the site, so we hired an industrial archaeologist by the name of Jack Bergstresser,” Hodgdon said. “He spent three summers combing through underbrush and trees to [identify] ruins at the site.”

The forest preserve district won a bikeway grant in the late 1990s, which provided nearly all of the $2 million needed for the site’s redevelopment, he said. The grand opening was in 1998.

The site is designed for self-guided tours, he said, with interpretative stations along the 1.5-mile paved pathway explaining the importance behind the ruins.

The men behind the steel industry are also emphasized, he said. At its height in 1900, the site had more than 2,000 employees and boasted a payroll of $2.1 million.

“The immigrants, they did it to realize the American dream. To get a house, to raise a family, to raise their children as Americans. It was a microcosm of what was going on through the industrial revolution of America at that time,” he said. “They were becoming assimilated into the American culture. The company profited and was able to grow. The whole economic engine was really the story for the next 100 years.”

When the original site’s operations ceased during the Great Depression, its furnaces were dismantled and shipped to other U.S. Steel plants elsewhere in the country, he said.

“It was the brutality of the 1930s. You had a job on Friday. By Monday, you didn’t,” he said. “I’m sure there were a lot of tears and a lot of misery.”

The steel mill is part of the city’s network of historic sites. It provides access to the 10.8-mile I&M Canal trail and isn’t all that far from the old Collins Street prison.

IF YOU GO

What: "Bike and Brake for History"
When: 9 to 11 a.m. June 29
Where: Gaylord Building National Trust Historic Site in Lockport to Joliet Iron Works Historic Site in Joliet
What: Eight-mile bike ride along the I&M Canal to learn about the origins of the waterway and the historic steel mill site.
Admission: Free, but registration is required.

What: "Joliet Iron Works Tour"
When: 6 to 8 p.m. July 24
Where: Joliet Iron Works Historic Site in downtown Joliet.
Admission: Free, but registration required.
What: Guided tour through the foundations and remaining features of the Joliet steel mill site. Participants learn about iron and steel production and the stories of men who worked at the site.