First stop, just outside Prairieville on the Palmyra Road out of Dixon (original 1913 routing of the Lincoln Highway) for a shoot at the classic Midway Drive-In (1949), said to be the oldest standing drive-in theatre screen in Illinois. According to the person I spoke with by the Midway drive-in between Sterling and Dixon, it still draws. He was riding one of those ubiquitous lawn mowers one sees everywhere.
Next, Sterling and Rock Falls opposite each other on the Rock River. Both are a little worse for wear. Sterling and Rock Falls seem to be very challenged – lots of trailer parks, deteriorating housing (some beauties, too, if in need of some work) – they certainly seem to be struggling.
Sterling was once known as the “The Hardware Capital of the World.” The Sterling downtown is pockmarked, to say the least. A lot of historic substance seems to be gone. I saw a number of closed industrial sites along the Rock River. Sterling and Rock Falls (and Dixon, too) are all old factory towns in what is called the Sauk Valley where significant job losses have occurred as the area has deindustrialized. I parked near the pawn shop in Dixon in the picture – it had a fair amount of activity. Clearly not a place on an economic uptick. Nor is Rock Falls.
According to my research, at its peak, Northwestern Steel and Wire (NWSW) – what started out in 1879 as the Northwestern Barb Wire Company – in Sterling had a work force of about 4,600 and was the 13th largest domestic steel producer. It shut its doors for good back in 2001 after over 100 years in operation. A survivor of Sterling’s industrial decline, Sterling Steel Company LLC (pictured), uses a portion of the NWSW site and employs about 400 workers. 4,600 to 400. Yikes.
