Milwaukee Solvay Coke & Gas Co.

Milwaukee Solvay Coke & Gas Co. Preserving the history of the Milwaukee Solvay Coke & Gas Company through photography, documents, artifacts, and personal stories.

Who suggested a phone number change and put the "Callin Oates Hotline" as the number? Lmao. Well done.
07/22/2017

Who suggested a phone number change and put the "Callin Oates Hotline" as the number? Lmao. Well done.

A cut of hopper cars sits on the scale track, 1942. The two stacks in the foreground are the same two that are still th...
04/22/2017

A cut of hopper cars sits on the scale track, 1942. The two stacks in the foreground are the same two that are still there today.

Plant map from 1931. Most of us only got to see Solvay after most of it was demolished, but as you can see from the map,...
12/19/2016

Plant map from 1931. Most of us only got to see Solvay after most of it was demolished, but as you can see from the map, the plant was absolutely huge. A sprawling 40 acre complex of 200 coke ovens, 50 buildings plus many more structures used in coke production including a huge 700 foot coal bridge crane, hundreds of miles of railroad track, piping, wiring and rubber conveyor belts. This place was the very definition of a prosperity, a 20th century industrial powerhouse, the American dream in action.

This amazing photo from 1971, shows the last days of CNW passenger service. The train just crossed over Greenfield Ave a...
11/25/2016

This amazing photo from 1971, shows the last days of CNW passenger service. The train just crossed over Greenfield Ave and will keep heading north to the new Milwaukee Road (now Amtrak) depot. Many of you will recognize a few of the buildings on the left that survived until recently. Photo credit Greg Mross and Bob Ferge.

This view of Solvay was taken in 1985, from the old Grand Trunk railroad ferry dock. The plant has only been closed for...
11/01/2016

This view of Solvay was taken in 1985, from the old Grand Trunk railroad ferry dock. The plant has only been closed for 2 years at this point, the ferry dock for 7 years. Note that the giant coal bridge at Solvay is still standing, but will soon fall to the torch. (Photo credit Greg Mross)

Solvay Coke marching band, circa 1918. Photo is looking north towards the back of the office building and Greenfield Ave...
06/29/2016

Solvay Coke marching band, circa 1918. Photo is looking north towards the back of the office building and Greenfield Ave.
When we visit Solvay Coke today, all we see is an industrial wasteland forgotten by time, an object that's beautiful to some but a disastrous eyesore to the rest. We tend to forget about the human element, the men and women who made this company what it was and who helped make not just our city possible, but our entire country grow to what we see today.

John Mokelke, a chemist at Solvay for over 35 years, works in the lab. circa 1968. He would retire a few years later.
06/03/2016

John Mokelke, a chemist at Solvay for over 35 years, works in the lab. circa 1968. He would retire a few years later.

Laboratory, few years after they closed the doors in 1983. The drums are most likely Naphtha Crystals, organic solvent...
05/24/2016

Laboratory, few years after they closed the doors in 1983. The drums are most likely Naphtha Crystals, organic solvents like Xylene and various machine oils.

This 1920 view from Greenfield Ave, looking at the front office which was demolished in 2013.
02/04/2016

This 1920 view from Greenfield Ave, looking at the front office which was demolished in 2013.

Two companies that bore the name of the city they helped create. For a century, the Milwaukee Road and Milwaukee Solvay...
01/12/2016

Two companies that bore the name of the city they helped create. For a century, the Milwaukee Road and Milwaukee Solvay Coke prospered, until the 1980s when the fires of these industrial giants were smothered. Rails were left to rust and coke ovens became as cold as a Wisconsin winter.

The smokestacks in the middle are the same ones on the property today. The small building all the way to the right of t...
01/07/2016

The smokestacks in the middle are the same ones on the property today. The small building all the way to the right of the photographer is the Transformer House, it's the small building that sits alone behind the Machine Shop on the property. The big building to the right of the stacks is where the concrete arches are today.

Labor gang rebricks a coke oven from the number 3 battery. The pipes behind the men are called the 'Gas Collection Main'...
01/06/2016

Labor gang rebricks a coke oven from the number 3 battery. The pipes behind the men are called the 'Gas Collection Main' and run the length of the ovens. It collects the volatile gases driven off during the heating of the coal. The track is for the Larry Car. Where the men are standing is a huge pile of bricks today left over from demolition of the ovens in 2005, quite possibly the very bricks they are installing in this photo.

Address

311 E Greenfield Avenue
Milwaukee, WI
53204

Telephone

+14144581570

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