More than a decade after learning about Kewanee Boiler, I finally made the 6-hour trip to Kewanee, Illinois.
I’ve been wanting to visit the quaint town of about 12,000 since I discovered it as a high school freshman doing the basketball team’s laundry in the high school boiler room. The laundry machines were across from the large (although “medium-sized” in comparison to much larger boilers Kewanee produced) 1968 American Standard/Kewanee Type C firetube boiler that used to heat the school.
I snapped a couple photos of the boiler and sent them to the Kewanee Star Courier, the newspaper in Kewanee. Columnist Dave Clarke featured me and the photo in a story for the Star Courier, the first of many. (Another time I was featured for finding a Kewanee Manufacturing — different company, same town — coal chute while walking in an alley.)
Time commitments and financial constraints always prevented me from taking the trip. However, I had the perfect opportunity to make the trip that brought something — my journalism career — full circle. I took the trip May 7-9, 2025.
After Dave wrote the first story featuring me, I followed by featuring the boiler in a rather esoteric article for our high school newspaper, The Pirate Press, that maybe only one or two people found interesting. It was my first published story.
Fast forward eleven years and I’ve published hundreds — if not at least a thousand — various stories in different publications on a variety of topics. Boilers were just the start. I covered other esoteric topics over the years, like one about elevator outages at my alma mater, and the restoration of a local historic grist mill. The blog here has been the primary source of stories regarding my “strange” interests, including the AT&T Long Lines microwave relay network, old computers and — most recently — telephones. However, after graduating with a degree in digital journalism, I’ve spent the past several years of my professional life writing about more “ordinary” topics such as school board meetings, community events and more.
Everything good must come to an end, including my professional journalism career. For various reasons I won’t discuss here, I’m starting a new chapter in my professional life. What better way to end the journalism chapter than visiting the place that helped start my love for writing, and meet the man who helped exacerbate my “interest” in the Kewanee Boiler Corporation?
(Note: While my professional journalism career is ending, the blog is not. I plan to continue writing for the blog. I’m hoping I can return to blogging more often, especially when “life challenges” settle.)
Kewanee Boiler stops
Kewanee was the main destination for the trip, and I had a list of places related to Kewanee Boiler to visit. Although the boiler factory shut down in 2002, the town is still proud of its 130-plus year history of boilermaking. Its high school mascot is the Boilermakers, with roughly the same mascot used by Kewanee Boiler (à la Purdue Pete, though in Kewanee Boiler’s colors of orange and black.)
Boiler plant and memorial
Unfortunately, the boiler plant is no more. It was demolished several years back (to make way for a solar farm, if I remember correctly — marking humanity’s progress from dirty coal to renewable energy.) The only part that still stood — the former administrative offices — were destroyed by a November 2023 fire allegedly started by two minors. The boiler plant at 101 Franklin Street opened around 1900 under the tenure of E.E. Baker, who led the company from 1891 until his 1929 death. The administrative offices opened around 1915.
However, the Kewanee Preservation Society is working to create the Kewanee Boiler Memorial — which honors the 130-year history of boilermaking in Kewanee. The memorial is across the railroad tracks from the former boiler plant grounds, at the corner of Rose and Franklin streets.
During my visit, an immaculately-restored Kewanee Type C painted orange and black was seen still on a flatbed trailer. Mark Mikenas, president of the Kewanee Preservation Society, is still looking for other Kewanee boilers to restore for the memorial. (Have a Kewanee boiler the Kewanee Preservation Society may be interested in for the memorial? Contact me and I can forward your email to Mr. Mikenas. Donations are also being accepted… please see the “Boiler Memorial” section on the Kewanee Boiler page.)
The boiler plant’s old flagpole was also raised, supporting the United States flag along with a miniature iron boiler replica — likely the body of a base for a boiler lamp that were once presented to Kewanee sales staff.
Kewanee Historical Society
At the Kewanee Historical Society, I met with Dave Clarke and learned more about Kewanee, and Kewanee Boiler. The museum has a lot of artifacts, many of which are for Kewanee Boiler and Kewanee’s other prominent industries — such as the Sandy’s fast food chain, Kewanee Manufacturing, Walworth (who manufactured pipes, valves and fittings — many used on or near Kewanee boilers) and much more. It was great to finally put a face with Dave’s name and learn more about the town.
Many of the photos and documents found in the museum have been digitized and are available for viewing on the Kewanee Historical Society website.
A mural depicting Kewanee Boiler, including E.E. Baker, can be found on the side of the Kewanee Historical Society building facing Second Street.
E.E. Baker home
As previously mentioned, Emerit E. “Double-E” Baker served as president of the Kewanee Boiler Company from 1891 until his death in 1929. (At the time of his death, Kewanee had just been purchased by American Standard.)
Another stop was a quick look at his former home, at the corner of West Prospect and South Chestnut streets.
According to Dave, the home is still used as a private residence.
Baker Golf Course
With his wealth from the boiler plant, E.E. Baker was also known as a philanthropist who helped setup an endowment fund for a parks system in Kewanee. An 18-hole golf course, on Cambridge Road, is named in his honor.
AT&T Long Lines stops
Kewanee wasn’t the only stop during the trip. I also visited several former AT&T Long Lines sites throughout Illinois.
NRWYILNO: Norway Switching Center
The main AT&T site I visited was the “holy grail” of Long Lines sites in the Midwest. Known by its common language location identifier NRWYILNO, the Norway site was a huge switching hub in the Long Lines network. It was a Class 1 switching office, an AUTOVON switching site, and even communicated with Air Force One through the Echo-Foxtrot antennas mounted atop the tower. (Unfortunately I forgot to get a close-up shot of the E-F antennas, but they’re still there.)
At its peak, AT&T employed more than 200 people at NRWYILNO — a giant, windowless building located in the middle of nowhere.
Today, the NRWYILNO building has been long shuttered. AT&T owned the building until fairly recently (as recent as September 2017, according to a building map posted on the Long-Lines.com site page), and now the huge complex is up for sale.
Fun fact: The NRWYILNO complex was heated by three large Kewanee scotch marine boilers. The facility also has its own well and sanitation system, and large locomotive-style General Motors/Electro-Motive Diesel generators for backup power.
Repeater sites
Throughout Illinois I stopped at many smaller repeater stations.
Before crossing over into Illinois, I briefly stopped at Wright City to photograph the American Bank of Freedom, which is located in the former Wright City microwave relay site. Like Aullville and (former, demolished) Kingdom City, the Wright City site began life as a K-carrier cable repeater station located right off Interstate 70.
Next was Highland, Illinois.
Then far up north to Lostant.
And, last for Wednesday, it was to Mendota.
After stopping by the nearby Baker Golf Course, my first Long Lines stop of Thursday was to the Kewanee Long Lines site.
Then I traveled to Kewanee’s eastern neighboring site near Buda.
My first stop on Friday during my trip home was to New Windsor, which neighbored Kewanee to the west.
Then to Joy, which was New Windsor’s western neighbor.
Lastly, I stopped by the Fowler site in Quincy. This “flyswatter” site — another tower featuring passive reflectors, like the ones in a previous post found in Roanoke, Missouri — repeated television traffic between Quincy and Baylis, Illinois. (Baylis is another flyswatter site.)
It was finally nice to take a road trip to Kewanee and stop by some Long Lines sites along the way. While I fulfilled my list of things to see and do while in Kewanee, there was a lot in Kewanee Historical Society’s collection — enough that I could’ve probably spent days looking it all over. Who knows, maybe I’ll return someday?