Kingsbury Branch - Old Industry - Duraco

[shawnmutant]

Hello all,

In my map notes from 1998 I drew an industry called \"Duraco\" located at the intersection of North and Kingsbury.  If you look at Tom M.\'s \"Midwest Zinc, 1998\" photo you will see the spur to this industry, but the building has been razed.  So it seems that at one time this was rail served.  Also I noted that Midwest Zinc was \"huge and loud\" but there were no cars spotted at the time.  

A google search uncovered a couple of items...Duraco made adhesive coatings and eventually sold the company.  Check out the following links...

http://www.duracoinc.com/mss/mss-wp.nsf/WebEngine?OpenAgent&cmd=page&pagename=about

http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/cap/facility.tcl?facility_id=17031-2217#facility_info

[shawnmutant]

Whoops that should read Tom Burke\'s \"Midwest Zinc, 1998\" photo.

I tried to edit but I got an error.

[TBurke]

Thanks for the research.  I will have to do some digging through the \"archives\" to see if I can find a picture of this spur to scan and upload during its Duraco days.  I had forgotten about Duraco.

Buildings like this one tended to change hands over time and according to a 1971 Milwaukee Road engineering diagram this site was once Frankel Furniture prior to Duraco.

To the south was Sipi Metals which later sold the plant to Midwest Zinc.

A 1955 Milwaukee Road engineering diagram showed this site to be a company called \"Sanitary Rag\" before it was Frankel Furniture.  In the same diagram Sipi Metals was at the same location as in 1971.

[shawnmutant]

Looking at the next set of \"Midwest Zinc\" pictures you can spot the Duraco building in the background.  It is the one with the crazy multi-elevation roof line.  The Old Navy store retained the smokestack and painted a sign on it.  

Based on TB\'s history of this factory/building it would seem that it would be boxcars serving this factory even through the changes in ownership and products made.  Reason I speculate is that I would like to model this area in HO modules someday.  Perhaps Sanitary Rag* gets Pulp/rolls of paper material,  Frankel Furniture gets lumber/furniture, Duraco gets rolls of plastic sheet/chemicals...

* \"sanitary rags\" are just what it says - tampons and pads - I work in the industry (waste treatment side) and we still call them \"rags\" ...all the same and they gotta be made somewhere...better in Chicago then China?

[TBurke]

I recall seeing a box car on the spur to Duraco but only very rarely in the 1980s.  So far no sign of a picture has turned up though in my collection.

Thanks for the background on \"Sanitary Rag\"-I was mystified by the odd name.