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| Horace Nowell |
Honestly? I do not like anything about Freedom Center, the Chicago Tribune’s printing plant along the Chicago River. I do not like its expanse of blank brown brick walls. Nor its little lines of arched windows. I don’t even like its name, “Freedom Center,” dripping with the sham patriotism that the Tribune’s long-ago editor and publisher, Col. Robert McCormick, slathered over his particular brand of cornfed xenophobia.
But then, I am not Horace Nowell.
“I wish it could be saved,” said the 26-year-old.
Don’t bet on that, though you might be able to place bets there someday. Last month, casino owner Bally’s bought the building and its 30-acre site near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street, for $200 million, with plans to build a $1.7 billion casino complex there. Bally’s hasn’t decided whether to keep the plant, though to me, nothing suggests gambling quite like the newspaper business of today.
“It has another 10-year lease extension option,” Nowell said. “I would love for them to be around for another 10 years.”
For God’s sake, why?
“It would be great for it to be around,” he said. “The Freedom Center is such an integral part to Chicago newspapers. The industrial landscape of the Near North Side is changing so fast. I have so many personal memories going over there and railfanning.”
I’d never heard the term “railfanning” but could figure out its meaning easily enough. The internet is filled with low-tech railfan websites and railfan photos and railfan videos.
“Gee, what can you say about Chicago?” exudes Railfan Guides of the U.S. “It IS the best place in the states to railfan, without a doubt (and perhaps the world!?). It literally is the crossroads of American rail service.”
Certain that railfanning will be an alien concept to most readers, I asked Nowell to explain the practice.
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Got to tour the building several years ago as part of Open House Chicago. Amazing place, with 10 huge presses, but the paper storage room is the most impressive part of it. Thousands of rolls of paper, stacked almost to the ceiling, with different grades for the different papers printed there. The NYT gets printed on a much whiter paper than everything else. And the rolls of paper are picked up by a huge vacuum & then transported to the printers.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this column in the paper, I actually thought to myself "I hope Clark St. comments about touring Freedom Center as part of Open House Chicago, so I can just say that we did that, too." So thanks, CS! Despite Neil's disparagement of the place that prints his columns, it's pretty cool. (Though I also fondly recall and kinda miss the way anybody could just stroll right by the printing presses at the old Sun-Times "barge" building on the river.)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't everybody enjoy watching trains go by, particularly if they're not delaying traffic? I certainly do, though I never considered it "railfanning."
"...the connectivity of his interest in the trains at the plant leading to his building a model of the plant that is then featured in a column in his favorite newspaper, printed at the selfsame plant." Excellent!
A really off-the-wall question, Neil. In the photo atop the blog, are we intended to note the way the color of "heads" in the foreground is very similar to the color of the water tower? And that the water tower sorta looks like a head? Or should I take this observation up with a psychiatrist, perhaps?
Nah, that's putting too much analysis on it. I was looking at photos I've taken of trains, and this one seemed to echo his interest in graffiti on boxcars. That water tower is the original Horton Waterspheroid, erected in 1955. It also is practically in my backyard.
DeleteMe, over-analytical? Oh, right! A fine photo choice, regardless; nice perspective.
DeleteI used to work seasonally for the state at the Florence Hotel in Pullman. I would give talks on the history of the Hotel, but also the history of Pullman to groups and individuals who came to the hotel. Occasionally, we got railfans who were incredibly involved in the history of railroading, and would often offer comments about railroading and just take over my presentation. One guy, very nice, could barely say hello before he would start in on very technical information on railcars. That's all he could talk about. Met him the first time when his railfan group had a meeting at the hotel.
ReplyDeleteHell's bells...I've been a railfan all my life. I like trains, but I love electric railroading...commuter trains, subways, elevated trains, interurbans, but especially streetcars.I call myself a juice fan...or a juicehead.
DeleteIt started early...at around age three. I could see the Madison Street cars from my bedroom window until I was six, and after that, in the northern suburbs, I could hear and see the North Shore trains that ran to Milwaukee until my mid-teens. I've ridden on various electric lines all over North America.
My favorites were the green and cream postwar PCC cars that the CTA ran from 1947 to 1958, the type commonly nicknamed the Green Hornets, many of which were recycled into PCC "L" cars. I can tell you all about them...anything you want to know. How much time have you got?
A heads-up...especially for Mr. S:
ReplyDeleteOne of the best places in the country for spotting trains, according to railfans, publications and online sources, is the former Union Depot, on Depot Street, in Berea, Ohio. It’s the point where rail lines owned by Norfolk Southern and CSX pass within a few yards of each other before veering off in different directions. It attracts railfans from around the country, and it's just a few minutes from my house. My wife and I have been there a few times.
At one time, it was the third-busiest connection in the U.S. Today, it’s the Berea Depot Restaurant. Railfans park at the far end of one of its two parking lots. They bring chairs and sit and watch. It's a nice place to hang out, especially in warm weather.
As many as 100 trains pass through the city of Berea every day, and trainspotters gather 24/7. The graffiti on the passing cars is mind-blowing. A rolling museum of scribbled art. All of it is singularly unique. Some of it is quite beautiful. Depot Street in Berea is a good place for graffiti-spotters, too.