{"nrhp_refnum":"91000088","name":"Joliet Steel Works","other_names":["Joliet Works of the Union Coal, Iron and Transportation Comp"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"927 Collins St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Joliet","county":"Will County","state":"IL","lat":41.540943857500025,"lon":-88.07545935083661,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-02-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 16-acre industrial historic district of 19 buildings (17 contributing) at the north end of the Joliet Steel Works site along Collins Street, near the Illinois & Michigan Canal in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. The oldest buildings date from about 1870 to 1898, with others from the early 1900s.","why_significant":"The district is the historic core of a steel plant that operated under several owners and typified the Midwestern iron and steel rail industry of the 1870s and 1880s. It is significant locally under Criterion A in the area of Industry. The older limestone and brick buildings keep their original character and physical features from the period of significance.","narrative":"This industrial district occupies the oldest surviving part of the Joliet Steel Works, north of downtown Joliet between Collins Avenue and the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Nineteen buildings remain in the core area, seventeen of them contributing. They are built of local Joliet limestone and red brick, usually one to two and a half stories tall, rectangular, and topped with gabled roofs, some with monitor skylights. Examples include the Main Office, Roll Shop, Electric Shop, Machine Shop, Furnace Building and Blacksmith Shop, several of which appear in an 1873 lithograph of the works. Later buildings from the early 1900s add to the group. The works grew from this core and went through several corporate owners. By 1898 it contained Bessemer converters, a rail mill, wire-rod mills and a merchant mill. The district is recognized for its role in the Midwestern steel industry between 1869 and 1932. Alterations have been modest, and the plant has continued in industrial use.","period_of_significance":"1869 - 1932","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Other: Industrial vernacular","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still part of a functioning steel plant, continuing the historic industrial use; alterations are mainly brick infill of windows and small additions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.539145-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/8943/28894355/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/91000088.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000088/f7fb6c3f25-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000088/f7fb6c3f25-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mendaliv","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joliet_ironworks_ruins.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mendaliv</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joliet_ironworks_ruins.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894355","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joliet_Iron_and_Steel_Works","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14687689"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/will-county/joliet-steel-works-91000088/"}