Then & Now: Looking west across the Des Plaines River in Joliet
December 19, 2012 8:40PM
Former site of the Granite & Marble Works factory along DesPlaines River in Joiet, Wednesday, December 12, 2012. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun Times Media
Updated: January 21, 2013 2:13PM
Looking across the Des Plaines River in Joliet, this 1880s-era photograph shows the west side of the river and several businesses along Bluff Street, including the Granite & Marble Works owned by Henry A. Smith and George P. Nape. Rising above all the structures is the three-story, red-brick, Second Empire/Italianate style home of Hiram B. Scutt, which was built in 1882 on Broadway Street. Scutt was a prominent Joliet businessman who began manufacturing barbed wire in Joliet in 1874.
Today, Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park sits on the land formerly occupied by Granite & Marble Works and other industrial sites.
The Then photograph is from the Adelmann Regional History Collection.
David Belden is publishing local postcard books with Arcadia Publishing in his local history classes. If you are interested in contributing a postcard image email dbelden@mchs.net or call 815-467-2140, Ext. 260.
