Reading this thread about eastern Ghost Towns reminded me of something I saw about 20 years ago in central Illinois.
Like so many 12-year-old boys do every summer, I spent a summer detassling corn. One day, we went to a corn field where I saw a most unusual thing over the tops of the stalks. It was a collection of buildings that looked like they had been abandoned for decades. The talles of these was maybe 16-20 feet high (about as tall as a one-story house with an attic). They appeared to be made of a yellowish stone- like sandstone or maybe adobe (both of which are nonexistent in central Illinois). They had the same general shape of buildings that you’d maybe find in an industrial complex. The biggest was maybe 10-15 feet wide and 60-80 feet long. I’d say there were five or six of them.
Problem is, they couldn’t have been any sort of industrial complex because they were miles away from any city of any size and miles away from good roads. They were right next door to a corporate farm, but farm buildings are generally made of brick or sheet metal; not stone (and stone buildings, particularly sandstone or adobe, are hard to come by in central Illinois).
Neither the foreman, driver or other lads working the fields that day had any idea what these buildings were.
Anybody know what this might have been? A once-secret-but-not-any more munitions plant from WWII? A local farmer’s art project?
The reason I’m asking is that sandstone and adobe don’t look anything alike. Adobe wouldn’t be used in Illinois because of the wet climate. So I’m suggesting that maybe the stone is actually the local Illinois limestone, (commonly called “Joliet limestone” although it can come from elsewhere in Illinois) which takes on a very creamy yellowish hue, and resembles sandstone, although it’s more finely grained. (Most sandstone suitable for building isn’t yellow) You can sometimes see this local limestone used in farmhouses, but it’s more commonly used in old foundations. Joliet prison, and the Water Tower in Chicago was also constructed of this stone. It seems to have been used for government buildings that required a sturdy construction.
As to the function of the buildings, who knows? Maybe it was a prison or arsenal at one time. Were the buildings of high quality construction? Did they have a pitched or flat roof? Did it the place look over 50 years old? Can you get any more information on the location? Surely you can find out the name of the town you stayed in if you were there the whole summer. Look on a map, maybe a name will jump out at you…I’m interested in hearing more, as I live in Illinois.
Maybe a POW camp? I grew up near a camp that held Italian prisoners during WWII, and it was similar to your description, although some of the buildings were gone, leaving just slabs of concrete.
No, it didn’t look anything like that. These buildings were yellow with an orangish tint. They appeared to be solid stone (as opposed to mortared together like brick or cobblestone).
I didn’t “stay” in any town. I stayed at home, in Rochester (a suburb of Springfield). Every morning I walked to the junior high school, got on the bus, and rode to whatever farm we worked that day. Some days we rode a few miles, some days we rode 30-45 miles.
On reflection, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a POW camp. When I was in college in Macomb, ISTR hearing talk of German POW’s being made to work on local farms. Maybe this was true of farms near Springfield, too.
Sangamon and Lincoln Ordnance Plants are in the general area. Lincoln history showed mostly wood framed buildings in the office and industrial area. Sangamon did not have a descriptive listing but the structures you describe could be an above ground magazine type of structure. These were made of a hollow tile material. Most I’ve seen are larger than you describe though. There were also a number of government hemp mills throughout the area though most of those were described with wood frame buildings.
Just wondering what you mean by “solid stone”. Most stone buildings in our recent history are mortared together, and no walls are made of “solid stone”. The issue is only one of the size of the blocks. Sure there are buildings in the world that have no mortar, but that is pretty rare, or non-existant for buildings of the vintage you describe.
Also, “adobe” looks nothing like sandstone. Sandstone is always made of blocks mortared together and has a very rough appearance, similar to the picture in the link I gave above. Do you mean that the stones were dressed with plaster or some other layer to look like a seamless wall as you see with adobe?
Dunno what it was (off the top of my head, a school?) but I know who you can ask. Find out the name of the corporate farm, so you have a more definite location, and then call the Sangamon County Historical Society and ask them.
