EAST CHICAGO | A committee is being formed to develop a site and plan for a museum to preserve the history of Northwest Indiana's steel industry.
The first meeting of the group is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at the United Steelworkers Local 1010 Union Hall, 3703 Euclid Ave., East Chicago. It is set to be a brainstorming session to gather ideas about possible sites, said Tom Hargrove, the local's president.
Anyone interested in the proposal is encouraged to attend, he said.
Hargrove became an active proponent of the museum in late July after he had a conversation with a steelworker who suggested the project.
Hargrove passed the idea along to others via email and said he has received many favorable reactions.
A similar effort in 2005 to establish a steel museum in southeast Chicago fell part two years later despite the support of steelworkers, the union, labor historians, industrial archeologists, business organizations, universities and environmentalists. USW District 7 committed $40,000 to the $275,000 proposal.
The Calumet Steel Heritage Project planned to create a steel museum on the site of the former Acme Steel Co. Coke plant using the defunct steel maker's buildings and equipment. But the site was abandoned in 2007 when supporters failed to raise about $200,000 needed to complete the purchase. The City of Chicago also refused to take title to the property because of liabilities involved.
The project continued on a much smaller scale. Photos, artifacts and other items, including the small bell saved from Acme's blast furnace, were moved to the Pullman State Historic Site at 11111 S. Forrestville Ave., where the Calumet Industrial Heritage Project is ongoing.
Jim Robinson, USW District 7 director, said the Calumet Steel Heritage Project did a lot of work to preserve the area's steel history and "hopefully we'll be able to use some of their work to help this project along."
"It's all very preliminary," he said Thursday. "This is a very good idea, but we have yet to have our first meeting. So we can't say how it will turn out. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. We have to sit down and decide what needs to be done to make it a reality."
