Old Joliet Prison and Iron Works Historic Sites

The chapel at the closed and formerly abandoned Old Joliet Prison. Joliet was the site of Illinois's first state prison, opened in 1858. It house female inmates till a separate women's prison was built next door in 1896. The prison was distinct for its exterior Gothic design elements. The cells didn't have separate plumbing till a 1950's remodel! The prison was closed in 2002,and basically abandoned by the state except for 2004-5 when the TV drama "Prison Break " filmed its first season there. The city finally took possession in 2017 and opened parts of the badly decayed and vandalized prison for public tours....

A shot of the administration building at the former Joliet Correctional Center in Illinois. The prison's unique architecture was drawn up by WW Boyington,designer of Chicago's famed Water Tower.It was built by contractors using prison labor in 1858. It closed in 2002. Sadly this building cannot be entered anymore due to extreme interior collapse....

Remaining foundations for several of the old blast furnaces at the Old Joliet Iron Works site in Illinois. The Works operated till 1936,part of the US Steel Plant in the suburb of Chicago. It was,for a time ,the second largest steel plant in the US.The steel side of the plant closed in 1981. The Iron Works side of the plant was taken over by the city and into a great city park. The steel plant remains, mostly abandoned....