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| Barry Sell posted Interlake Iron Company, Toledo, Ohio, 1941 A locomotive among the industrial structures of the Interlake Iron Company on Front St. in East Toledo. This photo was taken in 1941. Dennis DeBruler shared |
A 1935 aerial photo of the two blast furnaces that Hagley Digital Archives won't let me copy.
A 1946 aerial photo that Ohio History Connection won't let me copy.
I recognize the Interlake name. That company bought Zenith Furnace and Acme in Chicago (iron, coke and steel) in addition to Toledo Furnace. [AmericanHistory]
Actually, I need to revisit the history of the three Chicago plants. Acme owned the steel plant and Interlake Iron Corp., which was headquartered in Cleveland, owned the iron and coke plants. "Acme Steel, with $138 million in assets, and Interlake, with $136 million in assets, formally merged in 1964. The new company, called Interlake Steel Corporation, instantly became a much stronger organization. The combined operations included steel plants in Riverdale and Wilder, Kentucky, and pig iron and coke plants in South Chicago, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Toledo, Ohio." [ReferenceForBusiness]
I spent some time looking at references trying to find a street address for Front Street. I should have looked at Google Images first. This photo shows it was east of the shipbuilding company, which was east of the Mondelez/Kraft Flour Mill.
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| East Toledo Historical Society Aerial photo taken in 1946 showing the Interlake Iron Company, located next to the American Shipbuilding Company, on the Maumee River on Front Street in Toledo, Ohio. Publisher: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library |
John D. Whitmore shared an album: Interlake Iron Company.
[The above East Toledo Historical Society photos are part of that album.]
"The Interlake Iron Corporation Plant, on Front Street in Toledo, Ohio was built in 1902 by The Pickands Mather company of the Toledo Furnace Company and was designed to be the most modern pig iron plant in the world. This plant was purchased from Toledo Furnace Company in 1929 by the By Products Corporation, and, the company having acquired several other properties as well, decide to rename itself Interlake Iron Corporation. Though successful for quite awhile, by 1978 Interlake decided to take a write-off for closing the plant in Toledo, as it had exhausted its useful life. By 1986, most of the plant had been dismantled or demolished."
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| 1952 Point Place Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
Today's Interlake started out as a staple manufacture in Quincy, IL. As it diversified the types of hardware that it made, it changed its name. By 1901 it was Acme Steel and in 1904 it built a new production facility on Chicago's Archer Avenue. In 1919 it began rolling its own steel in Riverdale, IL. In 1964 it merged with Interlake Iron Corp. to form Interlake Steel Corp. In 1970 it dropped Steel from its name because it was shifting away from steel production and back to finished products production. In the 1970s and 80s it shutdown its aging steel plants. In 1986 the remaining iron, steel and strapping business was transferred to a new company called the Acme Steel Co., and all other assets became Interlake Companies, Inc. [scripophily, ReferenceForBusiness] A significant part of the Interlake business today is the material handling and storage racks that are needed by the many distribution warehouses that are being built in the 21st Century on farmland and on brownland in cites. The Riverdale plant is now part of the Cleveland-Cliffs company, and it still makes steel from molten iron. But that iron now comes from blast furnaces in Northwest Indiana (Inland, LTV/Youngstown and Bethlehem) instead of from South Chicago.
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| East Toledo Historical Society Aerial photo taken in 1946 showing the Interlake Iron Company, located next to the American Shipbuilding Company, on the Maumee River on Front Street in Toledo, Ohio. Publisher: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library |
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| East Toledo Historical Society Aerial photo taken in 1946 showing the Interlake Iron Company, located next to the American Shipbuilding Company, on the Maumee River on Front Street in Toledo, Ohio. Publisher: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library |
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| East Toledo Historical Society Areal [sic] photo of East Toledo industry, including American Shipbuilding Co. Interlake Iron and the Gulf Refinery. |
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| East Toledo Historical Society Interlake Iron coking operation 1941 This explains the big gasometer we see in a photo above. Manufactured gas was a major byproduct of the coking operation. In fact, some towns had a coking operation to make the gas. |
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| Mike Delaney posted, cropped Toledo Furnace, Toledo, Ohio which became Interlake Iron Company. Took the last load of iron ore pellets into this furnace on the Herbert C. Jackson. Then as is what seems is the usual practice it sat until it almost fell over and what was left was scrapped. This was a merchant pig iron open market operation where most of its product went to foundries. I'm told that the huge GM Saginaw Grey Iron foundry took iron ingot loads aboard various crane boats from this plant. The huge new Cleveland Cliffs Iron DRI plant in Toledo now receives pellets from this dock area. So something old gone but at least something new goes in to replace it. James Torgeson: Here in Buffalo, Hanna Furnace shipped pigs all over the Great Lakes via crane ship, straight decker and barge. One of their major accounts was the Chevrolet foundry in Saginaw. (It went by many names over the years.) When the Union Ship Canal was remediated long after Hanna was demolished, many tons of pigs were pulled from the bottom. Additionally, there was a small fleet (forget the name) that delivered pigs to Saginaw in vessels festooned with GM car ads! Mike Delaney: James Torgeson yes, one was Chevrolet. I have a picture of several of these. Most of the crane boat people I knew in USS(Central furnace), Columbia and Bethlehem(Cambria) took pig iron into that plant. They didn't seem to reply heavily on any one supplier so I'm guessing who supplied certain grades of foundry iron they needed for various castings they made got the purchase. I have heard of the Clifford Hood going in their on occasion. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Mike's post Heidtman Steel Products and Seneca Petroleum now uses the land. It was between the railroad bridge and the shipyard remnants. The grain elevator and RR bridge still exist and allows one to locate the photo's position. |
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| East Toledo Historical Society posted Photo shows the coke battery comprised of many coke ovens at the Interlake Iron Company on Front St. in East Toledo. This photo was taken on August 15, 1953. Publisher: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Mike Delaney shared Peter Hess: The photo is looking south, Blast Furnace A is seen, B is not. A very efficient plant which sold excess COG to the City of Toledo, also electricity. A large gas holder is to the left out of the frame. [Several of the comments discuss how hot the working conditions are on top of the coke ovens.] |
Additional East Toledo Historical Society photos These may be the same as the above referenced album.
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