Freeport, IL: East Tower: IC vs. IC

Jim Datt -> Illinois Central Railroad Heritage Association
Either the Hawkeyes or Land o Corn at east junction in Freeport, and don't know when it was taken, as I was not the photographer. Sorry about the quality. I had to take a picture of a picture.
Jim French: This is great Jim. Only shot I've ever seen of East Jct Tower." Michael Ferris observed: "Looking at the details on the E unit I'd say somewhere between 1960-63.

A problem with following railroad specific Facebook groups is that they take for granted that all of the members of the group would know the details such as where the "East Tower" was. I'm assuming it is where IC's new route from Chicago to Freeport joined the original "Charter Route" up the middle of the state to Freeport that then turned west to Galena. (As I have mentioned before, in the mid 1800s, the river town of Galena was considered to be more important than the swamp town of Chicago. But, of course, Chicago became more important, and IC then felt a need for a route directly from Chicago to Freeport.)

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The resolution of the 1938 aerial photos is not good enough to see tracks and ties, so it is sometimes hard to distinguish between a freshly ballasted railroad and a concrete road. I know the line coming in at an angle on the right is the new line built from Chicago because it still exists on contemporary maps. I can tell the line coming up on the right side of the picture to join it was the charter line because it changes from black (a train) to white (just the RoW). The line cuming up from the middle of the bottom is the Milwaukee Road. It appears to go under the IC tracks. That is, there is no junction between the IC and the Milwaukee.

The black rectangle in the upper-left corner of the following would be the shadow of the tower. The tower itself is a barely grey blob.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP