The Kewanee Preservation Society has staked its claim to the site where it hopes to build a memorial honoring those who worked over the decades making Kewanee Boilers.
Last week a 35-foot steel flagpole was planted in the ground and an American flag and an orange banner bearing the company’s famous Circle K logo were run to the top where a miniature boiler has been bolted. It was the first step in what KPS hopes will be a successful community effort to establish a memorial on a triangular lot at the corner of Rose and Franklin streets adjacent to the former plant site which had been used for office and visitor parking.
A discarded Type C Kewanee Boiler previously used in a National Guard Armory was acquired by KPS last month in North Carolina and transported back to Kewanee which will soon be transported from a side lot at J & D Tree Service to Midwest Trailer Manufacturing (MTM) where it will be sandblasted and painted in preparation for placement in the memorial sometime next year. If all goes as planned. KPS hopes to have the lot landscaped and other Kewanee Boiler items, including a large sign which once graced the south side of the plant, placed in the memorial.
KPS President Mark Mikenas explained that the location of the flagpole is significant. The spot was chosen so it can be seen as you drive north on Franklin Street toward Rose Street, which places it directly in line with the location of the 105-foot flagpole that stood for many years across the tracks and just north of the east end of the administration building which was destroyed by fire on Nov. 4.
The original pole was moved several years ago by KPS to the southwest corner of Berrien Park (site of the old city hall) on West Third Street, where it flies a huge American flag. The new Boiler flagpole is approximately one third the size of the original and is located just west of another historical landmark, what may be Kewanee’s last brick-paved street, Franklin between Rose and the former entrance to the plant.
Never forgetting that anything to do with Kewanee Boiler is near and dear to many people, not just here but around the country, Mikenas, received permission from Kewanee Fire Chief Stephen Welgat, to retrieve between 75 and 100 bricks from the rubble at the east end of the burned out office building, where no trespassing restrictions are still in effect.
Mikenas has stacked the bricks at the corner of the lot at Rose and Franklin streets and said they are available to anyone who wants one. He encourages those taking advantage of the offer to only take what they actually need, and hopes to obtain more bricks but the supply will be limited until more access to the office building is allowed.
KPS is also encouraging anyone who takes a brick to consider showing their appreciation by making a donation, no matter how large or small, to the Kewanee Boilermakers Memorial Fund. Contributions of cash or check can be dropped off or mailed to the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce office at 113 E. Second St., Kewanee, IL., 61443. They can also be left with KPS member Lee Bailleu at B & B Printing, 214 S. Main St., Kewanee. Checks should read “Kewanee Boilermakers Memorial” on the memo line. The goal is to raise the estimated $100,000 needed to complete the project.
