Gone and soon forgotten

I was west of Rensselaer on Wednesday and noticed a bare spot in a field. I was expecting something else--this is where the old South Newton Township School once stood. A couple of years ago I had pictures of the ruins and even a little of its history. I rarely pass this spot, so it might have been leveled as long as two years ago.

 The old ruins were strange looking and I am sure many people wondered what had been there originally. Now they will no longer wonder--they will probably never notice that anything is strange about the site--much like people pass the site of the old South Marion School (it was on 700S between 450W and 400W) without realizing that there was once a large building on the small hill.

Coming back, I saw something that is rather unusual for this area--an irrigation pivot in use. It has been very dry and there no rain forecast for the immediate future.

I have been told that the reason there are pivots in our area is for seed corn production--it is a form of insurance that is too expensive for ordinary crops, but not for seed corn.

Miscellaneous construction

There is a variety of construction going on in and near Rensselaer. The approaches for the new pedestrian bridge are nearing completion. The bridge itself is in Hobart being restored.

 Construction activity was evident at the water treatment plant. There was a collection of very large pipe fittings near one of the old pump houses.

Two machines were digging next to the building itself.

Along Bunkum Road several workers were spreading black dirt over the route of the new sewer line.

 I expected to find that all of the sewer line was in place, but on the corner of SR 114 and CR 850W there was digging that might be sewer related. You can see the directional drilling machine on the right of the picture. I have not been by this intersection very often, but it seems every time I am there, there is some kind of digging on this corner.

 A different crew was putting up utility poles along SR 114. There were also new utility poles, still without lines, along CR 850W.

 Back to Rensselaer. I had not noticed  that there was a change in ownership of the Panda Apartments on Bel Mar Drive. They are now Serenity Terrace Apartments. The sign in front says that there are newly constructed apartment homes, and the building below looks new--compare its color to the older and large building that is only partially visible on the left. However, I do not have enough familiarity with these apartments--they are set far back from Melville--to be sure of anything. Anyone know more?

New building--Wilson Industrial Sales

A new building is going up about a mile west of theI-65/SR114 intersection. It will the the new offices of Wilson Industrial Sales, which presently is located in Brook.

The exterior of the building is almost finished, but little seems finished on the interior.

The information on their website suggests that they do not manufacture much if any of the chemical products that they sell. Rather it seems that they get them from various manufacturers and then resell and ship. There is a huge parking lot area behind their new building, and I suspect that it is for parking trucks.

The building is on the southeast corner of the intersection of CR 1000 W and SR 114, kitty corner from the Sherwood Forest subdivision.

Chicago trash

A reader of this blog gave me an article from the Chicago Tribune that reported the controversy about expanding a landfill in Dolton, IL. The article was less interesting than the graphic that came with it showing what happened to Chicago's 942,512 tons of trash in 2011. All of it ended in five landfills.
45.2% went to the Newton County Landfill.
38.5% was dumped at the Liberty Landfill near Monticello.
14.7% was buried in a landfill near Pontiac, IL.
Less than two percent went to two small landfills, one near Rockford, IL and the other at Dolton.

So over 80% of Chicago's trash either travels through our town or ends up a few miles to our west.

(The article was in the May 24, 2012 issue on page 14 of section 1. Here is the text.)

Pool time

The LaRue Pool finally opened today. There were not many of swimmers in the late afternoon when I stopped by.

The water was not as cold as I expected it to be.

The inside of the bathhouse has been repainted and rewired. The staff was happy that they now had electrical outlets to spare.

In about two months the pool will be closing as school starts up again. Summer passes very quickly.