Substreet provides a nice history of the elevator including some of the explosions that this site has experienced.
I almost missed seeing it in the above photo. But turning the 3D satellite image 90 degrees confirms that it has what I believe is called a "marine unloader."
The area around these silos used to hold the
IC IMX Intermodal Yard and before that the
Chicago Produce Terminal.
There are some other really decrepit buildings in that area.
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Tom McDonald posted
The “Damen Silos" harken back to an era when Chicago was a big player in the grain trade. The land on which the grain elevator sits has been in use since the early 1800's. In 1832 a fire broke out at the grain elevator and then rebuilt with concrete. Disaster struck again on September 9, 1905 when spontaneous combustion killed several workers and consumed the entire building within an hour. Immediately thereafter architect John S. Metcalf was commissioned to build the current elevator. The John S. Metcalf Company, consulting engineers, designed and built this facility for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1906. The original complex included a powerhouse, elevator with temporary storage and processing silos, and thirty-five grain storage silos. With a 400,000 bushel capacity, this complex could accommodate sixty railroad cars at the elevator and 300 railroad cars at a yard a short distance away. Equipment at the site included two driers, bleachers, oat clippers, cleaners, scourers and dust packers. Using filtered water from the adjacent South Branch of the Chicago River, boilers with a total of 1,500 horsepower generated the steam and electricity required by the machinery. The thirty-five grain silos south of this facility had a total capacity of one million bushels. In 1932, a grain dust explosion ignited a fire which destroyed the original timber and brick building. The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad rebuilt the concrete processing house with fourteen reinforced concrete silos; the capacity of the facility was increased to 1,700,000 bushels. After reconstruction, the railroad leased the facility to the Stratton Grain Company. In 1977 another large explosion caused significant damage to the grain elevator. Afterwards the location fell into disuse and became property of the state. Instagram @tmcd.chi [The elevator would not have been rebuilt with concrete in 1832. Concrete did not happen until the end of the 19th Century.] William Lafferty: "Using filtered water from the adjacent South Branch of the Chicago River, boilers with a total of 1,500 horsepower generated the steam and electricity required by the machinery." Boilers don't generate "horsepower" as commonly understood. The elevator's twin Corliss steam engines, 20"-40" x 42," provided mechanical horsepower but the boilers' output is measured in boiler horsepower, which is a measure of how much steam pressure a boiler can produce per hour. I think that's right, but my days at Purdue were a very, very long time ago. |
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Joe Balynas commented on Tom's post
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I thought this was a Santa Fe served facility. But this map indicates NS had a green "tentacle" that served it. So it was originally the Chicago Junction Railroad, which got bought by NYC, which NS got when Conrail was split between NS and CSX.
The 15-story grain silos, 2860 S. Damen Ave., have been useless since a 1977 explosion. They were built in 1906 by the Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and they had capacity for 400,000 bushels of grain. [Justin Breen]
To put 400k bushels in perspective, they can now
construct a single steel bin that holds over a million bushels.
Bob Finan
posted two photos with the comment: "
Santa Fe Grain Elevator in Chicago on the Chicago River....."
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Regan Scott
posted six pictures with the comment:
I stopped by the Damen Silos since the gate was open and snapped a few photos. I mostly shot film but grabbed my dslr just before leaving to take some snapshots. I'll post some of the film photos when I have time to develop and scan them.
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David Barrera posted
Anybody have old pictures of the Damen Silos to share? This one was taken this year 2015.
Wayne Meredith I believe that was Continental Grain Co.'s grain elevators. Barges would load/unload grain to be milled for commercial bakeries and cereal co.'s.
[Was this the A House? I know the B House was on the Calumet River and C House was on Lake Calumet.]
Angie Frazzini Gazdziak Wasn't the most recent Transformers movie shot here? They used this area for scenes involving a factory in China.
Gabe Argenta Transformers 3 filmed at a similar place out in Gary.
Thomas E. Zimmerman Everyone uses it as a location. Fire, PD, Supernatural, Transformers, Boss, have all used it as a location over the last few years.
Gary Eckstein Is this them from a different angle? https://www.flickr.com/.../photolist-nM6NED-bxwvZi/lightbox/ |
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Wayne Allen Sallee commented on David's post
I have about 35 shots I took in July. They were grain silos and a massive fire in 1987 (or close to that) forced the city to stop using them. |
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Wayne Allen Sallee commented on David's post
TRANSFORMERS 3 was filmed here, and nothing is being demolished. One might think that because some smaller buildings are only frames. I'm probably the only one that doesn't mind the graffiti. At least it shows that people still visit the place. |
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Wayne Allen Sallee commented on David's post
From Angelo Romano's photo, you can keep walking south to 29th Place (which leads up to the interchange, and just step over RR tracks and through a fence. It is a huge area, almost an island. I spent an hour there. Zoom in on Google Earth for a decent view of the pathway (which is private property, but hey). |
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Tom Zurek commented on David's post
An image from when I was working at the Sun-Times plant.
Oct. 2010 |
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Tom Zurek commented on David's post
Something being filmed.
May 2011 |
Sep 16, 2023
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Chuck Dryden posted
IT IS NOT VANISHED AS OF YET, BUT THE DAMEN SILOS WILL BE GETTING TORN DOWN, IN THE PERMIT PROCESS BUT THERE IS A WRECKING CRANE JUST SITTING THERE WAITING wont be on Chicago PD any more
[The crane has a clamshell instead of a wrecking ball.] |
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John R Hoffman Jr commented on Chuck's post
That was used in Transformers Age Of Extinction final battle. |
Frank Piha
posted none photos that he originally posted in 2021.
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3:40 video @ 0:08
Devon Neff posted
I’ll be sad if these are demolished.
[There were several comments about Chicago PD using this as a backdrop. I presume that was the TV show.]
Mark Byerly shared
Got this from Chicago NOW & THEN page. Another one bites the dust. 🙁
[Yet another warehouse to be built?] |
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Grateful Visuals posted
Saying goodbye to Chicago's Damen Silos before they tear it down completely. . The Damen Silos, built in 1906 by the Santa Fe Railroad, were once a key part of Chicago’s grain industry, storing up to 400,000 bushels. Abandoned after a 1977 explosion, they became a hotspot for graffiti artists and urban explorers, even appearing in Transformers: Age of Extinction. Despite being listed as one of Illinois’ most endangered historic sites, the state sold the site in 2022 to MAT Limited Partnership. In 2025, demolition was approved, sparking backlash from preservationists and residents who hoped to repurpose the silos as public or cultural space. J.B. Rail Photog shared |
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