Joliet, IL: Joliet Warehouse & Transfer Co.

Some pictures of eastbound Rock Island trains going past Joliet Union Depot show an interesting industrial building in the background. Where that building stood is now mostly parking lots. So I dug a little deeper.

First of all, some photos that have it in the background.

Bill Molony posted

Rock Island EMD E7A #637 arriving at Joliet Union Station with train #14, the eastbound Peoria Rocket - July 1962.

Photographer unknown.

From the Blackhawk collection.

Gary Sturm posted
This photo illustrates the effects of time and weather to whether the paint is fresh and bright, or dull and faded.
[I don't think three years would make that much difference. I agree with the comments that we are seeing the effects of different color corrections.]

Bob Dodge commented on the above posting

Gary Sturm posted
I was told the three 'B-units were part of the Lafayette coal train power. Can anyone fill us all in with details of the train and this power? The photo was taken in 1974 from UD tower.
[Notice the wide spacing of the two Sante Fe tracks to allow room for a platform to load passengers on the second track. Also note the freight house in front of the warehouse.]
Joel J. Sieracki GM&O's freight house, burned down in the early 80s.

Gary Sturm posted
Rock Island #657 eastbound at Joliet Station in 1974.
[Again, we get a glimpse of the freight house.]

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I did find an historical photo of the warehouse, but it is so old that it is a previous building that existed before the tracks were elevated. A Flickr photo of the other end indicates it was standing, but vacant as recently as 2008. (The date says "taken," not "uploaded.") I found a page that indicates the company still exists but has moved closer to I-55 and I-80. However, the map on that page doesn't make sense because it puts the location in the middle of a forest preserve. I found other pages for the company, but they don't have an address.

Update:

Patrick McNamara commented on the third photo of Marty Bernard's share
Circa 1960, my file

Gary Sturm posted
This a 1974 taken at Joliet Union Station. It had
just arrived with an outbound commuter.

Mark Llanuza posted
it was still busy with up to 15-20 trains a day .as seen in my photo of this eastbound coming into Joliet IL towards the end.
Nelson Gregory See that brick building on your left? Most of the windows were knocked out and one day we were having a windstorm, Bob Mc Gary was upstairs pulling levers by himself. Bob noticed that when it gusted the roof would lift
He started watching it and sure enough most of the roof took off and blew clear across the four mains landing over by the wye track.

Bill's caption for this photo implies their was an earlier warehouse building that was probably in the southeast quadrant of Clinton and Michigan (now Mayor Art Schultz). At that time, EJ&E's freight house was just to the north as part of their depot building (now firehouse) and Santa Fe's freight house was in the northwest quadrant of that intersection. Alton's freight house was in the southeast quadrant of Jefferson and Scott. Rock Island's freight house was south of Lafayette Street where it joins Joliet Street.

Bill Molony posted

This is the interlocking tower in downtown Joliet, circa 1900, before the tracks in Joliet were elevated and relocated.

This photo was taken from the roof of the Joliet Warehouse & Storage Company building, looking southwest.
The tracks running from left to right directly behind the tower belonged to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
The tracks running from the lower right to the center background belonged the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
The building in the center was the Chicago & Alton Railroad passenger depot.
The tracks running from the lower right side of the photo to the background on the left belonged to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.
In the background on the left were the tracks of the Michigan Central Railroad's Joliet Cut-Off.

This photo confirms that the warehouse moved. It probably moved during the track elevation because the elevation moved where the Rock crossed the Alton and Sante Fe railroads.

Bill Molony posted
In this panoramic view of downtown Joliet - circa 1895 - shows the Chicago & Alton Railroad passenger depot on the extreme left with the Will County Courthouse above and beyond the depot.
The tracks running from the right foreground to the left background belonged to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
Just above the4 center of the Joliet Warehouse & Transfer Company can be seen the roof of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad passenger depot.
To the right of the Santa Fe passenger depot is the Santa Fe freight depot.
To the right of this building, on the east side of the tracks on Clinton Street, is the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway depot.

Jeremy Plant caught a w/b E8A from the Joliet UD Tower with the Joliet Warehouse & Transfer Building in the background. (source)